How to Say Cooking Actions in French: chop, boil, fry, bake, mix
Learn French verbs for cooking actions and build sentences like 'Je coupe les oignons' (I chop the onions), with pronunciation and everyday kitchen examples.
By MarcusFood & cafés · Yapr Learn
In this lesson you will learn French verbs for common cooking actions: chopping, boiling, frying, baking and mixing. The goal is not to name foods, but to say what you do to them. You will practise the pattern je + verb + article + noun, for example Je coupe les oignons (I chop the onions). All verbs here are regular -er verbs, the largest and most predictable verb group in French, so once you know the pattern you can swap in many other kitchen actions.
By the end, you can…
- name five common cooking actions in French.
- say simple sentences like 'Je coupe les oignons' and 'Je fais bouillir l'eau'.
- use definite articles correctly with cooking ingredients.
Listen once. Try it slowly. Then say it without looking.
Checking available voices…
Je coupe les oignons.
I chop the onions.
zhuh koop lay zoh-nyon
Couper means 'to cut' or 'to chop'. Use les for specific plural ingredients you have already mentioned or that are clear from context.
Je fais bouillir l'eau.
I boil the water.
zhuh fay boo-weer loh
French uses faire bouillir (literally 'make boil') for boiling. L'eau contracts from le + eau; eau is feminine.
Je fais frire les pommes de terre.
I fry the potatoes.
zhuh fay freer lay pom duh tehr
Faire frire is the standard everyday way to say 'to fry'. Pommes de terre literally means 'apples of the earth'.
Je fais cuire le pain au four.
I bake the bread in the oven.
zhuh fay kweer luh pan oh foor
For baking, French commonly uses faire cuire (cook) + au four (in the oven), rather than a single verb like English 'bake'.
Je mélange les ingrédients.
I mix the ingredients.
zhuh may-lanzh lay zan-gray-dyan
Mélanger is a regular -er verb. Note the cedilla in related forms like je mélange ça, keeping the soft s sound.
Pronunciation guides are approximate. Slow playback keeps the original pitch.
Make it make sense
Useful pattern
Most cooking action verbs are regular -er verbs. Remove -er and add the ending for je: -e. Thus couper becomes je coupe, mélanger becomes je mélange, and ajouter becomes j'ajoute. For boiling, frying and baking, French often prefers faire + infinitive: je fais bouillir, je fais frire, je fais cuire. This faire + infinitive structure is extremely common and lets you describe many actions without learning a new conjugated verb each time.
When to use it
Use je coupe and je mélange when you personally perform the action. Use the definite article (le, la, les) for ingredients you are treating as specific: Je coupe les oignons, Je mélange la farine. Use the partitive (du, de la, des) when you mean some unspecified amount: Je coupe des oignons (I chop some onions). In recipes, French often uses the infinitive or vous form: Coupez les oignons, Mélangez la farine. For boiling water, je fais bouillir l'eau is more natural than a direct verb.
Listen to each line, then take one part and reply out loud.
Qu'est-ce que tu fais pour le dîner ?
What are you making for dinner?kess-kuh too fay poor luh dee-nayJe coupe les oignons et je mélange les ingrédients.
I chop the onions and I mix the ingredients.zhuh koop lay zoh-nyon ay zhuh may-lanzh lay zan-gray-dyanTu fais bouillir l'eau aussi ?
Are you boiling the water too?too fay boo-weer loh oh-seeOui, et après je fais frire les pommes de terre.
Yes, and afterwards I fry the potatoes.wee, ay ah-pray zhuh fay freer lay pom duh tehrA little context goes a long way
In France, recipes and cooking shows often use the infinitive or imperative for instructions, while home cooks speaking to family use je or tu forms. In Quebec and other Francophone regions, faire frire and faire bouillir are understood, but you may also hear cuire for cooking generally. Register matters: je coupe is neutral and everyday, while je procède à la découpe des oignons is formal and would sound odd in a kitchen conversation.
One thing to watch for
Saying 'Je cuis les oignons' to mean 'I cook the onions', by analogy with je coupe.
Try this instead: Cuire is not used this way in everyday speech. Use faire cuire or simply cuisiner: Je fais cuire les oignons or Je cuisine les oignons. For chopping, keep couper: Je coupe les oignons.
Your turn
Try answering out loud before checking a possible answer.
1How do you say 'I chop the onions' in French?
Show a sample answer
Je coupe les oignons.
Couper is the regular -er verb for chopping or cutting, and je coupe is the correct first-person form. Les oignons uses the definite plural article.
2Which structure would you use for 'I boil the water'?
Show a sample answer
Je fais bouillir l'eau.
French prefers faire + infinitive for boiling. L'eau is the contracted form of le + eau, and eau is feminine.
3Translate 'I mix the ingredients' into French.
Show a sample answer
Je mélange les ingrédients.
Mélanger is a regular -er verb; je mélange is correct. Les ingrédients uses the plural definite article. You could also say Je mélange les ingrédients ensemble for emphasis.
Learn the je + verb pattern with regular -er verbs like couper and mélanger, and use faire + infinitive for boiling, frying and baking. Then you can describe most cooking actions in French.
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