Checking a restaurant order | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Je veux vérifier la commande avant que le repas arrive.

   I want to check the order before the food comes.

   Je veux

   I want

   vérifier

   to check

   commande

   order

   avant que

   before

   repas

   food

   arrive

   comes

   More detail

   Je veux means “I want.” veux is the first-person singular present form of vouloir (“to want”); the subject Je identifies the speaker. This construction is followed by an infinitive to express what the speaker wants to do: Je veux dormir. — “I want to sleep.” vérifier means “to check.” It is the infinitive of vérifier, used here after veux; French does not use a separately conjugated verb after this form of vouloir. Example: Je veux vérifier le prix. — “I want to check the price.” commande means “order” here, specifically the order being checked. It is the feminine singular noun commande; the article la marks that grammatical gender and number. The same noun can refer to an order placed for goods or food, depending on context. Example: La commande est prête. — “The order is ready.” avant que means “before” and introduces an event or clause. In French, avant que is followed by the subjunctive. Here it connects checking the order with the later event involving the meal. Example: Pars avant qu'il arrive. — “Leave before he arrives.” repas means “meal.” It is a masculine singular noun. In this sentence, the fixed translation uses “food” for the intended meaning, so le repas refers to the meal in the relevant situation rather than to food as an uncountable substance in general. Example: Le repas est prêt. — “The meal is ready.” arrive means “comes” here. It is the third-person singular present subjunctive form of arriver, agreeing with singular le repas. This form is spelled the same as the third-person singular present indicative form, but avant que supplies the reason for the subjunctive here. Example: Nous partons avant qu'elle arrive. — “We leave before she arrives.” Together, Je veux vérifier la commande means “I want to check the order,” and avant que le repas arrive means “before the food comes.” The complete utterance therefore means: “I want to check the order before the food comes.”

2. C'est plus facile de corriger les erreurs avant qu'ils commencent à cuisiner.

   It's easier to fix mistakes before they start cooking.

   C'est plus facile

   It's easier

   de corriger les erreurs

   to fix the mistakes

   avant qu'ils commencent à cuisiner

   before they start cooking

   More detail

   The sentence means: “It’s easier to fix mistakes before they start cooking.” “C’est plus facile de + infinitive” means “it’s easier to …”; “avant que” introduces a subordinate clause and is followed here by the subjunctive “commencent.”

3. J'ai demandé une soupe sans oignons.

   I asked for soup without onions.

   demandé

   asked for

   soupe

   soup

   sans oignons

   without onions

   oignons

   onions

   More detail

   demandé is the past participle of demander, “to ask for” or “to request.” Here it appears with j’ai in the passé composé: j’ai demandé = “I asked for.” The auxiliary ai is the first-person singular present form of avoir; demandé itself does not mark the person. Example: J’ai demandé un café. — “I asked for a coffee.” soupe means “soup.” It is a feminine noun, as shown by une soupe; une agrees with it in feminine singular. The article introduces a non-specific soup here, without by itself asserting a numerical count. sans oignons is the reusable pattern sans + noun, meaning “without [noun].” In this phrase, sans is followed directly by the plural noun, with no article. Example: un sandwich sans fromage — “a sandwich without cheese.” oignons means “onions” here. Its singular form is oignon, and oignons is its plural form. The plural presents onions as the ingredient being excluded rather than naming one particular onion. The noun also appears inside the larger pattern sans oignons. Together, j’ai demandé expresses a completed request, une soupe identifies what was requested, and sans oignons specifies the requested condition. The whole utterance means: “I asked for soup without onions.”

4. Et j'ai demandé une salade sans sauce.

   And I asked for salad with no dressing.

   Et

   And

   j'ai demandé

   I asked for

   salade

   salad

   sans sauce

   without dressing

   More detail

   Et means “and” and links this utterance to something already mentioned. It is a coordinating conjunction; it does not add a new time or cause relation by itself. j'ai demandé is the first-person singular past form of demander, “to ask for” here. It uses present avoir (j'ai) plus the past participle demandé; together they form the passé composé for a completed past request. The reusable pattern is J'ai demandé + [thing]: “I asked for [thing].” Example: J'ai demandé un café. — “I asked for a coffee.” salade is the noun “salad.” In the utterance, une before it marks a singular, feminine noun phrase: une salade. French nouns have grammatical gender, so the accompanying article must agree; the noun itself remains salade in this form. Example: Je prépare une salade. — “I am preparing a salad.” sans sauce means “without dressing” in this context. sans is the preposition “without,” and sauce is a feminine noun meaning “sauce”; here the fixed translation identifies the intended kind of sauce as salad dressing. The pattern sans + noun expresses absence or exclusion: une salade sans fromage means “a salad without cheese.” Together, Et adds this statement to what came before, j'ai demandé presents a completed request, and une salade sans sauce specifies what was requested and the requested omission. The whole utterance therefore expresses an additional past request for a salad with no dressing.

5. Le dessert devrait être servi après le repas.

   The dessert should come after the meal.

   dessert

   dessert

   devrait

   should

   être servi

   be served

   après

   after

   repas

   meal

   More detail

   dessert means dessert here. It is a masculine French noun; its plural is desserts. The article is omitted in this quote because le is a separate word before it; together, le dessert means “the dessert.” devrait expresses what is expected or appropriate: “should.” It is a form of devoir, with the conditional ending for il/elle/on: il devrait. Compare present il doit (“he/it must” or “has to”) with conditional il devrait (“he/it should”). Here, devrait gives a recommendation or expectation rather than a direct command. être servi is a passive construction: être (“to be”) plus the past participle servi (“served”) of servir (“to serve”). The dessert is the thing receiving the serving, so French uses être servi, not an active form meaning that the dessert serves something. The past participle agrees with the subject: Le dessert devrait être servi; with a feminine singular subject, for example, La soupe devrait être servie means “The soup should be served.” après means “after” and introduces what comes later in time or order. The reusable pattern après + noun appears in après le repas, “after the meal.” avant is the contrasting word for “before.” repas means meal. It is a masculine noun, so le repas means “the meal.” Its plural is repas as well; the written form does not change, although the article or other surrounding words can show the plural: les repas, “the meals.” Together, le dessert is the subject, devrait être servi says that it should be served, and après le repas specifies the time or order. The complete utterance therefore means: “The dessert should come after the meal.”

6. Je vais demander au serveur de tout confirmer.

   I'll ask the server to confirm everything.

   Je vais

   I’m going to; I will

   demander

   ask

   serveur

   server

   tout

   everything

   confirmer

   confirm

   More detail

   Je vais combines the subject pronoun je (“I”) with vais, the first-person singular present form of aller (“to go”). With an infinitive after it, aller + infinitive forms the near future: Je vais demander means “I’m going to ask” or “I will ask.” The form vais agrees with je; it is not the infinitive aller. demander means “to ask.” A useful pattern is demander à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose: “to ask someone to do something.” Here, demander au serveur de... introduces the person being asked and the requested action. The infinitive remains demander because it follows vais. serveur means “server” here, the person being addressed or asked in the situation. The preceding au is the contracted form of à le (“to the”); together, au serveur means “the server” as the person to whom the request is made. The noun serveur can have other meanings in other contexts, including “server” in computing, but the fixed translation supports the person-related meaning here. tout means “everything” in this sentence. It is a pronoun referring to the complete set of things to be confirmed; the supplied sentence does not specify which individual things those are. In other contexts, tout can also function differently, so its role here comes from its position as the object of confirmer and from the fixed translation. confirmer means “to confirm.” It is an infinitive after de in the pattern demander à quelqu’un de + infinitive: demander au serveur de confirmer means “ask the server to confirm.” Example: Je lui demande de vérifier. — “I ask him or her to check.” Putting the parts together, Je vais demander expresses the speaker’s near-future action, au serveur identifies the person being asked, and de tout confirmer gives the requested action and its object. The complete meaning is: “I’ll ask the server to confirm everything.”