Welcome back to our blog! As always, our week begins with an in-depth look at a French word of our choosing. In this edition, we’re looking at goûter.
You can listen to the audio clip below to hear how to pronounce it:
As for its translation, this is an interesting word because it has slightly different translations when used as a verb compared to using it as a noun. But there is no spelling change – the verb infinitive has the exact same spelling as the masculine noun.
For the verb, goûter translates as ‘to taste’ or ‘to have a snack’. If you plan to put this verb to use, it simply follows the regular conjugation pattern for -er verbs.
For the noun, it means ‘a snack (or afternoon snack)’ or something like ‘a bite to eat’. There’s a slight hint about the meaning in the English translation, if you think about the medical condition ‘gout’ with its relationship to certain types of foods.
As a verb, we’ll start with goûter in its transitive use. This means it needs a direct object to make sense. It only works with one of the two verb translations we mentioned:
Voudriez-vous goûter ce chocolat belge ? Would you like to taste this Belgian chocolate?
Je ne goûterais jamais sa cuisine. I would never taste her cooking.
On a goûté un plat marocain – c’était trop bon ! We tasted a Moroccan dish – it was so good!
faire goûter quelque chose à quelqu’un to give someone something to taste
When we use goûter as an intransitive verb, the subject is ‘doing’ the action of goûter, which in this case is having a snack:
Mes collègues goûtent à quinze heures pile. My colleagues have an afternoon snack at three o’clock on the dot.
Autrefois, on goûtait dans le jardin tous les jours. In the past, we used to have an afternoon snack in the garden every day.
Son fils est grincheux parce qu’il n’a pas encore goûté. Her son is grumpy because he hasn’t had his afternoon snack yet.
Now let’s take a closer look at the noun. As we mentioned, the verb infinitive looks exactly the same as the masculine noun, but the noun will usually have an article or contraction before it:
prendre un (petit) goûter to have a (little) snack
Nous avons pris un petit goûter avant de rentrer au travail. We had a little afternoon snack before going back to work.
Au goûter, mes enfants boivent toujours un chocolat chaud. At snack time, my kids always have a hot chocolate.
goûter (m) d’anniversaire children’s birthday party
Finally, there is one more related noun that might be of interest, which you can use in an abstract sense of taste in terms of likes and dislikes, as well as the context of food:
goût taste; flavour
Ma mère a très bon goût. My mother has very good taste.
Cette sauce n’a pas de goût. This sauce has no taste/flavour.
Raquel aime beaucoup le goût fumé. Raquel really likes smoky flavours.
Je n’aime pas les chips au goût fromage. I don’t like cheese flavoured crisps.
Thank you for reading our blog on goûter. If you’re a regular reader, we hope to see you again next week. If you’re new here, then we hope this edition has given you a taste of things to come!
Written by Holly Tarbet, freelance copywriter and editor.
All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.
