I can read a French recipe and understand what to do and in what order — and give a short instruction with vous myself.
What the text is about
What the text is about
You're about to read a French recipe. A recipe is always built the same way: first a list of what to buy, then the steps, then the cooking time and serving. What you need is given with il faut and quantities, and the steps are commands with vous: coupez, ajoutez, servez. You add the pronoun yourself — mettez-le, servez-la; and a negative command looks like this — n'ouvrez pas.
Notice two things. First: “vous pouvez en ajouter” — en replaces “some salt”, so the word isn't repeated (English “you can add some” works the same way). Second: cooking times and heat are always exact — deux minutes, vingt minutes, à feu doux — and English “for” is never pour here: chauffez deux minutes or chauffez pendant deux minutes. The parts of a recipe are in the table.
How a French recipe is built
The four parts always come in this order.
| Part of the recipe | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Ingrédients | what you need and how much |
| Préparation | what you cut and what you put it in |
| Cuisson | how long and on what heat |
| Service | what it's served with |
Lesson notes
What the text is about
You're about to read a French recipe. A recipe is always built the same way: first a list of what to buy, then the steps, then the cooking time and serving. What you need is given with il faut and quantities, and the steps are commands with vous: coupez, ajoutez, servez. You add the pronoun yourself — mettez-le, servez-la; and a negative command looks like this — n'ouvrez pas.
Notice two things. First: “vous pouvez en ajouter” — en replaces “some salt”, so the word isn't repeated (English “you can add some” works the same way). Second: cooking times and heat are always exact — deux minutes, vingt minutes, à feu doux — and English “for” is never pour here: chauffez deux minutes or chauffez pendant deux minutes. The parts of a recipe are in the table.