bouteille de vin
Bottle of wine in French is bouteille de vin.
bouteille de vin is the everyday phrase. French often drops the word wine and names the color instead, with rouge, blanc or rosé.
What does it mean word for word?
de works like of and shows what the bottle contains.
How does it change in a sentence?
bouteille is feminine, so it is une bouteille de vin. In the plural only the bottle changes, bouteilles de vin.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not say bouteille du vin. After a container word, French uses plain de, not du.
Did you know?
- When ordering a bouteille de vin in a French restaurant, the server will often present the bottle and wait for your verbal approval before opening it.
- The word bouteille comes from the Late Latin butticula, which originally referred to a small cask or barrel.
- If you are sharing a bouteille de vin among friends, the phrase faire tourner la bouteille describes the act of passing the bottle around the table.
Examples in context
- Où est la bouteille de vin ?Where is the bottle of wine?la bouteille de vin refers to one specific bottle.Tatoeba #7001881 by felix63, translation #7003107 by Eccles17
- Ouvrons une bouteille de vin.Let's open a bottle of wine.Ouvrons is the let's form of the verb to open.Tatoeba #6637526 by Aiji, translation #3392610 by CK
- Donne-moi une bouteille de vin.Give me a bottle of wine.Donne-moi is an informal request to one person.Tatoeba #134934 by Julien_PDC, translation #34313 by CK
- Une bouteille de Château MargauxA bottle of Château Margaux
- Je voudrais une bouteille de vin de Bourgogne, s'il vous plaîtI would like a bottle of Burgundy wine, please
- 46 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucas and Manon are at a grocery store.
- LucasManon, il nous faut une bouteille de vin.Manon, we need a bottle of wine.
- ManonD'accord, Lucas. Quel type de vin ?Okay, Lucas. What kind of wine?
- LucasPrends une bouteille de vin rouge.Get a bottle of red wine.
- ManonTrès bien, je la prends.Very well, I'll take it.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bouteille, de, vin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
