Drinking in France
 

I know this will sound weird to a lot of you, but I usually don't drink anything but water--sometimes fruit juice. I don't drink any kind of alcohol, tea, or coffee. I'm going on my first trip to Paris, and I need to know if it's a problem just saying I want water to drink at restaurants. Do bars and pubs serve "virgin" drinks like they do in the US?

No problem what so ever. It's perfectly acceptable to ask for water - there's plenty of Parisiens who don't drink.

paris is one of the world's largest cities. you will find a range of beverages similar to everywhere else in the world.

You will fit right in. You will find that the people in Paris love their water nearly as much as their wine. You can get bottled or tap. Bottled water can be bubbly or "still" or "natural". If you want tap water (which I find is very good and no extra charge) ask for "carafe d'eau" You will see that even wine drinkers usually order water, too.

The faux pas has always been to order a soft drink or coffee with your meal. But I will tell you, the soft drink thing seems to be changing. You see Coke sitting at more and more tables. I don't think they are all Americans, either.

You can also easily find juices. Even vending machines.

I don't know about virgin drinks because I can't imagine a dinner without wine or a kir. But you won't be out of place.

Nobody is going to even look askance if you don't drink wine with a meal. Drinking only water in a bar is a bit odd, but I don't think you'll be shown the door...

I have no idea what a virgin drink is, but with a meal you order what you want - water from the tap ("une carafe d'eau du robinet s.v.p.") or mineral water (eau minerale") in a bottle - with gas or without, any number of brands - Vittel and Perrier being among the brand leaders.

Even though it is unusual to drink a fruit juice alongside a meal, they'll certainly bring it to you if you order it - "un jus d'orange s.v.p" (that may be the only one if they have any at all). You may or may not get ice, that's not in the culture.

There is a soft drink with a sort-of orange flavor that is very common, you might want to try it, it's called Orangina and most places have it - that or Fanta.

If you ask for a lemonade you're likely to get Sprite or Sprint or one of those, real "limonade" is a more of a summer-by-the-beach drink.

Hope this helps.

WK

Unless you specify eau de robinet (fractured French probably, Coco correct me) you'll most likely get an expensive small bottle of water. For tap water, which should be free but not usually served unless requested in my limited experience with restaurants, i think it's eau de robinet. But for bottled water no problem as many French drink it with meals - not all French drink wine, actually last stats i saw says less than 50% of French now drink wine regularly. c'est la Vie - eua de vie!

Yes, une carafe de l'eau (along with s'il vout plait of course) is the term now that cchottel said it i remember it.

Actually you are right, too, PalQ. I think eau de robinet is tap water. I guess that if you order a carafe d'eau or carafe de l'eau it is assumed that if you are putting water in a carafe it will be tap water rather than transfering bottled water.

Of course, svp. That's a given.

Now, I don't speak French, but I have my phrases that I have learned through the years to order and get around. So, someone who knows. Am I wrong to order "carafe d'eau" Do I need the "de l'". My pronunciation is bad enough, I don't need to say the wrong thing, too!

I've heard my French relatives order tap water and it seems they say "Une carafe de l'eau SVP" but am ready to stand corrected - it could be d'eau, like in chateau d'eau (water tower) where's coco?

They'll be most happy to sell you water and will sometimes frown if you ask for a carafe of water. They may not understand a virgin drink...just ask for your drink of choice sans alcohol.

You can say eau du robinet (which means tap water), but I usually do not and say carafe d'eau. It is d'eau because that is typically the way you'd say anything in French along those lines (you don't use the article when referring to some item full of something or pile of something, etc, ( like verre d'eau or tas de feuilles or bouquet de fleurs). I don't think anyone is going to care much whichever way you say it, and maybe there are some local speech patterns on that, but I've never heard a French person say carafe de l'eau myself (not that I took a survey).

I have only a couple times (out of hundreds of requests) had someone try to serve me bottled water when I said that (carafe d'eau), and then I knew they were doing it on purpose to make money, not because they didn't understand what I wanted. You wouldn't serve bottled water in a carafe.

It doesn't sound weird and it won't be a problem at all... But you might want to sort out your French to be able to specify if you want tap water, bottled still water, fizzy water, etc.

If it is fruit juice you want I would simply order that, don't concern yourself with the virgin or sans alcohol concept.

Mineral water is fine; nobody will care or mind.

The most popular mineral water for dining is Badoit, which is only slightly fizzy and has a very neutral taste (unlike Perrier, which has great marketing but contains a ton of gas and has a very strong taste).

Virtually all bars and clubs serve alcohol-free drinks if you ask for them.

Thanks for all the advice on ordering water. With all that help, I guess I won't end up like the dehydrated French man, Pierre. Oh, stop groaning!

Lol Pal! :-D here I am!
Let's be serious now!
:-B
the best (and easiest)thing to say is "une carafe d'eau s'il vous plait", no need to add "du robinet" as it is supposed to be so. (Christina you're right, the waiter was not honest with you!)

You can ask for a fruit juice for aperitif and keep some for your meal. I do that sometimes.

*-:)Write "une carafe d'eau s'il vous plait" on http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/demos/index.html and Alain will say it the way it should be said.

coco. Thank you so much for the link. I so often wonder exactly how to say these. I've missed this site. Thanks!

When I lived in Montpellier I had a lot of friends from Nimes, right up the road. Seems that a common summer job if you live in Nimes is to work at the Perrier plant. I don't know if my friends were trying to scare me, or start some urban legends, but, supposedly, they did all kinds of things (spitting and grosser, imagine young people with hangovers) into the water. Who knows, but Badoit is good water.