What is the song about?
The singer goes grocery shopping at the supermarket to make dinner. He walks in with a chariot, reads his liste de courses line by line, and moves from one rayon to another: fruit and vegetables, dairy products, bakery, pasta, and spices. At the caisse, he pays with his carte bleue and discovers that the receipt is very long. At the end, he crosses the purchased items off his list and wishes everyone “bon dîner”.
Useful words and expressions
- faire les courses: to buy food and household products (to go grocery shopping)
- le chariot / le panier: you push the shopping cart (chariot), you carry the basket (panier)
- le rayon: an aisle or section of the store (le rayon des fruits)
- les produits laitiers: dairy products (butter, milk, cheese)
- un régime de bananes: a bunch of bananas (several bananas attached together)
- un paquet de riz (a pack of rice), de l'huile d'olive (olive oil), une baguette (a baguette)
- la caisse: the checkout (where you pay); le ticket (de caisse): the receipt (the paper listing your purchases)
- la carte bleue: bank/debit card, in France
- les provisions: groceries/supplies (food bought for several meals)
- coûter les yeux de la tête: to cost an arm and a leg / to be very expensive (very common informal idiom)
- illico: right away (informal)
Grammar
- Partitive articles for an unspecified quantity: du poivre, de l'huile, des épices. Before a plural adjective, des often becomes de: de belles pommes, de bonnes pâtes.
- Quantities with “de”: un paquet de riz, un régime de bananes.
- The near future (le futur proche) (aller + infinitive): Je vais acheter à manger, Je vais vers la caisse.
- Expressing a need: il faut + infinitive, j'ai besoin de + noun (J'ai besoin de bonnes pâtes).
- The present tense to narrate a sequence of actions: je prends, je sors, je marche, je regarde.
Watch out: phrasings not to copy
For the sake of rhyme, some lines are incorrect or sound unnatural:
- Il faut faire très illico: incorrect. You say Il faut faire vite or Il faut le faire illico (you do not put très before illico).
- L'addition ne s'arrête: pas is missing. You say L'addition ne s'arrête pas.
- Rien ne m'échappe ou bouge and pour la nuit nouvelle: awkward phrasings forced by the rhyme, with no clear meaning.
- Je tourne dans le coin: a calque from English; in French you say je tourne au coin (du rayon).
- Le fromage que je viens trouver: unnatural; you would say que je trouve or que je cherche.
- On barre sur la liste: it is more natural to say on barre (les articles de) la liste.
- At the supermarket, you talk about a ticket (receipt) rather than an addition (which is a restaurant bill).