What You Like Eating and Why French Uses du, de la, des

Talking About Food in French

Let’s begin with real examples of how to say what you like eating in French. Then we’ll unpack the grammar behind those little words like du, de la, and des.

Sentence Builder: What Do You Like Eating?

Asking the Question

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

Answering with Food Items

French	English
J’aime manger du pain	I like eating (some) bread
J’aime manger du gâteau	I like eating (some) cake
J’aime manger du fromage	I like eating (some) cheese
J’aime manger de la pizza	I like eating (some) pizza
J’aime manger de la salade	I like eating (some) salad
J’aime manger de la glace	I like eating (some) ice cream
J’aime manger des biscuits	I like eating (some) biscuits
J’aime manger des frites	I like eating (some) chips/fries

Why French Uses du, de la, des

In English, we often drop the word some when talking about food:
→ I like eating bread = I like eating some bread

But in French, you must include a partitive article to show that you’re talking about an unspecified quantity, not the whole thing.

How It Works

Article	Used With	Example	Meaning
du	masculine singular nouns	du pain	some bread
de la	feminine singular nouns	de la glace	some ice cream
de l’	nouns starting with a vowel or silent ‘h’	de l’eau	some water
des	plural nouns	des frites	some chips/fries

Grammar tip:

• de le → contracts to du
• de les → contracts to des
• de la and de l’ stay the same

What About “J’aime la glace” vs. “J’aime manger de la glace”?

Both are correct—but they mean slightly different things:

• J’aime la glace = I like ice cream
• J’aime manger de la glace = I like eating (some) ice cream

Exercise: What Do You Like Eating?

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