How to Say “to Cook” in French: Cuire, Cuisiner, Faire la Cuisine?


French uses 3 verbs to say ‘to cook’ = cuisiner, faire la cuisine and cuire. Literal translation would lead to an embarrassing mistake (you being cooked)…
1 ā Cuire = to Cook as in to Simmer, Roast, Bake etcā¦
The focus is usually on how long the ingredient takes to cook.
Itās an irregular verb: je cuis, tu cuis, il cuit, nous cuisons, vous cuisez, ils cuisent.
- Le poulet cuit pendant une heure ā the chicken cooks for one hour = it roasts for one hour
- Je cuis mon poulet pendant 1 heure ā I cook my chicken for one hour = I roast the chicken for one hour.
Donāt forget āLe pouletā! If you sais āje cuis pendant 1 heureā YOU are dinner!
However, itās more likely that one would say āje FAIS cuire mon poulet pendant 1 heure.ā rather than āje cuis mon poulet pendant 1 heureā.
Learn many expressions about food, and food vocabulary in context in my French audio books.

2 ā Cuisiner = to Cook, as in to Prepare Food
The subject is most of the time going to be the cook, not the thing being cooked.
- Je cuisine du poulet ā I am cooking some chicken = I am preparing some chicken
- Je cuisine pendant une heure ā I am cooking for one hour = I am preparing food for one hour
However, one could say: ājāaime le poulet cuisinĆ© Ć lāindienneā meaning I like chicken prepared the Indian way⦠But it is not common.
3 ā Faire la Cuisine = to do the Cooking
āFaire la cuisineā is never followed by the thing that you prepare. The focus is on the action itself.
- Jāaime faire la cuisine ā I like to cook = I like to prepare food
- Chez nous, cāest mon mari qui fait la cuisine ā at our home, itās my husband who cooks = he prepares the food
So ācuisinerā can always replace āfaire la cuisineā, but āfaire la cuisineā cannot always replace ācuisinerā š¤
4 ā Mistakes About to Cook in French ā ļø
- You cannot say āJe fais la cuisine le poulet.ā
The construction doesnāt work since āfaire la cuisineā cannot be followed by the thing being prepared. - You cannot say āCe week-end, jāai cuit pendant une heure.ā
It means you were the one being cooked!!! - You cannot say āLe poulet cuisine pendant une heure.ā
It would mean the chicken was preparing food for one hour.
5 ā Cuisiner ā Cuisinier
- Cuisiner = to cook
- Un cuisinier = a male cook (note the i before the er),
- Une cuisiniĆØre = a female cook but also a stove top, a range.
- La cuisine = cuisine and kitchen
- La cuisson = the cooking, how it is cooked
Le cuisinier cuisine dans sa cuisine: Il a une bonne cuisiniĆØre Ć gaz ā The cook cooks in his kitchen: he has a good gas stove.
Quand elle sera grande, ma fille veut ĆŖtre cuisiniĆØre ā When she grows up, my daughter wants to be a cook.
Now that you know all about the verb āto cookā in French, I invite you to watch this fun video I made using the popular videogame the Sims to illustrate the French grammar and vocabulary about cooking in French.
If you enjoy learning French in context, check out French Todayās downloadable French audiobooks: French Todayās bilingual novels are recorded at different levels of enunciation (enunciated French and modern spoken pronunciation).
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