LESSON NOTES

Survival Phrases #13

Restaurant: Part 2

CONTENTS
2 French
2 English
2 Vocabulary
2 Sample Sentences
3 Grammar
4 Cultural Insight

# 13
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 FRENCH

1. Qu'est-ce que vous recommandez?

2. De l'eau, s'il vous plaît.

3. Sans glaçons, s'il vous plaît.

ENGLISH

1. What do you recommend?

2. Water, please.

3. No ice, please.

VOCABULARY

Fr e nc h English C lass Ge nde r

sans without preposition

un glaçon an ice cube noun masculine

s'il vous plaît please phrase

l'eau water noun

du/de la/de l' some partitive article

qu’est-ce que what interrogative pronoun

vous you (formal) pronoun neuter

recommander to recommend verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

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Cela va sans dire. J'aime mon Coca Cola avec glaçons.

"It's without saying." "I like my Coke with ice."

La carte des vins, s'il vous plaît. L'eau minérale est bonne pour la santé.

"The wine list, please." "Mineral water is healthy."

Je mange du pain. Je veux de la confiture, du beurre et de

l'eau.
"I'm eating some bread."
"I want some jam, some butter, and
some water."

Qu'est-ce que c'est, Le Louvre ? Qu'est ce que tu as?

"What is the Louvre?" "What do you have?"

Et vous, vous êtes en vacances ? Je recommande ce film, il est très bien.

"And you, you are on vacation?" "I recommend this movie; it's very
good."

GRAMMAR

Restaurant service in France can vary widely from highly attentive and welcoming to
practically nonexistent. This seems to be due to the fact that French culture does not seem to
adhere to any particular service philosophy. Rather, each waiter is left to run things how he or
she sees fit. I find it useful to see a restaurant or a shop as someone else's home. This person
has left his door open to offer strangers the opportunity to shop or eat in his home. In a sense,
he is doing you, the stranger, a favor by offering this opportunity to enter his territory. The fact
that you bring money does not change this relationship. Therefore, it is important to respect or
even ingratiate yourself with the establishment in order to be well served.

Waiters do not walk around looking to see how they can serve you in every way possible. You
have to get their attention a lot. So bone up on the terms you have learned and put your nose
out a little. You'll need to use excusez-moi, which we learned earlier means "excuse me." As
we said, we can use this phrase generally to get the attention of strangers, including waiters.

Another way to get a waiter's attention is to say Monsieur, which means "sir," or Madame, which
means "madam." We learned about these words earlier as well. We use them generally to get
a person's attention. If you like, you can say these two phrases together: for example, Monsieur,
excusez-moi.

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Once the waiter or waitress comes to your table, you can go with the standard point and "this
please." As we have learned in the first lesson, in French "this please" is ça, s'il vous plaît. Now
if you're feeling ambitious, you could go for "What do you recommend?" In French, "What do
you recommend?" is Qu'est-ce que vous recommandez. The first word, Qu'est-ce que, means
"What is it that?" and we translate it as "What?" It is followed by vous, which, as we have
learned, in English means "you." This is followed by recommandez, which means
"recommend." All together, we have Qu'est-ce que vous recommandez.

Now two more phrases that will come in handy have to do with water and ice! In France, the
water is safe to drink. In French, "water, please" is de l'eau, s'il vous plaît. The first word, de
l'eau, means "some water." It is followed by s'il vous plaît, which we know means "please."
Now on to the ice issue! Whether it is a health concern or economic decision, in French "no
ice, please" is sans glaçons, s'il vous plaît. The first word, sans, means "without." It is followed
by glaçons, which in English means "ice cubes." All together, we have sans glaçons, s'il vous
plaît.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Quenching Your Thirst in France

Sometimes when you ask for water it will come in a small glass and you will remain thirsty. To
avoid asking for water over and over, ask for a pitcher of water. You can do this with the term
Une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît ("A pitcher of water, please."). When it comes to ice, restaurants
and bars sometimes don't offer it automatically and you have to ask for it if you want it. To ask
for ice, say Avec glaçons, s'il vous plaît, which means "With ice, please."

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