Sugar, salt, sweet or savoury? French phrases at the table

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated 23 September 2026 · About the library

Ask for du sucre or du sel, describe a dish as sucré or salé, and choose a sweet or savoury tart. Includes pictures, table phrases and a short quiz.

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3 situations
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In short

Le sucre is sugar; le sel is salt. Sucré describes sweet or sugary food. Salé means salty, or savoury when you are choosing a type of dish: une tarte salée.

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An apple tart and a vegetable tart sit beside sugar cubes and salt. — Choose une tarte sucrée or une tarte salée. Illustration: Atelier

Ingredients and dishes

Ingredient or description?

You mean	French	Example
some sugar	du sucre	Ajoute un peu de sucre.
some salt	du sel	Il y a trop de sel.
sweet, masculine	sucré	un dessert sucré
sweet, feminine	sucrée	une boisson sucrée
salty, masculine plural	salés	des biscuits salés
savoury, feminine plural	salées	des tartes salées

With your coffee

Host or serverVous prenez du sucre ?Do you take sugar?

YouNon merci, un café sans sucre, s’il vous plaît.No thanks, a coffee without sugar, please.

YouUn morceau de sucre, s’il vous plaît.One sugar cube, please.

Choosing lunch

Host or serverVous préférez une tarte sucrée ou une tarte salée ?Would you prefer a sweet tart or a savoury tart?

YouUne tarte salée, s’il vous plaît. Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dedans ?A savoury tart, please. What’s in it?

Host or serverDes tomates, des courgettes et du fromage.Tomatoes, courgettes and cheese.

Around the table

YouTu peux me passer le sel ?Can you pass me the salt?

Host or serverBien sûr. Tu veux goûter la soupe ?Of course. Would you like to taste the soup?

YouOui, merci. Elle est un peu trop salée à mon goût.Yes, thanks. It’s a little too salty for my taste.

What is the difference between sucre, sel, sucré and salé?

Je voudrais une compote sans sucre ajouté.

I’d like a compote with no added sugar.

Cette compote est peu sucrée.

This compote is not very sweet.

Ce jus est trop sucré pour moi.

This juice is too sweet for me.

Sans sucre ajouté refers to added sugar; peu sucré describes a low degree of sweetness; trop sucré says there is more sweetness than you want. Keep the accent in the adjective: sucre is the ingredient, sucré is the description. Add -e with a feminine noun and -s for the plural.

With your coffee

Choosing lunch

Around the table

What is the difference between sucre, sel, sucré and salé?

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