Ordering in French: je voudrais, c'est combien and prices

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.

C'est combien ? Asking the price

There are three common questions, and they do slightly different jobs.

Coûter means to cost. You can also hang the item on the end of the first question:

• C'est combien, le pain ? - How much is the bread?
• Combien ça coûte ? - How much does it cost?

The answer usually comes back with ça fait, and at the end of a meal you ask for the bill instead:

• Ça fait cinq euros. - That's five euros.
• L'addition, s'il vous plaît. - The bill, please.

Prices in euros

Euro is a masculine noun and takes an s in the plural: un euro, deux euros. The s is silent, but the number links into the vowel, and that link makes a price sound French.

The highlighted letter is the one you carry over into euros. Neuf euros is the odd one: most people keep the f (/nœ.fø.ʁo/), and some say it with a v, as in neuf ans (nine years). Nobody will misunderstand either.

Euros and centimes

French writes the euro sign after the number and uses a comma, not a point, for the cents: 3,50 €, not €3.50. Say the euros, then the cents number, and leave out the word for cents:

• 3,50 € - trois euros cinquante
• 1,20 € - un euro vingt
• 0,50 € - cinquante centimes

A hundredth of a euro is un centime. In everyday speech you only say the word when there are no whole euros in the price.

A café exchange, start to finish

Here is the whole thing at a café counter. Read it aloud twice and you have a script that works.

Et avec ça ? is literally "and with that?", meaning anything else? In a bakery you will often hear the slightly more formal Et avec ceci ?, which asks the same thing. The answer that ends it is C'est tout, merci.

Common mistakes English speakers make

The liaison is the one mistake you cannot see on paper: deux euros said with a gap sounds foreign. Run the x into the vowel as a z.

What to do next

1. Say the café exchange above aloud, playing both parts, until Je voudrais comes out before you think.
2. Read any receipt aloud in French, euros then cents.
3. Learn French numbers so no price can surprise you.