Learn French: C'est le serveur avec la bière et l'addition. - That is the waiter with the beer and the bill.

C'est le serveur avec la bière et l'addition.

That is the waiter with the beer and the bill.

Breakdown of C'est le serveur avec la bière et l'addition.

être

to be

it / this (with être)

and

avec

with

Questions & Answers about C'est le serveur avec la bière et l'addition.

Is the word bière a form of the verb boire (to drink)?

No, bière is a noun meaning beer. It looks a little similar and is obviously related to drinking, which is why it appears alongside this lesson's verbs! A conjugated form of the verb would look like je bois (I drink) or il boit (he drinks).

Why do we use C'est (It is/That is) instead of Il est (He is) when talking about the waiter?

In French, you use C'est to identify someone when you use a noun with an article (a word like the or a), such as le serveur (the waiter). You would only use Il est if you were stating his profession without the article, like Il est serveur (He is a waiter).

Does l'addition mean the same thing as addition in math?

It does, but in a restaurant or café, l'addition specifically means the bill or the check. You can think of it as the literal addition (adding up) of the prices for everything you ordered!

Why is it l'addition instead of la addition?

The word addition is feminine, so its word for the is la. However, French doesn't like having two vowel sounds right next to each other. Because addition starts with a vowel, the a in la is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe to make it flow better.