Buying breakfast groceries | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Qu'est-ce qu'on doit acheter aujourd'hui ?

   What should we buy today?

   Qu'est-ce qu'on doit acheter

   what we should buy

   aujourd'hui

   today

   More detail

   The sentence asks what we should buy today. “Qu'est-ce que” introduces a question about something, “on” means “we” here, and “doit acheter” means “must/should buy.”

2. Il nous faut des choses pour le petit-déjeuner de demain.

   We need things for tomorrow's breakfast.

   Il nous faut

   we need

   des choses

   things

   pour

   for

   petit-déjeuner

   breakfast

   demain

   tomorrow

   More detail

   Il nous faut means “we need” here. French uses the impersonal verb falloir in this pattern: il faut = “it is necessary,” and nous identifies the people for whom something is necessary. The form faut is the present-tense form used with impersonal il; it is not an ordinary verb agreeing with nous. Compare Il me faut un stylo. — “I need a pen.” Des choses means “things.” Chose is a feminine noun, and choses is its plural form. Des is the indefinite plural article; here it does not state an exact number. Example: J’achète des choses utiles. — “I’m buying useful things.” Pour introduces the purpose or intended use: “for.” In this sentence, it connects the needed things with breakfast. Example: C’est pour demain. — “It is for tomorrow.” Petit-déjeuner is the noun “breakfast,” commonly used with the masculine article: le petit-déjeuner. It is a compound word written with a hyphen. Do not confuse the noun with the verb expression prendre le petit-déjeuner, “to have breakfast.” Demain is the adverb “tomorrow,” referring to the day after the day under discussion. It does not change form for person or number. Example: Nous partons demain. — “We are leaving tomorrow.” Together, Il nous faut des choses says that some things are needed by the speaker and others included with nous; pour le petit-déjeuner gives their purpose, and de demain specifies which breakfast. The complete meaning is: “We need things for tomorrow’s breakfast.”

3. Alors, il nous faut du pain et du beurre.

   Then we need bread and butter.

   Alors

   then

   il nous faut

   we need

   pain

   bread

   beurre

   butter

   More detail

   Alors means “then” here and introduces the next point in the conversation. It can also mean “so” when it introduces a conclusion or consequence; the intended sense here is the sequence-linking “then.” il nous faut is a reusable French pattern meaning “we need.” It is built from falloir, an impersonal verb, in the present form il faut, with nous marking the people for whom something is needed. In this construction, il is a grammatical subject rather than an identified person. Compare il me faut = “I need” and il leur faut = “they need” or “those people need.” pain means “bread.” In du pain, it refers to an unspecified amount of bread rather than stating a count. Example: Je veux du pain. — “I want some bread.” beurre means “butter.” In du beurre, it likewise refers to an unspecified amount of butter. Example: Il faut du beurre. — “Butter is needed.” The two noun groups are joined by et, “and”: du pain et du beurre. Here du is the partitive form used before these masculine singular nouns. It presents an unspecified amount of each food; it does not by itself state a numerical count. Putting the parts together, Alors introduces the statement, il nous faut says that the speakers need something, and du pain et du beurre names the two needed foods. The complete meaning is: “Then we need bread and butter.”

4. Est-ce qu'il nous faut aussi du yaourt ?

   Do we need yogurt too?

   Est-ce qu'

   question marker

   il nous faut

   we need

   aussi

   too; also

   yaourt

   yogurt

   More detail

   Est-ce qu' is a standard way to form a yes/no question in French. It does not add a separate meaning such as “is it”; it marks the following statement as a question. For example: Est-ce que tu viens ? — “Are you coming?” il nous faut uses the present-tense expression il faut, from falloir, meaning that something is needed. In this construction, il is an impersonal grammatical subject, not a person referred to by the sentence. nous means “to us” or “for us” and identifies who needs something. The useful pattern is il me/te/lui/nous/vous/leur faut + thing: Il me faut de l'eau. — “I need water.” The form faut is the present form used in this impersonal construction; useful related forms include il fallait (“it was necessary / we needed”) and il faudra (“it will be necessary / we will need”). aussi means “too” or “also” here. It adds this item to something already under consideration. Its position after il nous faut is natural in this question. For example: Il nous faut aussi des œufs. — “We need eggs too.” yaourt is the noun “yogurt.” In the sentence, it follows du: du yaourt. Here du is the partitive form used for an unspecified amount of a masculine mass noun; it is not a claim that there is one yogurt. The noun is masculine, as shown by du in this phrase. For a countable item, French can instead use a plural form, as in des yaourts — “yogurts.” Together, Est-ce qu' turns the question into a yes/no question, il nous faut expresses need, aussi adds another needed item, and du yaourt names the unspecified amount of yogurt. The complete meaning is: “Do we need yogurt too?”

5. Je veux le manger avec de la confiture de fraises.

   I want to eat it with strawberry jam.

   Je veux

   I want

   le

   it

   manger

   to eat

   avec

   with

   de la confiture

   jam

   fraises

   strawberries

   More detail

   Je veux uses the present-tense first-person singular form of vouloir (“to want”): je veux, “I want.” In French, vouloir is commonly followed by an infinitive to express what someone wants to do: Je veux dormir. — “I want to sleep.” The subject is je, and veux is the form that agrees with it; it is not the infinitive itself. le is a masculine singular direct-object pronoun. Here, the fixed translation identifies its meaning as “it,” referring to the thing being eaten, without specifying that thing further. French object pronouns normally come before the conjugated verb: Je le vois. — “I see it.” The form la is used for a feminine singular direct object, while les is used for a plural direct object; these forms are grammatical contrasts, not additional information about the unnamed object here. manger is the infinitive “to eat.” After veux, it stays in the infinitive because veux expresses the wanting and manger names the desired action. Compare Je veux manger. — “I want to eat.” With the object pronoun included, Je veux le manger means “I want to eat it”; the pronoun is placed before the infinitive in this verb combination. avec is the preposition “with.” It introduces something accompanying an action or another thing: Je mange avec une cuillère. — “I eat with a spoon.” de la confiture means “jam.” Confiture is a feminine singular noun, so the partitive article is de la: de la confiture. This expresses an unspecified amount or substance, not a stated numeric quantity. For a masculine singular mass noun, French uses du, as in du yaourt — “some yogurt”; for a plural noun, it uses des in comparable contexts. fraises is the plural noun “strawberries.” In confiture de fraises, de fraises identifies the kind or flavor of jam: “strawberry jam.” The noun fraises is plural because the expression refers to strawberries generally; it does not mean that a particular number of strawberries is being counted here. Compare de la confiture d’abricots — “apricot jam.” Together, Je veux expresses the speaker’s desire, le manger expresses the action “eat it,” and avec de la confiture de fraises adds what accompanies that action: “with strawberry jam.” The complete utterance is therefore: “I want to eat it with strawberry jam.”

6. Alors, prenons du yaourt et de la confiture.

   Then let's get yogurt and jam.

   Alors

   then / so

   prenons

   let's get

   du yaourt

   some yogurt

   de la confiture

   some jam

   More detail

   Alors introduces the next step: “then” or “so.” Here it links the suggestion to what has just been said. Example: Alors, on commence. — “So, we’re starting.” prenons is the first-person plural imperative of prendre (“to take” or “to get”). In this sentence, prenons means “let’s get,” presenting an action for the speaker and the listener together. The imperative form for “let’s” uses the first-person plural form: prendre → prenons. Example: Prenons le bus. — “Let’s take the bus.” du yaourt means “some yogurt.” yaourt is a masculine noun, so the partitive form is du, historically de + le. The partitive presents an unspecified amount or quantity; it does not by itself assert a particular number. With a feminine noun, French uses de la, as in de la confiture. de la confiture means “some jam.” confiture is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine partitive form de la. The same noun phrase can be made more specific by adding a modifier, for example de la confiture de fraises — “some strawberry jam.” Together, Alors, prenons du yaourt et de la confiture. means “Then let’s get yogurt and jam.” Alors sets up the next step; prenons includes the speaker and listener in the suggestion; and the two partitive noun phrases identify the foods to get without specifying exact quantities.