Gap-fill
Nourriture, aliments, alimentation: a French food gap-fill
Talk about food in general, individual foods and everyday eating habits. Learn the nouns with six pictures and an eight-gap picnic story.
- B1
- 8 gaps
- Translation included
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
La nourriture is food in general: apporter de la nourriture. Un aliment is a food or type of food, often when you group or describe foods. L’alimentation is someone’s diet or pattern of eating: une alimentation variée.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Focus | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| Food brought along | Nous avons apporté de la nourriture. | We brought food. |
| A particular type of food | Le pain est un aliment. | Bread is a food. |
| Several types of food | Nous avons choisi plusieurs aliments. | We chose several foods. |
| Usual eating habits | Son alimentation comprend beaucoup de légumes. | Their diet includes lots of vegetables. |
Six foods for the picnic
Find:
What is the difference between nourriture, aliments and alimentation?
Il y a beaucoup de nourriture, mais seulement trois sortes de fromage.
There is a lot of food, but only three kinds of cheese.
Nous classons les aliments selon leur texture.
We group the foods according to their texture.
Use de la nourriture, un peu de nourriture or beaucoup de nourriture for an amount. To count, name the foods, portions or kinds: deux pommes, trois morceaux, plusieurs aliments. In a recipe, a component is un ingrédient: le riz est un ingrédient de cette salade.
Alimentation describes the pattern
Depuis son déménagement, son alimentation a changé : il cuisine plus souvent.
Since his move, his eating habits have changed: he cooks more often.
Alimentation is feminine, even in son alimentation. Before a feminine noun starting with a vowel, use son, rather than sa: son alimentation est variée. For the meal in front of you, name the dish: une salade de riz. For usual eating, use alimentation.
The same noun has a technical meaning: une alimentation électrique is a power supply. In un magasin d’alimentation, it identifies a food shop. The word beside alimentation tells you which meaning fits.
Complete all eight gaps with the noun named in the cue
Le pique-nique de samedi
Samedi, nous préparons un pique-nique. Chacun apporte de la (food in general) à partager. Dans mon panier, il y a du pain, du fromage et des pommes. Le pain est un (one food) facile à transporter.
Lina organise les (several foods) sur la table : les fruits d’un côté, les légumes de l’autre. « Depuis que je cuisine davantage, mon (eating pattern) a changé », dit-elle.
Nous parlons de nos repas habituels. Lina décrit une (diet) variée. Paul range les (foods) qui restent dans des boîtes. Il reste assez de (food in general) pour le soir. Avant de partir, nous passons au magasin d’(food shop) pour acheter du pain.
Read it in English
On Saturday, we prepare a picnic. Everyone brings food to share. My basket contains bread, cheese and apples. Bread is a food that is easy to carry.
Lina arranges the foods on the table: fruit on one side, vegetables on the other. “Since I’ve been cooking more, my eating habits have changed,” she says.
We talk about our usual meals. Lina describes a varied diet. Paul puts the remaining foods into containers. There is enough food left for the evening. Before leaving, we stop at the food shop to buy bread.