Question about translation of "I would like some toast"

Andre O.C1Kwiziq community member

Question about translation of "I would like some toast"

We translated "I would like some toast" by " Je voudrais du toast" because "some" implies an undefined quantity. However, your webpage says that the correct answer is: "Je voudrais un toast". To us, this means: "I would like a toast". Could you please let us know if we are wrong?

Asked 3 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Andre, 

All the answers given are - 

un / des toast (s)

du pain grillé

une / des tartine (s) de pain grillé

etc. 

but

Je voudrais du toast 

isn't possible as 'toast'  is countable unlike pain which would be 

Je voudrais du pain (grillé)

Hope this helps!

 

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Andre,

Interesting!     I wonder if the word toast is getting confused with a "drink in honour...."

Although in my experience "toast" is understood to be "pain grillé" but is also accepted and understood in the parts of France that I have visited.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Herb C.C1Kwiziq community member

To me (native English speaker), I read this sentence as "I would like some toast" where "toast" is an unspecific (uncounted, like "pain") amount of toast so I used "du". If the sentence were "I would like a piece of toast", I would have used "un". 

A similar case would be "I would like some soup" vs "I would like a bowl of soup." How would these two sentences be translated?

"Je voudrais de la soupe" and "Je voudrais un bol de soupe"?

Andre O. asked:

Question about translation of "I would like some toast"

We translated "I would like some toast" by " Je voudrais du toast" because "some" implies an undefined quantity. However, your webpage says that the correct answer is: "Je voudrais un toast". To us, this means: "I would like a toast". Could you please let us know if we are wrong?

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