French Dining: Table Manners & Etiquette

Learn about French dining etiquette and all the do’s and don’ts of eating with French people - weird superstitions, unwritten rules, vocabulary and more.
GET MORE FREE FRENCH LESSONS →
www.commeunefrancaise.com/wel...
==== LEARN MORE REAL, EVERYDAY FRENCH - FOR FREE! ====
Want to learn to understand and speak REAL French, not just textbook French? You’re in the right place!
My “Double Your Frenchness” Crash Course will teach you to speak real, practical, everyday French with confidence. It’s 100% free, with 10 lessons delivered right to your inbox.
Click here to sign up for free now → www.commeunefrancaise.com/wel...
=== MORE ABOUT THIS LESSON ===
Did you know that cutting cheese improperly is almost blasphemous in France?
The dinner table has a central place in French culture - so it is really important to be aware of the essential table manners that apply wherever you eat or dine in France. Chances are, you could have been unintentionally breaking one of these etiquettes!
In this video we're covering the french dining etiquette do's and don'ts. Including weird superstitions, unwritten dining rules, some basic french table vocabularies, strange cutlery and even ways to compliment for the good food!
Let’s dig in!
Find the free EXTENDED LESSON and ask me questions about this French lesson on the Comme une Française blog. It includes a full written lesson, with all the French expressions, more specific vocabulary you can use, and extra resources.
Click Here → www.commeunefrancaise.com/blo...
=== PREVIOUS LESSONS TO CATCH UP ON ===
FAN FAVORITE VIDEOS
Watch my most popular videos + read the full written lesson with even more French expressions, French vocabulary, French culture and extra resources.
It’s all 100% free, no subscription needed. :)
FRENCH WORDS TO TALK ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONES
→ www.commeunefrancaise.com/blo...
5 FRENCH WORD PAIRS THAT LOOK LIKE OPPOSITES
→ www.commeunefrancaise.com/blo...
TELLING A STORY IN FRENCH
→ www.commeunefrancaise.com/blo...
=== THE EXTRA MILE: RECOMMENDED PLAYLISTS ===
Our curated playlists of free French lessons, just for you. Improve your French now with the lessons that YOU need.
- “Quick First Steps to Speak French with Confidence”
- “Classic Embarrassing Mistakes From Expats and French Learners”
- “French Slang 101”...
And many more!
Click here, pick your favorite, improve your French skills →
/ commeunefrancaisetv
=== ABOUT GÉRALDINE ===
Bonjour ! I’m Géraldine Lepère, the founder of Comme une Française (= “Like a French woman”) and your new French best friend. :)
Each Tuesday, I share a fun, fresh and bite-sized lesson on French language and French culture-from how to avoid embarrassing mistakes to must-know pop-cultural references!
Since 2012, with more than 7 million views from students in more than 56 countries, I’ve been helping people just like you gain the confidence to really talk in French. I help you go way beyond your “textbook” French from high school, and learn to speak real, practical everyday French.
Keep in touch! You can email me with any questions or to simply say “bonjour” at [e-mail]

[@thirstykayak246]

I love how you use French phrases pertaining to what you’re talking about, and then explain what they mean in English. That’s a fantastic!

[@CurlyAndNerdy101]

When you mentioned the ice rule I laughed so hard!

[@nannybannany]

The first time I went to France I stayed with a Moroccan family so they had mixed manners. For a typical meal they used essentially the French manners. But one night we had a communal family dinner and much more casual (maybe Moroccan?) manners were observed. We all ate from the same giant bowl. It was a great hybrid culture experience!

[@jameskey705]

Excellent advice! You can't go too far wrong by saying "merci" and "s'il vous plait", and paying attention to the cues from your host and tablemates. I also enjoy the enthusiasm with which the lessons are presented.

[@biloz2988]

You’re the best I’ve seen on this subject: you put the French terms used whether expressions or vocab, repeated the French pronunciation twice (as if reading my preference on this point), and demonstrated in action. One draw back (even tho others had done this last point) you stood not in front of a table

[@trishs4503]

Wonderful video!

[@ErosAnteros]

Oh my God, keeping my hands above the table is so difficult! It feels like the exact inverse of what I was taught as a child. .. The rest is exactly the same.

[@danig75]

Visited France recently and this is so accurate that made me laugh. One thing I did was to cut my portion of the cheese right along the crust, thinking it was the least favorite part, next thing I noticed is everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and were staring at me in their most judging way...Ooops, je suis vraiment désolé

[@bakrinahar857]

thank you for new lessons our great teacher

[@nigelspelman3609]

It’s tricky to know how to place your cutlery to indicate you’ve finished eating. In England we place the knife and for together, pointing away from you, fork prongs uppermost, knife blade facing the fork. We do not prop the cutlery on the edge of the plate with the handles on the table, let alone the whole knife\fork on the table. We rarely use cutlery rests and use fresh cutlery for every course. We’ll that’s the theory, but table manners change over time.

[@psonaragiaklamata]

In greece we really eat however we want, we can be loud and we only have a fork and a knife (or a spoon for soups). we can add anything we want too. If the food was nice we will compliment it but usually the host asks if it was nice before we answer

[@saravelasco09]

I appreciate that you shared this with us. It's so important to know the rules before you break them!

[@TL_oS]

I love your channel. Thank you so much for continuing my French education. I am enjoying every video💕

[@moi9064]

You are just fantastic! Thanks for the great lesson!!!

[@redmuller8149]

These are so helpful! I am hoping to move to France one day, I'm American, but I want to learn as much of the language as possible and these videos are so helpful for learning about the culture as well as the language. Merci!

[@christiancoates]

Hi from Ireland Geraldine, just wanted to say you as a teacher, and your channel are brilliant, a super resource I enjoy, and really find so helpful.... merci!

[@welcome2behappy]

Amazing channel and teaching! Thank you!

[@victoriastavish4412]

Merci, Geraldine!

[@alangould7154]

always excellent. it's a long "i" in cheese rind. it's like u're pronouncing the name of the letter.

[@valerieayla4687]

Oh thanks, I loved it! Always good to know! Personally when I am a guest amongst my very diverse group of friends or traveling I rely on the manners I learned in France where I lived during my college years as opposed to the American ones I was brought up with. Moe classy and can't go wrong..if too formal I can adapt them!