Order at a café
Build a short café order with a quantity, a polite request, and a clear preference.
Guided café practice · French with English support
Make an order. Handle a change.
Read a short exchange, notice useful phrases, then make your own order and try a different situation. Start with greetings and simple quantities; open the English help whenever you need it.
Reading and solo rehearsal. The written dialogue is not a listening test, and self-review does not certify a French level.
1. Read and understand
Read what changes in the order. Open the English meanings if you need them.
- Customer
Bonjour, je voudrais deux cafés et un croissant, s’il vous plaît.
- Server
Sur place ou à emporter ?
- Customer
À emporter, s’il vous plaît.
- Server
Désolé, nous n’avons plus de croissants. Nous avons des pains au chocolat.
- Customer
Un pain au chocolat, alors, s’il vous plaît.
- Server
Deux cafés et un pain au chocolat. C’est tout ?
- Customer
Oui, merci.
English meanings
- Customer: Hello, I’d like two coffees and a croissant, please.
- Server: For here or to take away?
- Customer: To take away, please.
- Server: Sorry, we have no croissants left. We have pains au chocolat.
- Customer: A pain au chocolat, then, please.
- Server: Two coffees and a pain au chocolat. Is that everything?
- Customer: Yes, thank you.
2. Notice the useful phrases
Je voudrais deux cafés.
I’d like two coffees.
Learn je voudrais as a polite request. After deux, use the plural noun cafés without un or une.
Sur place / à emporter
For here / to take away
Choose the phrase that tells the server where you will have the order.
Nous n’avons plus de croissants.
We have no croissants left.
Ne… plus means no longer or not any more. Before avons, ne becomes n’. Here, de follows the negative quantity.
Un pain au chocolat, alors.
A pain au chocolat, then.
Name an available alternative. Alors connects this new choice to the change the server explained.
3. Recall a missing part
Look away from the examples first. Try each missing part, then use the meaning or answer help if needed. A helped answer is useful supported practice.
Je un thé, s’il vous plaît.
Enter the missing part only. The words around the field are already supplied.
English meaning
I’d like a tea, please.
Compare with an answer
Je voudrais un thé, s’il vous plaît.
Je voudrais makes a polite request. Je is already before the field: enter voudrais rather than the whole sentence.
, s’il vous plaît.
Enter the missing part only. The words around the field are already supplied.
English meaning
To take away, please.
Compare with an answer
à emporter, s’il vous plaît.
À emporter tells the server that you will leave with the order. Sur place would change the meaning to “for here”.
Vous des croissants ?
Enter the missing part only. The words around the field are already supplied.
English meaning
Do you have any croissants?
Compare with an answer
Vous avez des croissants ?
With vous, the present form of avoir is avez. Vous is already outside the field. This question checks availability before you choose.
4. Make your own café exchange
Write both sides of a café exchange for two people. Order one tea and one herbal tea to have here. The server has no herbal tea left: ask whether coffee is available, then choose a coffee instead. Include the server’s for-here-or-takeaway question and your answer. Try before opening the model.
Self-review: several natural answers can work. Compare the essential details, then revise one thing. You can also rehearse aloud; recording is not required.
- I greeted the server and made a polite request.
- I ordered one tea and one herbal tea initially.
- I answered that we are staying at the café.
- After the herbal tea was unavailable, I asked about coffee and chose one instead.
Compare with one possible exchange
This is an example for self-review. Copying it is supported practice.
Client : Bonjour, je voudrais un thé et une tisane, s’il vous plaît.
Serveur : Sur place ou à emporter ?
Client : Sur place, s’il vous plaît.
Serveur : Désolé, nous n’avons plus de tisane.
Client : Vous avez du café ?
Serveur : Oui.
Client : Alors, un café à la place de la tisane, s’il vous plaît. Merci.
5. Try a bakery next time
On a later visit, try a bakery exchange before rereading the café model. You want three baguettes for a picnic, but only two are left. The baker offers a bread roll as well. Accept two baguettes and one bread roll, then ask whether you can pay by card. Write both sides, including the baker’s reply that card payment is accepted. This time, handle a quantity limit and payment rather than a choice of drinks.
Self-review: several natural answers can work. Compare the essential details, then revise one thing. You can also rehearse aloud; recording is not required.
- I asked politely for three baguettes.
- I responded to the limit of two baguettes and accepted one bread roll as well.
- I asked whether I could pay by card and included a reply.
Compare with one possible exchange
This is an example for self-review. Copying it is supported practice.
Client : Bonjour, je voudrais trois baguettes, s’il vous plaît.
Boulangère : Il ne reste que deux baguettes. Vous voulez aussi un petit pain ?
Client : Oui, deux baguettes et un petit pain, s’il vous plaît. Je peux payer par carte ?
Boulangère : Oui, bien sûr.
Client : Merci !
6. Review and choose what comes next
Notice what you did: understood the written exchange, recalled a phrase, or rehearsed with a model. These are different kinds of practice. Return on a later visit and try the bakery task without the examples first.
If you needed help, choose one phrase to revisit. If the order felt clear, change the quantities and available items for another attempt.
Reference notes & quick check
Order a specific item
Bonjour is a useful start before an order. Je voudrais means I would like and works as a polite request you can learn as a whole phrase. Use un with masculine nouns such as café and thé, and une with feminine nouns such as tisane. Gender belongs to the noun, so learn the article with each new word. S’il vous plaît makes the request courteous.
Add a preference and answer a question
Sur place means for consumption here; à emporter means to take away. You may hear these as a short question without a full sentence. Avec introduces something included, while sans introduces something left out. De l’eau requests an unspecified amount of water; une carafe d’eau requests a jug. These phrases describe an order and do not promise that an item is available or free.
Check and finish the exchange
Ask combien ça coûte to check how much something costs. L’addition is the bill at a café or restaurant, whereas un billet can mean a ticket or banknote. To ask about payment, use je peux followed by the infinitive payer. Par carte means by card. Wait for the answer rather than assuming a payment method is accepted, and finish with merci and a goodbye.
Your turn.
Choose an answer, then check why it works. You can try again.
Make it yours.
Allow three minutes to write and speak a café dialogue: greet the server, order two items, choose sur place or à emporter, and ask about card payment. Change one item and add sans sucre on a second attempt.
Self-practice · kept in this tab. A teacher can give personal feedback.
Audio is your device’s French speech voice. Read the examples aloud too; pronunciation feedback requires a teacher.