--- title: At the café: ordering in French — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «At the café: ordering in French», a lesson of the french course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A French café visit has a little script: bonjour when you sit down, je voudrais... s'il vous plaît to order, merci when you are served, l'a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/) / At the café: ordering in French # At the café: ordering in French Lesson 19 of the french course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/0/) — A French café visit has a little script: bonjour when you sit down, je voudrais... s'il vous plaît to order, merci when you are served, l'addition, s'il vous plaît when you want to pay, and au revoir, bonne journée as you leave. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/1/) — Never click your fingers or shout "Garçon!" as in old films: today that is rude; catch the waiter's eye, smile and say S'il vous plaît, monsieur ! or Excusez-moi ! - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/2/) — Some orders surprise English speakers: un café is a tiny strong black coffee, une limonade is fizzy, and Quel parfum ? asks which flavour, not which perfume. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/3/) — Picture Riley in a Paris café waiting ages for the bill: the waiter isn't rude, he is being polite by not rushing you, and he brings the bill only when you ask. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/4/) — Even if the waiter speaks English, trying your French first is polite, and most waiters will happily help you. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/5/) — To call a waiter politely say Excusez-moi, monsieur ! or S'il vous plaît ! with a small raised hand; shouting garçon (boy) is old-fashioned and rude today. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/6/) — In France un café is a small strong black coffee (an espresso); children usually order un chocolat chaud, un jus d'orange or une limonade. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/7/) — un croque-monsieur is a toasted ham and cheese sandwich; un croque-madame is the same with a fried egg on top; croquer means to crunch. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/8/) — une limonade is fizzy lemonade, like Sprite; un citron pressé is fresh squeezed lemon with water and sugar. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/9/) — un diabolo is fizzy lemonade with a syrup: diabolo menthe is green (mint), diabolo grenadine is red and diabolo fraise is strawberry. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/10/) — L'addition, s'il vous plaît ! means "The bill, please!"; French waiters usually wait until you ask for it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/11/) — de l'eau plate is still water and de l'eau gazeuse is sparkling water; une carafe d'eau is tap water and is free in French restaurants. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/12/) — A French hot-dog is often a sausage poked into a baguette; the h of hot-dog is not said. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/13/) — des frites et un Coca means chips and a cola; starting with bonjour and trying French is always welcome. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/14/) — un jambon-beurre is a baguette with ham and butter, one of the most popular sandwiches in France. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/15/) — Say merci when you are served, and au revoir and bonne journée (have a good day) when you leave, not before. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/16/) — une glace is an ice cream; Quel parfum ? means "Which flavour?"; parfum means both perfume and flavour; common flavours are vanille, chocolat, fraise and citron. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/19-at-the-cafe-ordering-in-french/17/) — Slang here: "mortified" means terribly embarrassed; "thimble" is a tiny cup for sewing; "proper job" (West Country) means great; "pop" (Ireland, North) means fizzy drink; "wicked" (Boston) means brilliant; "heaps" (Australia) means very; "this slaps" (US Gen Z) means this is great; "pal" and "aye" (Scotland) mean mate and yes; "eh" (Canada) asks you to agree. - ← previous: [Food and drink](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/18-food-and-drink/) - next →: [In the classroom](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/20-in-the-classroom/) - ↑ back to [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/)