Phrasebook
French dining phrases when you have not chosen yet
Use French phrases for needing more time before ordering: ask for two minutes, wait for a friend, clarify one dish and then signal that you are ready.
- A1
- 24 phrases
- 4 situations
- Learn this in the A1 notebook →
In short
Say Pas encore, merci. Vous pouvez nous laisser encore deux minutes ? when you need more time. If you are waiting for someone, add J’attends une amie. Once you have decided, Nous avons choisi tells the server you are ready to order.
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The server’s question Vous avez choisi ? asks whether you have decided. You can answer it briefly and give the next useful detail: a little more time, an arriving friend or one question about a dish. These four scenes follow that path from an unfinished choice to a clear order.
Ask for a little time
You have the menu but have not finished reading it.
Wait for your friend
Your friend has not arrived, so you postpone choosing food.
Ask one question before choosing
You need one detail about the two options.
Signal that you are ready
You have now decided and can give one clear order.
Pas encore answers the question without ending the visit
Pas encore means not yet. It indicates that you have not chosen at this point, while leaving room to choose later. Merci keeps the short answer courteous. Encore deux minutes makes the request concrete; un petit moment is a less exact alternative when you do not need to name a number of minutes.
Un petit moment, s’il vous plaît.
A little moment, please.
J’attends names what you are waiting for
J’attends une amie uses attendre directly with the person: no pour is needed before une amie. En attendant means in the meantime. In the second scene, the food order waits, while the speaker accepts water. That reply does not order the meal or make a decision for the friend who has not arrived.
Give a clear signal once you have decided
Nous avons choisi is useful when the server has already given you time. Je vais prendre introduces the selected dish. If ordering for a friend, repeat their choice accurately rather than using an ambiguous la même chose unless you really mean the same dish. The last scene names one salad and one soup.