tasse de café
In French, a cup of coffee is tasse de café.
The phrase tasse de café refers to a serving of coffee contained in a cup. In many social contexts, French speakers will omit the words tasse de and simply say un café to mean a serving of coffee. In France, if you want a larger serving, you can ask for un grand café and if you want a coffee with more water, you can ask for un café allongé.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of tasse (cup), de (of) and café (coffee).
How does it change in a sentence?
Because tasse is a feminine noun, the indefinite article used is une rather than un, as seen in une tasse de café. When making the phrase plural, only the word tasse takes an s. The noun café remains singular because it describes the type of content, resulting in des tasses de café.
Did you know?
- In France, the traditional 'cup of coffee' is often served as a tiny, concentrated shot of espresso, meaning un café is physically much smaller than an American 'cup of coffee'.
- The word tasse traces its ancestry back to the Arabic word ṭās, a term for a vessel or cup. This journey through Middle Persian and Arabic shows how the word for a common household item traveled across many cultures and languages.
Examples in context
- Il a bu une tasse de café.He drank a cup of coffee.This sentence is useful for showing the use of tasse de café in the past tense.Tatoeba #130874 by nimfeo, translation #289816 by CK
- Prenons une tasse de café !Let's get a cup of coffee.This sentence is useful for showing how to suggest getting tasse de café together.Tatoeba #5610675 by sacredceltic, translation #2007514 by CK
- Donne-moi une tasse de café.Give me a cup of coffee.This sentence is useful for showing how to request tasse de café.Tatoeba #1330051 by sacredceltic, translation #62183 by CK
- Je voudrais une tasse de café, s'il vous plaît.I would like a cup of coffee, please.
- Bonjour, un café s'il vous plaît.Hello, a coffee, please.
- Salut, je vais prendre un café.Hi, I'll have a coffee.
- Tu veux une tasse de café?Do you want a cup of coffee?
- Allez, on se boit un p'tit café?Come on, let's have a little coffee together.
- 130 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Manon and Lucas are at a cafe in the morning.
- ManonTu veux une tasse de café ?Do you want a cup of coffee?
- LucasOui, s'il te plaît, Manon.Yes, please, Manon.
- ManonJe commande une tasse de café pour moi aussi.I am ordering a cup of coffee for myself too.
- LucasC'est une excellente idée.That is an excellent idea.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries café, de, tasse, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
