What Are Basic Foods Called in French?

In this lesson, we cover the words for some common food items in French.

Watch the video as many times as you need, until you feel you can give the French as we go!

Now we can see what we’ve learned. Look at the English and see if you can provide the French! Let’s take them in groups of five.

Part 1:

biscuit	Show le biscuit
bread	Show le pain
butter	Show le beurre
cake	Show le gâteau
cheese	Show le fromage

Part 2:

chips	Show les frites
chocolate	Show le chocolat
cream	Show la crème
egg	Show un œuf
flour	Show la farine

Part 3:

food	Show la nourriture
honey	Show le miel
ice cream	Show la glace
jam	Show la confiture
pasta	Show les pâtes

Part 4:

pizza	Show la pizza
rice	Show le riz
salad	Show la salade
soup	Show la soupe
sugar	Show le sucre

Are you ready to see what you’ve learned?

Extra Guidance on Food Words in French

Un aliment is literally an item of food, or an ingredient, so les aliments refer to basic food items. On the other hand la nourriture refers to anything that has been collected or prepared to serve as food for nourishment.

La glace can mean both ‘ice’ (frozen water) and ‘ice cream.’

Sentence Builder: What Do You Like Eating?

Qu’est-ce que vous aimez manger?
What do you like to eat?

J’aime manger… I like to eat… I like eating…	du pain bread du gâteau cake du fromage cheese
J’aime manger… I like to eat… I like eating…	de la pizza pizza de la salade salad de la soupe soup
J’aime manger… I like to eat… I like eating…	des biscuits biscuits des frites chips

Why Do These Sentences Use du, de la, des?

You’ll notice the word ‘du’ is used in the sentence ‘J’aime manger du pain.’ This means ‘I like to eat some bread.’

In English, we often leave out the word some. However, in this type of sentence in French, it is always used. Similarly, the phrases du pain, du fromage and du gâteau mean ‘some bread,’ ‘some cheese,’ and ‘some cake’ respectively.

‘Some’ is formed by combining de and the article, so either le, la or les.

However, de le is always contracted to du.

De la remains the same, as does de l’ (such as de l’eau, which means ‘some water’).

Meanwhile, de les always contracts to des, hence des frites.

Exercise: What Do You Like Eating?

Eating in France: What Are the Courses of a French Meal?

Main meals in France tend to comprise many courses. While in the UK, it is customary to think of an important meal as having three parts (starter, main and dessert), in France it is more usual to have four, or maybe even five or six if it is a special occasion.

The French meal may consist of:

L’apéritif (a beverage)
Le hors-d’œuvre (an appetizer)
L’entrée (a starter, often this may be a fish dish)
Le plat principal (the principal dish, or main course)
Le fromage (cheese, which comes before the dessert)
Le dessert (which comes after cheese)

Are you ready to see what you’ve learned?

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