What does “à volonté” mean on a French menu?
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A2 French listening practice · Swiss French · Picked for people who know a little
La volonté is the will, and à volonté means “as much as you want”. On a French menu it is the all-you-can-eat signal: buffet à volonté, frites à volonté, sometimes boisson à volonté. Spotting those two words tells you the price on the board is fixed however many times you go back — which is the single most useful thing to be able to read on a restaurant sign.
Away from food it keeps the plain sense of “at will”: réglable à volonté on a piece of furniture that adjusts however you like, or servez-vous à volonté, “help yourself”.
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.