Verb drill
The wrong dish in French: explain the mix-up and keep your order
Say what you ordered, identify the dish in front of you and repeat the detail that matters. Practise six short corrections with checked answers.
- A2
- 6 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the A2 notebook →
In short
Say Excusez-moi, j’ai commandé la soupe, mais c’est une salade. Then repeat any detail you want kept: La soupe sans fromage, s’il vous plaît.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
A correction needs two clear pieces of information: your original order and the dish that arrived. Start with excusez-moi, then name both. The server can check the order while you keep the request short.
- Lina
Excusez-moi, j’ai commandé la soupe de légumes, mais c’est une salade.
Excuse me, I ordered the vegetable soup, but this is a salad.
- Serveur
Je vais vérifier. C’était la soupe sans fromage ?
I’ll check. Was it the soup without cheese?
- Lina
Oui, la soupe de légumes sans fromage, s’il vous plaît.
Yes, the vegetable soup without cheese, please.
- Serveur
Je suis désolé. Je reprends la salade et je vous apporte la soupe.
I’m sorry. I’ll take the salad back and bring you the soup.
- Lina
Merci. Il y a combien de temps d’attente ?
Thank you. How long is the wait?
- Serveur
Environ cinq minutes.
About five minutes.
| Purpose | French | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Report the original order | J’ai commandé le poisson. | I ordered the fish. |
| Name the dish served | C’est du poulet. | This is chicken. |
| Repeat a detail | Sans sauce, s’il vous plaît. | Without sauce, please. |
| Change your mind | Finalement, je préfère le poulet. | On second thoughts, I prefer the chicken. |
Name what is on the table
Find:
What do you say when you get the wrong dish in France?
Use the infinitive in each hint to supply the missing form. The first three sentences report an order or a request. The last three describe what the server is going to do.
1 · What you ordered
- J’ai la soupe, mais c’est une salade. (commander)
- Nous avons du riz à la place des frites. (demander)
- J’avais : sans fromage. (préciser)
2 · The server’s next step
- Je vais votre commande. (vérifier)
- Je vais cette assiette. (reprendre)
- Je vais vous la soupe. (apporter)