English to French: A1 patterns
Practice one useful pattern.
Session progressStep 1 of 6 · New pattern
New pattern
French: ordering politely with “Je voudrais…”
“Je voudrais” makes a request sound courteous; change only the item.
Ready to start.
You want to order a coffee politely in French. What do you say?
Model answerJe voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît.
How this works
Je voudrais is a polite way to ask for something. The order is request + item + please. To order something else, replace the noun phrase while keeping the request intact.
Build it piece by piece
- Je voudrais
- I would like
- un café
- a coffee
- un thé
- a tea
- s’il vous plaît
- please
Un café and un thé both use un. Learn each new noun together with its article.
Worked example
Order a tea instead of a coffee.
Je voudrais un thé, s’il vous plaît.
Compare this with the model above. Notice what stayed the same and what changed. Read both aloud before continuing; this part is for learning, not scoring.
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