Je voudrais un café: ordering politely

To order in French, say Je voudrais (I would like), the thing, and s'il vous plaît. Not je veux, which is I want and sounds blunt. To ask the price, say C'est combien ? Prices come euros first, then cents. And the bill is l'addition.

That is the whole lesson on one screen:

And before any of it: Bonjour. Ordering at a counter without a hello is the one thing that reliably earns you a cold look in France.

Je voudrais: the polite way to ask

Je voudrais means I would like. Learn it as one block that you put in front of whatever you want. Add a noun and s'il vous plaît, and you have a complete, polite order.

• Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît. - I'd like a coffee, please.
• Je voudrais une baguette, s'il vous plaît. - I'd like a baguette, please.
• Je voudrais de l'eau, s'il vous plaît. - I'd like some water, please.

Notice de l'eau, some water: French puts a word for "some" in front of things you cannot count, the partitive.

Je voudrais also takes a verb in the infinitive, the dictionary form:

• Je voudrais payer. - I'd like to pay.
• Je voudrais manger. - I'd like to eat.

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1. 1la cliente
2. 2le client
3. 3le serveur
4. 4la carte
5. 5deux cafés

At the table: la cliente and le client (the customers), le serveur (the waiter), la carte (the menu) and deux cafés (two coffees). Each customer orders with je voudrais.

Why not je veux?

Je veux is I want. It is correct French, and with friends it is fine:

• Je veux un café. - I want a coffee. (blunt to a waiter)
• Je voudrais un café. - I'd like a coffee. (polite)

Said to a waiter, je veux lands the way "I want a coffee" lands in English: the grammar is right and the manners are not.

Strictly, voudrais is vouloir (to want) in the conditional, but you do not need the tense to use the chunk. Je voudrais is on the AQA GCSE French specification at Foundation and Higher tier.

Other ways to ask

Je voudrais is the safe default, but it is not the only way. Here is what you will hear at a café table, from blunt to careful:

Pour moi is what you say when the waiter goes round the table: each person names their order with "for me" in front. Je prends, I'll have, is what the French very often say when choosing from a menu:

• Je prends le poisson. - I'll have the fish.

The bare noun plus s'il vous plaît is not rude. At a busy counter it is exactly what everyone says, provided the Bonjour came first.