À la cafétéria, je ne prends ni sandwich ni pizza.

It means neither ... nor.

So je ne prends ni sandwich ni pizza means I’m taking neither a sandwich nor pizza / I’m not taking either a sandwich or pizza.

In French, ni ... ni is used to connect two or more things that are both being rejected.

Because ni ... ni replaces pas here.

French normally uses ne ... pas for simple negation:

• Je ne prends pas de sandwich.

But when you say neither X nor Y, French usually uses:

• Je ne prends ni X ni Y.

So ni ... ni carries the negative idea, and pas is not used with it in the standard structure.

After ni ... ni, French often drops the articles when speaking generally.

So:

• ni sandwich ni pizza is natural in the same way as:
• ni thé ni café
• ni frère ni sœur

If you wanted to emphasize specific single items, you could say:

• ni un sandwich ni une pizza

But in a general cafeteria-choice sentence, leaving the articles out sounds very normal.

Prends is the first-person singular present form of the irregular verb prendre, which means to take.

Present tense:

• je prends
• tu prends
• il/elle prend
• nous prenons
• vous prenez
• ils/elles prennent

So je prends means I take or I am taking, depending on context.

In French, prendre is often used when choosing food, drinks, or menu items.

For example:

• Je prends un café. = I’ll have a coffee.
• Tu prends quoi ? = What are you having?

So in a cafeteria context, prendre is the normal verb for taking/ordering/having something.

The nouns still have gender even when the articles are omitted.

• sandwich is masculine: un sandwich
• pizza is feminine: une pizza

The article disappears here because of the ni ... ni construction, not because the nouns have no gender.

Here à la cafétéria means at the cafeteria or in the cafeteria, depending on the context.

French often uses à for places where something happens:

• à l’école = at school
• au bureau = at the office
• à la cafétéria = at the cafeteria

It is less about the physical inside of the building and more about the setting or location of the action.

Yes, but it is slightly different in feel.

• à la cafétéria = at the cafeteria, in that setting
• dans la cafétéria = inside the cafeteria, physically within it

In this sentence, à la cafétéria sounds very natural because it refers to the place where the food choice is being made.

It is there for emphasis or to set the scene first.

French can move that kind of place expression around:

• À la cafétéria, je ne prends ni sandwich ni pizza.
• Je ne prends ni sandwich ni pizza à la cafétéria.

Putting it first highlights the setting: as for the cafeteria / at the cafeteria.

Because À la cafétéria is an introductory phrase placed before the main clause.

The comma helps show a small pause:

• À la cafétéria, | je ne prends ni sandwich ni pizza.

It is a very normal punctuation choice when a sentence begins with a short setting phrase like this.

Because French accents are kept on capital letters too.

So the preposition is still à, just written with a capital because it starts the sentence:

• à → À

Learners sometimes leave accents off capitals, but standard French keeps them.

Yes, in informal spoken French, many speakers would drop ne and say:

• Je prends ni sandwich ni pizza.

But in standard written French, and in careful speech, ne is kept:

• Je ne prends ni sandwich ni pizza.

So for learning and writing, the full form with ne is the safest choice.

A rough pronunciation guide would be:

zhuh nuh prahn nee sahn-dweech nee peet-sa

A few useful points:

• prends: the final ds is not pronounced
• ni sounds like nee
• sandwich in French is usually pronounced something like sahn-dweech
• pizza is usually peet-sa

The exact pronunciation will vary by speaker, but those are the main sounds to notice.