RuukkilabraUpper secondary physics

Au café: a role-play

Why can about ten short phrases get you through a whole café visit in France?

After a long morning at ITER, you sit down at a café terrace in Provence with a friend. The waiter comes to your table. In this lesson you practise everything you need there: ordering a drink and something to eat, asking what there is and what it costs, asking for the bill, paying and thanking. The café, its menu and its prices are invented for practice.

Prior knowledge

  • Greetings, tu and vouschapter Bonjour ! Introducing yourself
  • Prices in euroschapter Numbers and prices

Core path: follow the steps in order. Tasks marked Optional give extra practice. Optional tasks: 1.

Think about it

It is half past one. After a morning at the ITER site, you and a friend sit down at a café terrace in the shade of the plane trees. The menu is on the table, everything is in French, and the waiter is coming towards you with a tray. You are hungry, you have about ten euros each, and you want to pay before the bus leaves at half past two.

What will you need to say during the next hour, and in which order?

Sentence starters

  • First we need to …, then …
  • In a Finnish café you usually …, but …
  • I already know the French words …
  • The hardest part could be …, because …

Think about it: a café visit step by step

List the steps of a café visit, from the moment you sit down to the moment you leave.

How does it go in a Finnish café: do you order at the counter or at the table? Then write every French café word you already know (drinks, food, phrases).

Discuss with a partner for three minutes, then write your list together.

Predict

Make your predictions before investigating 2 questions

Prediction 1: the first words

The waiter comes to your table and says « Bonjour ! Vous avez choisi ? » Which answer is the most polite and natural? Commit now; the theory summary will show you.

Prediction 2: the bill

You finished eating ten minutes ago, and the waiter has not brought the bill. Your bus leaves soon.What is the best thing to do? Commit now; the theory summary will show you.

Investigate

Read the menu

This is the menu (la carte) of the café in this lesson. The prices are invented. Read it with a partner: which drinks and dishes can you understand without help? Which word looks like English or Swedish?

Boissons chaudes
un café1,80 €
un café crème3,20 €
un thé3,00 €
un chocolat chaud3,80 €
Boissons fraîches
un jus d'orange3,90 €
une limonade3,50 €
un diabolo menthe3,60 €
une eau minérale2,90 €
À manger
un croissant1,40 €
un sandwich au fromage5,50 €
un croque-monsieur7,50 €
une quiche aux légumes8,90 €
Desserts
une tarte aux pommes4,50 €
une crêpe au sucre3,90 €
une glace (deux boules)4,20 €

Prix nets, service compris. (Prices include the service charge.) Un diabolo menthe is lemonade with mint syrup, un croque-monsieur a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

Listen: the phrases of a café visit

Listen to each phrase, first slowly and then at normal speed, and repeat it aloud. The hints in italics use Finnish letters: capitals show the stressed syllable, and õ, ã and ẽ are nasal vowels; č is the ch of English church.

A lunch at the café

Read the dialogue and notice three things: the order of the steps, the phrase the customer uses to order, and how she gets the bill.

Watch: another café dialogue

Now watch a short café dialogue made by a French teacher. Watch once with the English subtitles. Watch again and note: (1) how the customer greets, (2) what is ordered, (3) any question or price you hear, (4) how the visit ends. Then find one phrase in the video that is different from the dialogue above, and the spelling mistake the author warns about.

Order a café conversation

What did you notice?

In the conversation you put in order, Eetu and Léa say vous to the waiter but tu to each other. Why?

Theory summary

At a French café: what happens when

Colour photograph of people sitting at tables on a café terrace on a Paris street.
A café terrace on the Rue de Buci in Paris. Ordering at a café is a classic first conversation in French. Photo: zoetnet, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A visit to a café follows a simple order, and each step has its own phrase.

  1. Greet. When the waiter comes, say Bonjour, madame or Bonjour, monsieur before anything else. Call a waiter with S'il vous plaît ! or Excusez-moi !, not with Garçon !: it is old-fashioned, and many waiters find it rude.
  2. Order. The waiter asks Vous avez choisi ? or Vous désirez ?, and you answer with Je voudrais … (I would like) or Je vais prendre … (I'll have), and s'il vous plaît. Et avec ça ? means anything else?
  3. Ask. Qu'est-ce que vous avez comme sandwichs ? (What kind of sandwiches do you have?), Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans la quiche ? (What is in the quiche?), C'est combien, le croque-monsieur ?
  4. Ask for the bill. In France the waiter usually does not hurry you, and the bill often comes only when you ask for it: L'addition, s'il vous plaît.
  5. Pay and thank. Je peux payer par carte ? or pay in cash (en espèces). The service charge is already included in French prices by law (service compris), so a tip is not required; many people simply round up a small bill: Gardez la monnaie. (Keep the change.) Then Merci, bonne journée ! and Au revoir !

Coffee words. Un café is a small cup of strong black coffee. Un café crème has milk or cream, un café noisette a little milk foam, and un café allongé is a longer, weaker coffee.

Polite ordering

The waiter is an adult you do not know, so you use vous, even if you are only two teenagers at the table. With your friend you say tu: Tu prends quoi ? (What are you having?).

The most useful polite form is je voudrais (I would like). Je veux (I want) is grammatically correct, but to a waiter it sounds like a demand, as I want does in English. Short orders are fine when they end politely: Un café, s'il vous plaît.

Summary

You want to … You say
greet the waiter Bonjour, madame / monsieur.
call the waiter S'il vous plaît ! Excusez-moi !
order Je voudrais un thé, s'il vous plaît. Je vais prendre un croissant.
ask what there is Qu'est-ce que vous avez comme sandwichs ?
ask what is in a dish Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans la quiche ?
ask a price C'est combien, la tarte ?
ask for the bill L'addition, s'il vous plaît.
pay Je peux payer par carte ? Voilà. Gardez la monnaie.
thank and leave Merci beaucoup. Bonne journée ! Au revoir !

The waiter may say: Vous avez choisi ? Vous désirez ? Et avec ça ? Sur place ou à emporter ? (to eat here or to take away?) Ça fait … (That comes to …)

Back to your predictions

Compare your two predictions with the theory. Then answer the opening question in English in one or two sentences: why can about ten short phrases get you through a whole café visit in France? Name the step where each of your predictions belongs.

    Would you change your prediction?

    Apply

    Complete the order

    Understand the waiter

    Role-play: from script to free speaking

    Work in pairs, with the menu above. Each round gives you less support.

    Round 1 (cues): perform the dialogue A lunch at the café again in step 3 (Perform), from the English cues only. Change the drink and the dish, and the total with them.

    Rounds 2 and 3 (role cards): one partner is the customer, the other the waiter. Open only your own card below (Customer only or Waiter only), do not show it, and speak without writing first. The other partner has information that you do not have, so listen and react. Swap the roles in round 3.

    Word bank

    Bonjour, madame / monsieur, Vous avez choisi ?, Je voudrais …, Je vais prendre …, Et avec ça ?, Qu'est-ce que vous avez comme … ?, Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans … ?, C'est combien, … ?, L'addition, s'il vous plaît, Ça fait …, par carte, en espèces, Gardez la monnaie, Merci, bonne journée

    Sentence starters

    • Bonjour, monsieur. Je voudrais …, s'il vous plaît.
    • C'est combien, la tarte ?
    • Excusez-moi ! L'addition, s'il vous plaît.
    • Je peux payer par carte ?
    • Merci beaucoup. Au revoir !

    The waiter: Ça fait … euros …, Bon appétit !, Je vous apporte ça tout de suite.

    Customer only Round 2: customer card

    You are hungry, but you do not eat meat. You have 10 € and want a hot drink too. Ask what is in at least one dish and ask one price before you order. Pay by card.

    Useful: Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans le croque-monsieur ? Ah, je ne mange pas de viande. Alors, je vais prendre …

    Waiter only Round 2: waiter card

    Today there are no more croissants: Désolé, il n'y a plus de croissants. The quiche has vegetables and cheese; the croque-monsieur has ham and cheese. Answer the customer's questions, give the total and take the card.

    Customer only Round 3: customer card

    You order for two: you and your friend (your partner's imaginary friend). Order two different drinks and one dessert to share. Ask the price of one dessert. Pay in cash and let the waiter keep the change.

    Waiter only Round 3: waiter card

    The card reader does not work today: cash only (Désolé, seulement en espèces.). Recommend a dessert (Je vous conseille la tarte aux pommes.). Give the total and thank the customers.

    Role-play: your dialogue

    After round 2, write down in French the dialogue you performed, at least eight lines. Mark the line where you reacted to something you did not know in advance.

    Perform round 2 with your partner first, then write it together. If you can, perform it for another pair, who check it with the criteria below.

    Optional Extension: ordering coffee in real life

    This video is from a channel that films everyday French. Watch it with subtitles. Note every coffee word you hear (for example un café, un crème, un allongé, une noisette) and two phrases for ordering that are not in this lesson. Tell your partner which one you will use next time.

    Check your understanding

    1. Asking a price

    You want to know what the vegetable quiche costs. What do you ask the waiter?

    Suggestion: one answer does not show everything you can do, but review the theory summary.

    2. Friends and the waiter

    You are at the café with a French friend of your age. You want to ask her what she is having. What do you say?

    Suggestion: one answer does not show everything you can do, but review the theory summary.

    3. Paying

    The bill is 9,40 €. You give the waiter a 10 € note and want him to keep the 60 centimes. What do you say?

    Suggestion: one answer does not show everything you can do, but review the theory summary.

    4. Write: your order

    Write a short café conversation (six to eight lines) for you and a friend: greet the waiter, order two drinks and one thing to eat from the menu, ask one question, ask for the bill and pay. Use vous with the waiter and tu with your friend.

    Photographs and videos

    • Commander au café en français. Dialogue simulé pour la production orale du DELF A1 (embedded video). La prof Elisabeth. source, Standard YouTube licence; embedded with YouTube's player, not copied
    • How to Order Coffee in a French Café | Super Easy French 75 (embedded video, optional). Easy French. source, Standard YouTube licence; embedded with YouTube's player, not copied
    • Café terrace in Paris. zoetnet. source, CC BY 2.0