Learn French: Nous trinquons à la santé du chef. - We toast to the health of the boss.

The verb trinquer means 'to toast' or 'to clink glasses'. In French, when you toast to something, you use the preposition à. So, 'we toast to the health' becomes nous trinquons à la santé.

Why is it du chef instead of de le chef?

Chef is a masculine noun, so 'the boss' is le chef. When you say 'of the boss', you need the preposition de (of). In French, de and le must always merge to form the mandatory contraction du.

Does chef always mean a cook?

Not at all! While English borrowed the word to mean a professional cook, in French un chef simply means a 'boss', 'chief', or 'leader' in any workplace. If you want to talk about a head cook, you usually specify by saying un chef cuisinier.