Likes and polite requests in French

Level A1

Likes and polite requests in French

By the end of this lesson you can say what you like and don't like, and ask for something in a café without sounding blunt. English builds both on one word, "I like" and "I'd like", which makes them easy to mix up. French keeps them apart: j'aime is about taste, je veux and je voudrais are about what you want right now.

First, what you already know

A French negative wraps the verb in ne … pas: Je ne travaille pas à la maison. Before a vowel sound, ne shortens to n', as in Je n'ai pas de chaise. The infinitive is the form you find in the dictionary, like parler or travailler. All three come back in a moment.

The words in this lesson

The two new verbs are aimer, to like, and vouloir, to want. Here you only need them with je: j'aime, je veux. Je shortens to j' before aime, just as ne shortens to n'. Café is both the drink and the place.

Two friends in a café

Listen once, then look at the small word in front of café: le café when they talk about taste, un café when one of them says what he wants now. Tu aimes works like tu parles, and its -s is silent. Et toi ? is "and you?" between friends.

J'aime, je veux, je voudrais: three different jobs

J'aime le café is about your taste in general, so it takes le: coffee as a whole. Je veux un café is about one coffee, now, so it takes un. Je veux is normal with friends and family, but said to a waiter it sounds like a demand. With people you don't know, use je voudrais, the French "I'd like"; for now, learn it as one block. Watch out: "I'd like a coffee" is never j'aime un café.

J'aime and je n'aime pas

English says "I like bread" with no article, but French needs one: J'aime le pain. After aimer you can also put a verb in the infinitive, with nothing in between, where English often uses -ing: J'aime cuisiner. One trap in the negative: you say Je n'ai pas de pain, but le stays after aimer: Je n'aime pas le pain.

J'aime / Je n'aime pas …

Je veux and je voudrais

Both take un or une plus a noun: Je voudrais une table, s'il vous plaît. Both also take an infinitive, with no word for "to": Je veux travailler à la maison. The final letters of veux and voudrais are silent. With someone you don't know, finish the request with s'il vous plaît.

Je veux / Je voudrais …

Et and mais: joining two ideas

Et means "and", and its t is never pronounced. Mais means "but", and it rhymes with "may". In J'aime le café et le thé, French repeats the article before each noun. A comma comes before mais, as in J'aime le thé, mais je veux un café: tea in general, but a coffee right now.

Your turn: order at the counter

Read this aloud as the customer, the second speaker. Then say it again with your own order: only un thé, only un café, or the same two in the other order. Then tell a friend your own version of J'aime le thé, mais je veux un café: your taste first, what you want now second. Always open with Bonjour, because in France asking for something without a greeting comes across as rude. In the Explorer, find a food or a drink you know and try J'aime le… or Je voudrais un… with it.

What to remember

Taste takes le, la or les, even in the negative: Je n'aime pas le pain. Asking for one thing takes un or une. Mais links the two: J'aime le thé, mais je veux un café. Later, next to je veux, you will meet je peux (I can) and je dois (I have to). For now, just recognize them: there is nothing to memorize yet.

Your tasteWhat you want, with friendsA polite request
J'aime le caféJe veux un caféJe voudrais un café
J'aime travailler à la maisonJe veux travailler à la maisonJe voudrais travailler à la maison
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