café moyen
A medium coffee in French is café moyen.
When ordering, a full polite request is Un café de taille moyenne, s'il vous plaît, a medium-sized coffee, please. You can also say Je vais prendre un café de taille moyenne, s'il vous plaît, I will have a medium-sized coffee, please.
Which one should you use?
moyen is correct for size, but in many French cafés people name the type of coffee instead, such as un café allongé. Where a place has set sizes, the usual words are petit, moyen and grand.
How does it change in a sentence?
café is masculine, so the adjective stays moyen. In café de taille moyenne, the adjective agrees with taille, which is feminine.
Did you know?
- If you order a café without specifying size in a traditional French bistro, you will likely receive a tiny, potent shot of espresso.
- The word café traces its long history back to the Turkish word 'kahve', which was originally derived from the Arabic 'qahwa'.
- While moyen describes the size, French has a specific word allongé to describe a coffee that has been 'lengthened' with more water.
Example conversation
Emma and Gabriel are at a coffee shop.
- EmmaSalut Gabriel ! Qu'est-ce que tu veux ?Hi Gabriel! What do you want?
- GabrielJe vais prendre un café moyen.I'll have a medium coffee.
- EmmaD'accord. Et pour moi, un petit café.Okay. And for me, a small coffee.
- GabrielC'est noté, je commande pour nous deux.Got it, I'll order for both of us.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries café, moyen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
