In today’s lesson we’ll look at the simple yet highly useful masculine noun repas, which means “meal”. Quel est on repas préféré? What is your favorite meal? Let’s begin!
le repas
meal
Word origin
According to Wiktionary.org, the Modern French masculine noun repas (meal) comes from Old French repast, which in turn comes from pastus (pasture, graze, feeding) in Latin.
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of repas (meals) is: ruh-pah or [ʀəpɑ].
Example sentences
For this first example sentence, we’re using the verb prendre (literally to take) to mean to have or consume a meal.
Combien de repas prends-tu par jour ?
How many meals do you eat per day?
For these next two sentences, déjeuner means “lunch” while petit déjeuner means “breakfast”.
Mon repas préféré est le petit déjeuner.
My favorite meal is breakfast.
Dîner in French is both a noun and a verb, meaning “dinner” and “to dine” or “have dinner”.
Les trois repas sont le petit déjeuner, le déjeuner et le dîner.
The three meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In French the verb préparer (literally to prepare) is used in the context of “making” a meal.
Monsieur DuPont prépare un bon repas pour sa femme.
Mr. DuPont makes a good meal for his wife.
Conclusion
Et voilà ! Now you know how to use repas (meal) in French. Now check out our lesson covering French food vocabulary! Two other posts worth checking out cover the typical French breakfast and lunch.
