Parisian cafes a French institution 5 minutes of French

Hello everyone Welcome to another five-minute French lesson And today Sébastien is joining me Hi Sébastien how are you Hi Émilie hi everyone Very well thanks and you Great Today we're going to talk about a quintessentially French place—the Parisian cafés Their terraces their small round tables their harried waiters in white shirts It's a symbol of Paris Yes a genuine cliché but in the best possible sense Cafés are an institution We grab a coffee read the paper and watch the pedestrians In short it's a way of life Exactly But before I go into more detail I have a quick question for you Sébastien and for all of you listening in Which famous French writer wrote part of his works in the cafés of Paris I know the answer So to keep the suspense going I'll let our listeners and viewers ponder it Perfect the answer at the end of this episode then Well let's start with a quick trip back in time The first café in Paris is said to have opened in the 17th century during the reign of Louis XIV Yes it was called Le Procope in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood It was a very stylish place frequented by intellectuals artists and even politicians In fact Café Procope still exists today It's crazy isn't it They say Voltaire drank as many as 40 cups of coffee a day 40 But he must have been absolutely terrified poor guy Yes and in the 18th century cafes became places for discussion sometimes even for rebellion It was in cafés that the ideas of the French Revolution spread Later in the 19th century with the grand boulevards and terraces cafés also became places of everyday life That's where politics are discussed where writing happens where the world is reinvented Indeed and it's precisely here that cafés become a true cultural symbol Yes especially in the 20th century Famous writers gathered at the Café de Flore or the Deux Magots in Saint-Germain-des-Prés These are legendary places Albert Camus Boris Vian and Juliette Gréco themselves were once seen there It was somewhat the hub for intellectuals of the time not just writers Artists painters and singers also frequented cafés Picasso for instance spent a great deal of time in the cafés of Montparnasse It's incredible to think that around a simple cup of coffee some of the most significant ideas and works were born Today cafés remain an institution There are cafes on every corner especially in Paris Yes but be careful—there are codes First in France ordering a coffee means an espresso not a large American mug Exactly If you want a large coffee you ask for an allongé And if you want a coffee with milk that's a crème And then there's that very Parisian habit of drinking your coffee standing at the counter It's fast cheaper and lets you chat with the server for two minutes Yes and conversely settling in at a sidewalk café is a whole ritual in itself You can spend hours there your coffee growing cold just watching the people pass by It's true people-watching from a café terrace is almost a national pastime Yet cafés have changed a great deal Today you can also find modern cafés with Wi-Fi computers and even people working there all day long Yes it's a new generation of cafés—cozier more international where you can also find lattes cappuccinos or iced coffees And some traditional cafés have vanished replaced by chains or juice bars Yet there remains that distinctive atmosphere found nowhere else Yes this blend of noise conversation the smell of coffee and croissants—it's truly unique And for many foreigners it's the first image they have of Paris: a terrace a café a baguette and someone reading the newspaper It's true it's a cliché but one we love Well it's time to answer my question from the beginning I was asking which French writer wrote part of his works in Parisian cafés If I'm not mistaken this is Jean-Paul Sartre Exactly Sartre often wrote at the Café de Flore with Simone de Beauvoir They spent hours there discussing philosophy and politics Alright before parting ways a quick vocabulary note For example Émilie used the word "bavarder " It's just a slightly more casual synonym for "discuss talk " I've also used the expression "rebuild the world " It means talking about everything often in a somewhat idealistic way as if we could change the world over a cup of coffee And finally I spoke of an institution Here it doesn't mean an official organization But something typically French—a tradition a well-established habit There you have it everything you need to know about Parisian cafés And you have you ever had a coffee in Paris Let us know in the comments And as always you can download the PDF sheet containing the transcript and vocabulary It's in the description on our website francaisavecpierre com Thank you all see you very soon Hi everyone