Mastering the next 3rd quest of talking and asking questions about your food and drink preferences within the first few weeks of learning a new language is one of the most natural, universal conversation starters in any language. Whether you are sitting across from a new acquaintance, ordering at a café, or simply writing in your language journal, this question will come up sooner or later:
“What do you like to eat and drink (for example, for breakfast)?”
And here is the exciting part: answering it well requires exactly the kind of language that will serve you in dozens of other daily conversations too.
With a focused set of food and drink vocabulary, how to make questions, and some simple structures to express what you like — and what you don’t — you will be able to describe not just your morning meal, but your full day of eating preferences and habits, and hold a simple conversation.
All within your third week of learning a new language.
This 5-day language study plan for food and drink preferences builds directly on the foundation of the previous two chapters: after you can already introduce yourself and describe the world around you. Now it is time to put that knowledge to work in one of the most rewarding conversation topics there is: food.
Overview
This is Chapter 3 of the Language Essential Series — and it follows the same structured daily rhythm you already know. Each day adds one new building block, so that by Day 5 you can give a complete, natural description of your food and drink preferences in your target language.
Here is what this language study plan covers across the five days:
1️⃣Essential vocabulary like eating and drinking verbs, must-know food and drink nouns, and expressing preferences with like structures
2️⃣Negation in depth: how to say what you don’t have, don’t like, and never eat in different language systems
3️⃣Asking questions: Yes/No questions and W-questions so your language learning can become a real conversation
4️⃣Essential questions and responses for real-life beginner conversations, especially in dining context
5️⃣Write and speak: a complete meal description and food journal for your language journal
After completing this chapter, you will be ready to answer the following journal prompts from the 30-Day Language Journal Challenge:
- Prompt 7 — What do you like to eat and drink for breakfast?
- Prompt 7.1 — What do you NOT like to eat and drink for breakfast?
- Prompt 7.2 — What do you like (and not like) for lunch?
- Prompt 7.3 — What do you like (and not like) for dinner?
Let’s break it down — one day at a time.
I. Your 5-Day Language Study Plan To Talk About Food Preferences
Each day focuses on one small learning goal.
By Day 5 of this language study plan, you’ll be able to talk about food and drink preferences and even manage a simple full conversation with questions, statements, and negations — in English, German, Vietnamese or any language you’re learning.
Day 1: Essential Food & Drink Vocabulary + Expressing Preferences
Start with the verbs you will use every single day. These five are your foundation for talking about food in any language:
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| to eat | essen | ăn |
| to drink | trinken | uống |
| to cook | kochen | nấu ăn |
| to order | bestellen | gọi món |
| to have breakfast | frühstücken | ăn sáng |
📌 German learner note: essen has a vowel change in the present tense — du isst, er/sie isst. Watch for this and similar patterns as you conjugate across all pronouns.
Next, build your food vocabulary. Focus on nouns that appear across all three meals and learn each one with its article if your target language uses them. Here is a starter list:
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| bread | das Brot | bánh mì |
| egg | das Ei | trứng |
| butter | die Butter | bơ |
| coffee | der Kaffee | cà phê |
| tea | der Tee | trà |
| milk | die Milch | sữa |
| rice | der Reis | cơm / gạo |
| fruit | das Obst | trái cây |
| soup | die Suppe | súp / canh |
| noodles | die Nudeln (pl.) | mì / bún |
Claim your FREE list of 1000+ Must-Know Vocabulary to kick start your language learning FASTER & EASIER with.
How to Express Food Preferences
Once you have your vocabulary, you need structures to say what you like. Here are the two essential ones to learn from Day 1:
Structure 1 — like + noun (expressing that you like a thing)
Use this structure when talking about a noun — a food or drink you like as a thing in itself.
EN: I like coffee.
DE: Ich mag Kaffee.
VN: Tôi thích cà phê.
Structure 2 — like + verb-ing OR verb + gerne (gladly) (expressing that you enjoy doing something)
This is the most natural spoken structure in many languages — and the one native speakers reach for most when talking about food habits:
EN: I like eating bread for breakfast.
DE: Ich esse gern Brot zum Frühstück. (verb + gern)
VN: Tôi thích ăn bánh mì vào buổi sáng.
In German, gern or gerne (gladly/with pleasure) is placed after the verb. In Vietnamese, thích (like/enjoy) comes before the verb — similar to English like + -ing.
YOUR TURN:
Look for the equivalent pattern in your target language: is there an adverb like gern,
or does like come before the verb?
Day 1 goal: Write 2-3 sentences about your breakfast preferences using both structures. Then repeat for someone you know. Conjugate every verb correctly.
The expected outcomes from Day 1 can be seen in examples below.
Example sentences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| I like eating an egg and drinking coffee for breakfast. | Ich esse gern ein Ei und trinke gern Kaffee zum Frühstück. | Tôi thích ăn trứng và uống cà phê vào buổi sáng. |
| My mother likes drinking tea for breakfast, but she also likes coffee. | Meine Mutter trinkt gerne Tee zum Frühstück, aber sie mag auch Kaffee. | Mẹ tôi thích uống trà vào buổi sáng, nhưng bà cũng thích cà phê. |
📌 German learner note — a third structure: German has an additional way to express preferences using the verb gefallen (literally: to please), where the thing you like becomes the subject of the sentence: Mir gefallen die Brötchen (The bread rolls please me → I like the bread rolls). This structure also introduces the Dative case for the first time.
For now, focus on mastering Structures 1 and 2. For the full details with German language grammar, check out:
Day 2: Negation — Say What You Don’t Like and Never Eat
Knowing how to say what you don’t like is just as important as saying what you do. This is where your language becomes real and expressive, and hence, the focus of Day 2 of this Language Study Plan to talk about food and drink preferences.
How Languages Handle Negation Differently
Before diving into the rules, it helps to see the big picture because languages approach negation in fascinatingly different ways.
Take these two contrasting sentences:
I don’t eat breakfast. (negating the action entirely)
I don’t eat breakfast very often. (negating the frequency/habit)
Here is how German, English, and Vietnamese each handle them:
German uses two different tools depending on what is being negated:
Ich esse kein Frühstück. (kein negates the noun — I eat no breakfast)
Ich esse Frühstück nicht so oft. (nicht negates the frequency — not so often)
English simplifies both cases into one tool — the auxiliary verb do/does being negated with “not”:
I do not eat breakfast.
I do not eat breakfast very often.
Notice that English requires do or does to carry the negation — the main verb does not change (eat, not eats). This auxiliary do/does is unique to English; German, Vietnamese, and Chinese do not use it at all.
Vietnamese is the most streamlined: one word, “không”, placed before the verb, handles all negation — no auxiliary verb, no word order change, no noun agreement:
Tôi không ăn sáng.
Tôi không ăn sáng thường xuyên.
Chinese works similarly to Vietnamese — 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) is placed directly before the verb, with no auxiliary and no change to the verb itself:
我不吃早饭。(Wǒ bù chī zǎofàn.) — I don’t eat breakfast.
我不经常吃早饭。(Wǒ bù jīngcháng chī zǎofàn.) — I don’t eat breakfast very often.
YOUR TURN:
(1) Does your target language use an auxiliary verb like English,
or does it negate directly like German, Vietnamese, and Chinese?
(2) Does it have more than one negation word like in German —
and if so, what determines which one you use?
Now let’s look at the two core tools in more detail.
Most languages have two types of negation: one for negating nouns (I have no…) and one for negating everything else (I don’t like…, I’m not hungry…).
Negating Nouns
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| I don’t have any chairs. | Ich habe keine Stühle. | Tôi không có ghế. |
| I don’t eat meat. | Ich esse kein Fleisch. | Tôi không ăn thịt. |
| I don’t drink coffee. | Ich trinke keinen Kaffee. | Tôi không uống cà phê. |
📌 German learner note: kein changes its ending to match the gender and case of the noun it negates — kein (neuter/masculine nominative), keine (feminine/plural), keinen (masculine accusative). Match it to the noun every time, as explained in detail in this blog post Must-Know Rules for Plural Nouns and Negation – An English-German-Vietnamese Quick Study.
Negating Verbs, Adjectives, and Preferences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| I am not eating. | Ich esse nicht. | Tôi không ăn. |
| I don’t like drinking tea. | Ich trinke nicht gern Tee. | Tôi không thích uống trà. |
| I never eat fast food. | Ich esse nie Fast Food. | Tôi không bao giờ ăn đồ ăn nhanh. |
| I really don’t like that at all. | Das mag ich gar nicht. | Tôi thật sự không thích cái đó. |
Useful Everyday Expressions with Negation
Some of the most natural-sounding phrases in any language are built around negation.
For example, in German, expressions like Ich habe keinen Hunger (I’m not hungry — literally I have no hunger) and Auf keinen Fall! (No way!) are used constantly in daily conversations.
There are more than just one way to negate with “NOT”, “KHÔNG” or “NICHT/KEIN”, such as using adverbs that mean “never” / “nie” / “không bao giờ”.
Day 2 goal: Write 3-5 sentences about your food and drink dislikes across all three meals (about 1-2 sentences per meal). Then repeat for someone you know.
The expected outcomes from Day 2 can be seen in examples below.
Example sentences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| I do not like eating eggs and never drink tea for breakfast. | Ich esse nicht gern Eier und trinke nie Tee zum Frühstück. | Tôi không thích ăn trứng và không bao giờ uống trà vào buổi sáng. |
| My boss almost never eats lunch. | Mein Chef isst fast nie zu Mittag. | Sếp của tôi gần như chả bao giờ ăn trưa cả. |
| I really don’t like eating Fast Food for dinner at all. | Ich esse gar nicht gerne Fast Food zu Abend. | Tôi không thích ăn đồ ăn nhanh vào buổi tối chút nào cả. |
Day 3: Asking Questions
Here is where this 5-day language study plan about food and drink truly transforms your language learning — because now you can have a real conversation, not just make (positive or negative) statements about yourself.
Yes/No Questions
One of the first things to learn in any new language is how to turn a statement into a question. And this is another area where languages differ in a very telling way.
English relies on the auxiliary verb do/does to form Yes/No questions — the main verb stays unchanged:
You eat breakfast. → Do you eat breakfast?
She drinks coffee. → Does she drink coffee?
This is similar concept from forming a negation.
German needs no auxiliary at all. Instead, the conjugated verb simply moves to the first position in the sentence — and that repositioning is the signal that a question is being asked:
| Statement | Yes/No Question |
|---|---|
| Du isst gern Brot. (You like eating bread.) | Isst du gern Brot? (Do you like eating bread?) |
| Er frühstückt jeden Morgen. (He has breakfast every morning.) | Frühstückt er jeden Morgen? (Does he have breakfast every morning?) |
Vietnamese needs neither an auxiliary verb nor a word order change. A question particle is simply added at the end of the statement:
Bạn thích ăn bánh mì. (You like eating bread.)
→ Bạn thích ăn bánh mì không? (Do you like eating bread?)
Chinese works in a very similar way to Vietnamese — add 吗 (ma) at the end of a statement to make it a Yes/No question, with no auxiliary and no word order change:
你喜欢吃早饭。(Nǐ xǐhuān chī zǎofàn.) — You like eating breakfast.
→ 你喜欢吃早饭吗？(Nǐ xǐhuān chī zǎofàn ma?) — Do you like eating breakfast?
YOUR TURN:
How are Yes/No questions formed in your target language? Does it use an auxiliary verb like English, invert the verb like German, or add a question particle like Vietnamese and Chinese?
Understanding this early will save you a lot of confusion — and help you sound natural much faster.
W-Questions (Information Questions)
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| What? | Was? | Cái gì? / Gì? |
| Who? | Wer? | Ai? |
| Where? | Wo? | Ở đâu? |
| When? | Wann? | Khi nào? |
| Why? | Warum? | Tại sao? |
| How? | Wie? | Như thế nào? |
| How much/many? | Wie viel / Wie viele? | Bao nhiêu? |
Example W-Questions about food
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| What do you like to eat for breakfast? | Was isst du gern zum Frühstück? | Bạn thích ăn gì vào buổi sáng? |
| Who is cooking tonight? | Wer kocht heute Abend? | Tối nay ai nấu ăn? |
| How often do you eat out? | Wie oft isst du auswärts? | Bạn ăn ngoài hàng bao nhiêu lần một tuần? |
| Why don’t you like vegetables? | Warum magst du kein Gemüse? | Tại sao bạn không thích rau? |
📌 German learner note: In W-questions, the question word takes Position 1 and the verb stays in Position 2 — the same position as in a statement. This is the key difference from Yes/No questions, where the verb jumps to Position 1.
Day 3 goal: Write a short 8–10-line conversation between two people about food preferences. Include at least 3 Yes/No questions and 3 W-questions.
For a full writing template with the full details about German language grammar, check out:
Day 4: Essential Questions and Responses for Real-Life Conversations
Now let’s make your question toolkit truly practical. This is the “bonus” part of the language study plan about food and drink that prepares you for real conversations, practiced in comfortable context of having a meal but are essential phrases you will actually need when things get difficult or when you want to keep an exchange going naturally.
Must-Know Clarification Phrases
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| Pardon? / Sorry, what? | Wie bitte? | Xin lỗi, bạn nói gì? |
| Could you repeat that? | Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? | Bạn có thể nhắc lại không? |
| Could you speak more slowly? | Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen? | Bạn có thể nói chậm hơn không? |
| What does that mean? | Was bedeutet das? | Cái đó có nghĩa là gì? |
| How do you say this in [language]? | Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? | Cái này nói thế nào bằng tiếng Việt? |
| I don’t understand. | Ich verstehe das nicht. | Tôi không hiểu. |
Saying Yes Naturally
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, of course! | Ja, natürlich! | Tất nhiên rồi! |
| Yes, gladly! | Ja, gern! | Tôi rất vui! / Được chứ! |
| Yes, definitely! | Ja, auf jeden Fall! | Nhất định rồi! |
| Yes, exactly. | Ja, genau. | Đúng vậy. |
Saying No Politely
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| No, thank you. | Nein, danke. | Không, cảm ơn. |
| No, unfortunately not. | Nein, leider nicht. | Không, tiếc quá. |
| No, absolutely not! | Nein, auf keinen Fall! | Không đời nào! |
| I’m not sure. | Ich bin nicht sicher. | Tôi không chắc. |
Day 4 goal: Practise the café dialogue below with a partner, or play both roles yourself. Focus on questions, answers, and keeping the exchange going naturally.
Sample mini-dialogue
— Was trinkst du gern zum Frühstück? (What do you like to drink for breakfast?)
— Ich trinke gern Kaffee. Und du? Trinkst du auch Kaffee? (I like drinking coffee. And you? Do you also drink coffee?)
— Nein, ich trinke keinen Kaffee — ich mag Tee viel lieber. (No, I don’t drink coffee — I like tea much more.)
— Wirklich? Auf keinen Fall Kaffee? (Really? Absolutely no coffee?)
— Doch — manchmal, aber sehr selten! (Actually — sometimes, but very rarely!)
Day 5: Write and Speak — Your Breakfast Journal Entry
This is your production day. Over the past four days of this 5-day language study plan about food and drink, you have built up a solid toolkit: verbs, food vocabulary, preference structures, negation, question formation, and natural responses.
Now you put everything together into your most complete piece of language writing so far.
Your Writing Framework
Use this scaffold to structure your journal entry. The goal is a natural, personal paragraph — not a list of isolated sentences:
1.What do you eat and drink?
For breakfast, I eat [noun] and drink [noun].
2. What do you like?
I like eating [noun] for breakfast. / I really like [noun].
3. What do you NOT like?
I never drink [noun] for breakfast. / I don’t like [noun] at all.
End with a question for the reader:
What do you like to eat for breakfast? Do you always eat breakfast, or are you sometimes not hungry in the morning?
Full Model Answer
English I like having breakfast every morning. I usually eat bread with butter and an egg, and I like to drink black coffee alongside. I never drink tea for breakfast — I really don’t like it. What about you? Do you always have breakfast, or do you sometimes skip it?
German Ich frühstücke jeden Morgen gern. Zum Frühstück esse ich meistens Brot mit Butter und ein Ei und trinke dabei gern Kaffee — schwarz, ohne Milch. Ich trinke nie Tee zum Frühstück — das mag ich gar nicht. Und du? Frühstückst du immer, oder hast du morgens manchmal keinen Hunger?
Vietnamese Tôi thích ăn sáng mỗi buổi sáng. Tôi thường ăn bánh mì với bơ và một quả trứng, và tôi thích uống cà phê đen kèm theo. Tôi không bao giờ uống trà vào buổi sáng — tôi thật sự không thích. Còn bạn? Bạn có ăn sáng mỗi ngày không, hay đôi khi bạn bỏ qua bữa sáng?
Day 5 goal: Write your own full breakfast journal entry in your target language.
Then read it aloud and try to answer the prompts spontaneously without looking at your notes.
Then can you repeat for Prompt 7.2 about Lunch and Prompt 7.3 about Dinner preferences.
Put It All Together: Chapter 3 Completion Checklist
Before you move on to Chapter 4, check that you can do each of these:
- ✅ Name 5 eating and drinking verbs and conjugate them across all pronouns
- ✅ Use at least two preference structures (like + noun and verb + gladly)
- ✅ Negate nouns and verbs correctly in your target language
- ✅ Use at least 2 stronger negative words than not (such as, never, not at all, nothing)
- ✅ Form Yes/No questions by changing word order or adding a question particle
- ✅ Form W-questions using at least 5 different question words
- ✅ Respond naturally with both affirmative and negative expressions
- ✅ Use at least 2 clarification phrases from Day 4
For German learners who want a full in-depth explanation and step-by-step practice guidance to complete this chapter, check out the German Essential Writing and Speaking Guide:
What’s Next?
Now that you have completed this 5-day language study plan for talking about food and drink, starting with breakfast and ending with dinner, it’s time to expand further.
In Chapter 4, you’ll take on a topic that comes up in almost every first conversation with someone new: your job and your studies — and with it, a powerful new set of grammar tools that let you express not just what you do, but what you can do, want to do, have to do, and are allowed to do.
Stay tuned and stay informed via MyA5Letter — subscribers will always get the new chapters going live delivered for free to their inbox!
Until next time — Happy Language Learning!
Suani 💕
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