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Je voudrais une tasse de thé.

Je voudrais une tasse de thé.
I would like a cup of tea.
From Lesson 51:Polite requests (je voudrais)·French

Breakdown of Je voudrais une tasse de thé.

le thé
the tea
la tasse
the cup
je voudrais
I would like

Questions & Answers about Je voudrais une tasse de thé.

Why use Je voudrais instead of Je veux (I want)?
Je voudrais means "I would like". In French, just like in English, saying "I want" (Je veux) sounds too direct and slightly rude when you are ordering food or asking for a favor. Je voudrais is the standard, polite way to make a request.
Why is it une tasse and not un tasse?
In French, every noun has a gender (masculine or feminine). The word for cup, tasse, is feminine, so you must use the feminine word for "a" or "one", which is une.
Why is it de thé instead of du thé? I thought "some tea" was du thé.
You are right that "some tea" is du thé. However, when you use a specific container or measurement, like "a cup of" (une tasse de), you drop the little word for "the" that usually comes after. Expressions of quantity always use just de (or d' before a vowel). So it is une tasse de thé, never une tasse du thé.
What is the purpose of the accent mark in the word thé?
The accent pointing up and to the right is called an acute accent. It tells you to pronounce the letter e a bit like the "ay" in the English word "play". Without it, an e at the end of a short word would sound more like the "uh" in "sofa".

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