French word for eat

Talking about food and drink is one of the first things you learn when learning French. We all have to eat. And drink.

That’s why learning verbs manger and boire are on the top of the list when learning French.

French Verbs System

FIRST GROUP: finishes in -ER ( aimer, parler)

SECOND GROUP: finishes in – IR ( finir, partir)

THIRD GROUP: irregular verbs (savoir, vivre)

Every one of these verb categories has specific rules that govern how they change.

Verbs Manger and Boire

Manger – to eat

Boire – to drink

Because of the related meaning, they are often learned together, even though they belong to different verb groups.

How to conjugate Manger

The verb manger is regular, and belongs to the first group of verbs, ending in -er.

Manger is a regular French -er verb, but it is also a spelling-change verb.

This means that it takes all the regular -er endings, but a small spelling change is made to the stem for consistency of pronunciation. The stem is that part of the verb after we delete the ending -er. It looks like this :

manger / mang (stem)

The regular verbs in French, have these endings added to the stem (e, es, e, ons, ez, ent).

The only difference with other completely regular verbs, is that the letter e is added, in order to preserve the pronunciation (mɑ̃ʒɔ̃). If we wouldn’t add e, we would have to pronounce letter (g)

Je mange

Tu manges

Il/Elle mange

Nous mangeons  (mang+e+ons)

Vous mangez

Ils/Elles mangent

Let’s see some examples with the verb manger.

How to conjugate Boire

On the other hand, the verb boire is irregular and belongs to the third group of irregular verbs in French.

Here is the conjugation in Present Tense.

Je bois

Tu bois

Il/Elle boit

Nous buvons

Vous buvez

Ils/Elles boivent

There are plenty of other French verbs that conjugate similarly to boire.

To see how the verb boire conjugates in other modes and tenses, click here. 

Let’s take a look at some examples using the verb boire.

To practice using manger and boire in Present Tense, take an exercise here.

Being Hungry and Thirsty in French

To say l am hungry in French, you’ll have to say J’ai faim. You may notice that instead of using the verb to be, French use the verb to have. The same goes when expressing you are thirsty.

Express Your Cravings in French

Now, that you learned how the French words “to eat”, and “to drink” work in a sentence, it’s time to give yourself a try and create a sentence of your own.

What French food inspires you today ?

Related Posts

     [+food]   manger  
→ I ate my chicken quickly.        
→ Try to eat your food slowly.        
Would you like something to eat?      Est-ce que tu veux manger quelque chose?  
to eat lunch        (US)   déjeuner  
→ We ate lunch together a few times.        
to have sb eating out of one’s hand        (under one’s control)
   faire manger qn dans sa main  

      vi   manger  
→ We took our time and ate slowly.        
→ Let’s go out to eat.        

  
[sea]   saper, éroder  
→ He showed them where the waves were eating the walls away.        

      vi   manger au restaurant  
→ Shall we eat out tonight?        

      vt sep  
eat your heart out, Howard      Howard peut aller se rhabiller  

     [+food]  
(=eat)   manger  
(=finish)   finir  
Eat up your lunch.      Finis ton déjeuner.  

  
(=consume)  
  [+energy]   consommer beaucoup de  
  [+money]   absorber  
→ Rising costs were eating up most of the profits.        
→ Health insurance costs are eating up his income.        
It eats up electricity.      Ça bouffe du courant. *  , Ça consomme beaucoup d’électricité.  

      vi  
come along, eat up!      allons, mangez !  

What is the French word that means ‘to eat’?

The French verb «manger» means to eat.

What is the meaning of the French word ‘mange’?

«manger» is the French verb for «to eat»
«je mange, tu manges» means «I eat, you eat»

What does the French word bubula means?

Bubula is not a French word.

What does the french word heureuse mean?

The French word «heureuse» means «happy.»

What does the the french word facade mean?

The French word facade means front, or frontage.

2) Les verbes formels

Les verbes formels = the formal verbs

Se nourrir (= to eat, to feed on) isn’t really “formal,” especially in written French, but it still sounds quite peculiar in spoken French.

Prendre ses repas is a very formal French way to talk about “eating meals.”

Some formal French verbs for eating sound more clinical, such as ingérer (= to ingest), or even absorber (= to absorb).

Consommer (= To consume) is formal for eating food – yet it’s a common French verb for drinks at a bar : les consommations (= “drinks”, literally “consumptions”).

Finally, se sustenter (= find sustenance) is the most stereotypically formal French verb for eating.
It’s so ornate, formal, a needlessly high-class that it looped back to being used ironically, for levity, as a kind of in-joke.

5) Manger vite

Manger vite (= eating quickly) can be because you’re in a hurry, or just because it’s so good that you can’t pace yourself.

Dévorer (= to devour, to eat ravenously, to eat whole, to eat with hunger) is a common French verb for when you have une faim de loup (= a wolf’s hunger = you’re starving!).

Avaler (= to swallow) is also a sign that you don’t have time to lose.

For example:
Il a avalé son déjeuner et il est parti.
He swallowed his dinner and left.

It’s similar to the colloquial gober (= to swallow whole) that we’ve already seen. Ingurgiter is a close synonym as well, but more formal and ugly-sounding.

Finally, s’empiffrer means “eating quickly so you can eat more” – and it’s a great pastime to have with French cuisine 🙂

QUIZ!

Did you read / watch this lesson?
Here are a few questions to test yourself, so you can improve your knowledge on these French verbs.

How would you say in French:

• To devour?
• To taste something?
• To have breakfast?

(Answers: dévorer / goûter / petit-déjeuner)