déjeuner/de.ʒœ.ne/
noun / verb · A1 · Frequency 1224
nounmasculine
Meanings
lunch
Refers to the midday meal; common collocations include à l’heure du déjeuner and déjeuner de travail. Standard in France, Belgium, and Switzerland.
breakfast (regional)
Mainly in Quebec and other Canadian Francophone areas: déjeuner (breakfast), dîner (lunch), souper (dinner). Differs from the European system.
Examples
Nous avons préparé un déjeuner simple pour les invités.
We prepared a simple lunch for the guests.
Le déjeuner a été servi dans la salle de réunion.
Lunch was served in the meeting room.
Au Québec, le déjeuner est souvent le premier repas de la journée.
In Quebec, breakfast is often the first meal of the day.
Collocations
- un déjeuner d’affairesbusiness lunch
Common mistakes
Le déjeuner est le premier repas de la journée en France.
Le déjeuner est le premier repas de la journée au Québec.
Déjeuner means breakfast mainly in Canadian French; in European French it means lunch.
Related words
nounmasculine
Meanings
lunch
Refers to the midday meal; common collocations include à l’heure du déjeuner and déjeuner de travail. Standard in France, Belgium, and Switzerland.
breakfast (regional)
Mainly in Quebec and other Canadian Francophone areas: déjeuner (breakfast), dîner (lunch), souper (dinner). Differs from the European system.
Examples
Nous avons préparé un déjeuner simple pour les invités.
We prepared a simple lunch for the guests.
Le déjeuner a été servi dans la salle de réunion.
Lunch was served in the meeting room.
Au Québec, le déjeuner est souvent le premier repas de la journée.
In Quebec, breakfast is often the first meal of the day.
verb
Meanings
to have lunch; to eat lunch
Commonly used intransitively to mean having the midday meal; may take de + noun to specify what is eaten (e.g., déjeuner d’une salade). Standard in France, Belgium, and Switzerland; breakfast is usually petit-déjeuner.
to have breakfast (regional)
Mainly in Quebec and other Canadian Francophone areas, where meals are named déjeuner (breakfast), dîner (lunch), and souper (dinner). This differs from European French; avoid confusion in cross-regional contexts.
Examples
Nous allons déjeuner près de la gare après la réunion.
We are going to have lunch near the station after the meeting.
Elle préfère déjeuner tôt avant de reprendre le travail.
She prefers to have lunch early before returning to work.
En Suisse, il est courant de déjeuner avec du pain et du fromage.
In Switzerland, it is common to have breakfast with bread and cheese.
Collocations
- déjeuner sur le pouceto grab a quick lunch; to eat lunch on the go
Common mistakes
Je déjeune un sandwich à midi.
Je déjeune avec un sandwich à midi.
When déjeuner means “to have lunch,” it is normally intransitive; introduce the food with avec instead of placing it directly after déjeuner.