Coffee… For many, it’s more than a drink: it’s a pastime, it’s a passion. France is indeed a coffee-drinking nation, and for French people there is no greater pleasure than sipping on une tasse de café (a cup of coffee) on the terrasse (terrace) of a local café while watching the world go by. Do you know how to order a cup of coffee in a French café? The French have their own distinctive habits and ways of enjoying their café. Let's find out what they are and explore some coffee-related vocabulary. 

French people enjoy prendre le café (having coffee, literally "taking coffee") in un café:

Il y a un café pas loin d'ici.

There's a café not far from here.

Caption 73, Conversations au parc - Ep. 3: C'est à qui ce sac à dos ?

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Après on va prendre le café,

Afterward we go for coffee,

après on va... cuisiner les produits du marché.

afterward we go... cook the products from the market.

Caption 34, Arles - Le marché d'Arles

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On a nice day, people like to drink their coffee sur la terrasse (on the terrace), even if they have to pay a little more for the privilege. In some cafés or restaurants, coffee is often plus cher en terrasse (more expensive on the terrace) than at le comptoir (the counter):

Je prendrai mon café sur la terrasse.

I will take my coffee on the terrace.

Caption 21, Le saviez-vous? - La conjugaison au présent, au passé et au futur

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Le comptoir (the counter) is the place where you can order and pay for your coffee:

Tu t'es levée et t'as payé au comptoir

You stood up and you paid at the counter

Caption 20, Oldelaf - Les mains froides

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But before we pay for our coffee, let's find out how to order it. If you simply ask for un café, you'll get an espresso, typically served in a small china cup with two sugar cubes on the saucer and often with a glass of water. It’s a coffee that is similar to what Sacha serves her boss Barbarella at work, un café noir et sans sucre (black, no sugar):

Apporte-moi un café, noir, sans sucre.

Bring me a coffee, black, no sugar.

Caption 28, Extr@ - Ep. 10 - Annie proteste

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If you want milk in your coffee, you will have to specify. You may opt for un café noisette, espresso topped with a splash of milk, which gives it a rich noisette (hazelnut) color, NOT a hazelnut flavor:

Un café noisette, s’il vous plaît.

A coffee with a splash of milk, please.

If you want cream or a bit more milk in your coffee, you should ask for un café crème or un crème (strictly speaking, this is coffee with a cream foam, though sometimes milk is used):

Un café crème, s'il vous plaît.

A coffee with cream foam, please.

There is also what we call un café au lait (coffee with milk). This usually isn't available in cafés, as it is a breakfast beverage consumed at home. Indeed, many French people start their day with un bol ("a bowl," or a large cup held with both hands) de café au lait. Joanna shows us where she keeps her bols (bowls) and her tasses (cups) in her apartment:

Et ici un petit buffet avec des assiettes,

And here, a small cabinet with plates,

des bols, des verres, des tasses...

bowls, glasses, cups...

Caption 33, Joanna - Son nouvel appartement

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Instead of a café au lait, you may prefer a weaker coffee with extra water, in which case you'll ask for un café allongé (a long/diluted coffee) or un café américain (an americano, or espresso with hot water). Since it's espresso-based, French coffee is stronger and comes in smaller cups than American drip coffee. The coffee roaster in the video below sells all kinds of coffees best suited for making café allongé and américain:

C'est vraiment pour les gens qui aiment... le genre... café américain.

It's really for  people who like... americano-style coffee.

Justement, on dit ça, café très allongé.

Indeed, that's what we say, a very diluted coffee.

Captions 39-40, Joanna - Torréfaction du faubourg

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Other coffee varieties have a very mild flavor better suited for une cafetière à piston (a French press):

Donc c'est un café assez doux

So it's a coffee that is quite mild,

qui est très bien dans la cafetière à piston.

that is very good in a French press.

Caption 33, Joanna - Torréfaction du faubourg

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At the other end of the spectrum, there are much stronger coffees to help you kickstart your day. You can order un café serré (a strong coffee), which comes in a tiny cup. There is even a special word to describe a super strong coffee: un café corsé, or alternately un café bien fort (“very strong coffee”). That is exactly how coffee-addict Oldelaf likes it in his tongue-in-cheek song "Le Café": 

Pour bien commencer / Ma petite journée / Et me réveiller /

To get a good start / To my nice day / And to wake myself up /

Moi j'ai pris un café / Un arabica / Noir et bien corsé

Me, I had a coffee / An arabica / Black and quite strong

Captions 1-6, Oldelaf et Monsieur D - Le Café

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He also occasionally likes un déca (decaf)...as long as it’s re-caféiné (recaffeinated)!

Je commande un déca / Mais en re-caféiné

I order a decaf / But recaffeinated

Captions 47-48, Oldelaf et Monsieur D - Le Café

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At home, you may prefer instant coffee, un café en poudre (powdered coffee), which you can also use for flavoring desserts:

Mais on peut la parfumer avec des gousses de vanille,

But we can flavor it with vanilla pods,

avec du café en poudre...

with coffee powder...

Captions 45-46, Le Monde - Astuce de chef : comment préparer et décorer des biscuits pour Noël ?

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As you can see, there are many options for different tastes. You can find a more comprehensive list of types of coffees available in France on this page. Here is a summary for you:

un café noir - black coffee (espresso)

un café crème - coffee with cream foam

un café noisette - coffee with a splash of milk

un café allongé - coffee with hot water

un café serré - very strong coffee

un décafféiné/un déca - decaf coffee

un café en poudre - instant/powdered coffee

One more thing. Le pourboire (tipping) is not required in France, but it is good form to leave a little something. A few coins on the table will suffice. 

That’s it for our aroma-filled tour. Now you can confidently order une tasse de café (a cup of coffee) in a French café. Enjoy!

In our previous lesson we learned that all French nouns have a gender, and that it is up to the speaker to remember whether a word is masculine or feminine. In this lesson, we’ll focus on the gender of nouns referring to humans, which is usually predictable, although occasionally some situations require making difficult choices.

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For the most part, assigning gender to nouns referring to people is straightforward, as it coincides with the gender of the person. For example, you would expect the word frère (brother) to be masculine, and sœur (sister) to be feminine. 

We also learned that masculine nouns are typically introduced by un/le (a/the), as in un frère (a brother):

Il est comme un grand frère pour moi.

He's like a big brother to me.

Caption 40, Le Jour où tout a basculé - J'ai escroqué mon assurance ! - Part 1

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Feminine nouns are preceded by une/la (a/the), as in une sœur (a sister):

Hé Sam! Et peut-être qu'elle a une amie ou une sœur...

Hey Sam! And maybe she has a friend or a sister...

Caption 39, Extr@ - Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 3

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It is also possible to introduce a noun with other little words or determiners, in addition to the articles un/une and le/la mentioned above. In the example below, to express her feelings toward her deceased father, the daughter uses various turns of phrase: mon père (my father), un père (a father), l’image du père idéal (the image of the ideal father):

C'est mon père.... J'ai eu un père. Il était loin de l'image du père idéal

He's my father.... I had a father. He was far from the image of the ideal father

Captions 11, 39-40, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mon père n'est pas mort - Part 8

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A few nouns, like enfant (child), can be preceded by either a masculine or a feminine article, as those words refer to people of any gender:

Elle a un enfant et c'est...

She has a child [masculine] and she's...

Caption 43, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Ma mère fait tout pour briser mon couple - Part 2

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Je suis une enfant du monde

I am a child [feminine] of the world

Caption 31, Indila - Dernière danse

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Usually, though, a given noun will have a masculine and a feminine version. Many feminine nouns end in -e (though not all nouns ending in -e are feminine, as we'll see below). So, we have two words for “friend": une amie (a female friend) and un ami (a male friend).

Et c'est une amie à moi canadienne

And it's a Canadian friend of mine

Caption 18, Amal et Caroline - Quartier du Louvre

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When used as nouns, nationalities are capitalized and also take an -e in the feminine form. For example, a Frenchwoman is une Française, and a Frenchman is un Français:

Les habitants de la France, les Françaises et les Français, sont plus de soixante-six millions.

The inhabitants of France, Frenchwomen and Frenchmen, are more than sixty-six million.

Caption 19, Le saviez-vous? - D'où vient le nom de la France?

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Here is another example with nationalities. Note that you pronounce the s in Française, which is a "z" sound, but not in Français. When a noun ends with a silent consonant in the masculine form, that letter usually becomes sounded in the feminine form:

Parce que c'est l'histoire toute simple d'un amour entre un Américain et une Française.

Because it's the very simple story of a love between an American boy and a French girl.

Captions 47-48, Extr@ - Ep. 5 - Une étoile est née - Part 2

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Endings in -e are especially useful for the femininization of job titles:

Madame George Pau-Langevin, la députée de la quinzième circonscription

Ms. George Pau-Langevin, the deputy for the fifteenth constituency

Caption 92, Actu Vingtième - Le bleu dans les yeux, recyclerie de Belleville

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Here, la députée (the female deputy) is the feminine form of le député (the male deputy).

Some masculine nouns already end in -e and therefore are equivalent to their feminine counterparts, as in un artiste/une artiste (a male/female artist). In this case, only the article in front determines the gender. Karine Rougier, for example, refers to herself as une artiste:

Du coup, le processus pour devenir une artiste, je pense que... il est à l'intérieur de moi

So, the process to become an artist, I think that... it's inside me

Captions 42-43, Le saviez-vous? - Karine Rougier présente son art - Part 4

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However, there are times when people use the masculine form of the job title even when referring to women. This happens for various reasons, some of them subtle. Earlier in the video series on Karine Rougier, the curator of the gallery introduces her as un artiste, not une artiste. Why?

It’s because the speaker is using the term artiste in a generic sense. He is talking about the tradition of giving carte blanche to an artist (in general) every year and is not referring to Karine Rougier specifically yet:

Comme chaque année au mois d'octobre, nous faisons une carte blanche à un artiste. Et cette année, c'est Karine Rougier

Like every year in the month of October, we're giving carte blanche to an artist. And this year, it's Karine Rougier

Captions 3-5, Le saviez-vous? - Karine Rougier présente son art - Part 1

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In the following video, the speaker also uses the masculine because he's speaking in generic terms about un élève (a student) of unknown gender:

Ce sac à dos est à un élève, non?

This backpack belongs to a student, right?

Caption 25, Conversations au parc - Ep. 3: C'est à qui ce sac à dos ?

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Whenever there is no way of identifying the gender of a person, French speakers often default to the masculine. When the couple in the example below expresses a desire to avoir un enfant (have a child) one day, they're not specifically talking about a boy, but rather a child of any gender:

Quelle décision? Avoir un enfant.

What decision? To have a child.

Captions 6-7, Le Jour où tout a basculé - À la recherche de mon passé - Part 2

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To recap, while the masculine usually applies to males, it's also used when the gender is not known, or when it refers to people in a generic sense. The use of the feminine is more straightforward, as it applies exclusively to women and girls. The difficulty here lies in which ending you’re going to use, as not all feminine nouns end in -e. Many of them look different from their masculine counterparts, especially job titles and animals, both of which will be explored in future lessons.