French Class 7: Gâteau

Bonjour! Learning a new language is like having dessert after a meal. It completes the meal. So let's go ahead. Bon appétit.

Gâteau  is cake.

Un gâteau is a cake
le gâteau is the cake.

A touch of grammar with the vaocbulary adds value to the word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-46pCAoZY

The sentences with gâteau contain a phrase, je voudrais discussed earlier:

https://srishtirajeev.blogspot.com/2020/04/french-class-3-cafe.html

Je voudrais un gâteau.

I would like a cake.

Je voudrais un gâteau au chocolat.

I would like a chocolate cake.

Je voudrais un gâteau aux fraises.

I would like a strawberry cake.

Conversation:

Marc: Bonjour Annie

Annie: Bonjour Marc.

Serveur: Vous choisissez? ( Have you chosen?/decided)

Marc: Je voudrais un café. Et vous Annie?

Annie: Je voudrais un gâteau au chocolate.

Serveur: D'accord Madame et Monsieur.

...

Serveur: Voilà votre café et votre gâteau au chocolat.

Marc et Annie: Merci. (Thank you)

Serveur: Bon appétit.

Now you can order coffee or cake at a café in France.

Type out your favourite cake in the comments. 

Culture tip:

Why Cake at Birthdays?

Well, Cakes represent our best culinary offering honouring our most loved people. In "olden times" when refined sugar, spices , nuts and dried fruit were expensive, it was a honour to be honoured with cake. Today cake isn't expensive and we have a variety to choose from. But the message remains constant. 

Cake says "you are important and we love you"

http://foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html#cakesymbol

French Class 3: Café

Hello! Learning a new language is like drinking coffee. Once done you want a refill. So here is today's refill.

Café is a universal word.
It is coffee, a beverage.
It also means a café, a small and informal establishment serving various refreshments.

Je voudrais un café.
I want/would like a coffee.

Il y a un café près d'ici.
There is a café nearby here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKHzkP5FgqI

This word is different from the word cafeteria in English.
Merriam-Webster. com defines it as a restaurant especially one for staff or workers, where people collect their meals themselves and carry them to their tables to eat.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cafeteria?utm_campaign=sd&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld

A conversation at a café:

Serveur: Bonjour Madame
Annie: Bonjour, je voudrais un café.
...
Serveur: Bonne soirée Madame.
Annie: Bonne soirée.

Je voudrais une tasse de café
I would like a cup of coffee

The vocabulary related to greetings and expressions in French can be viewed here:
https://srishtirajeev.blogspot.com/2020/04/french-class-2-bonjour.html

Now you can order your coffee at a café in France the right way. 


Culture Tip:
La Semaine du Goût
The Week of Taste or La Semaine du Goût, a registered trademark, is an event around taste and gastronomy, created by Jean-Luc-Petitrenaud in 1990, a culinary jounalist, that takes place for a week during October. It is  partnered by the Minister of Agriculture and Food.Throughout France it promotes culture and culinary heritage and eating well. One of its stated objectives is to educate consumers especially children about tastes.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Semaine_du_Go%C3%BBt

This post is written as a part of #BlogchatterA2Z