# prendre l'apéro



## Penny Wilson

Any idea what this means? I guess it must be a shortening for something but I am not sure what?!


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## Greg Mosse

Have a drink before dinner - an apéritif ...
G


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## Penny Wilson

Merci beaucoup!!


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## Nath0811

L'*apéro* (short for apéritif as Greg said) is a typical French cultural ritual.
It's a non-formal gathering before dinner where you have drinks (usually alcoholic beverages) and sometimes olives/ peanuts or other finger food.


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## Loukassit0

Hello everybody,
(...) Is there a real expression in English for "prendre l'apéro" ?


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## Omelette

You could also try looking at ’taper l’apéro’  which is another, very recent, thread. (all of two weeks ago).
The concensus seems to be that there isn’t really an equivalent because it’s a very French (rather than British or American) custom.
’apéro’  can be translated as ’aperitif’


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## ScrapPaper

"Happy hour" is commonly used in North America to mean having a drink (and sometimes a small snack, like peanuts) at the end of the work day. Bars often sell drinks at reduced prices for an hour or more, to attract customers finishing work. But we never say "hours" (plural) no matter how long "happy hour" lasts. Usually it's alcoholic drinks, in a bar, but some people have "happy hour" at home, and may have something without alcohol. 

(In Quebec, it's called "le 5 a 7" -- because that's the usual time of day for it: 17:00 to 19:00.)


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## Aimee Solange

Hello Loukassit0!

We don't really have the same tradition, so there isn't an exact expression. If it were a formal gathering, such as a wedding or formal dinner party, you could say 'to have a drinks reception', or 'pre-dinner drinks'. Otherwise just, 'to have a drink before dinner'.

Hope that helps!


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## ScrapPaper

Not a British tradition?! When I work in the UK, people often go to the pub after work before going home. 

"have a pint" might be an equivalent ... though you can have a pint after dinner, too!


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## Aimee Solange

Good point, ScrapPaper, but I don't know that a pint would be a typical apéritif drink...


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## Loukassit0

ScrapPaper, "L'apéro" is often at home and rarely in a bar, drinking beers.
Anyway, thanks everyone. I guess there is no such equivalent in English.


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## ScrapPaper

Points taken, everyone, though just to clarify: "happy hour" can involve drinking anything, including a traditional aperatif. It doesn't mean drinking beer.

(Personally, I find beer makes an excellent before-dinner drink.)


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## Uncle Bob

Hello,
It is rather old -fashioned, very old-fashioned even (the Empire, Raj etc), but it is still used by some (me, for example): "sun-downer".
"It's time for a sun-downer" (which used to be a gin-and-tonic or a pink gin, for example, but can even be pastis nowadays) is, as it says, at dusk. Though if one is thirsty one can advance the hour.


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## Uncle Bob

While "a pint" could be an "apperitif" in some circles, sherry would be consumed in others: "Would you care for a sherry before we lunch/dine?"

I've never thought of a pint as an apperitif. Beer is drunk before eating but also after and, commonly,  instead of.

(I assume the pint of Harveys referred to by franc 91 (#9) was not Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry.)


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

If we say "The sun's over the yardarm", I think we mean "It's past noon (BE: 'gone noon')." Fancy version: "a pre-prandial tipple' (before a meal, usually dinner). Re #7, in "hexagonal" French, a "_cinq-à-sept_" means a quickie with one's mistress before going home to the wife and kiddies.


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## Keith Bradford

Tu viens chez moi prendre un apéro ? = (quite simply) *Would you like to come round for a drink?

*No need to specify the type of drink nor the time of day, that will come in another sentence.


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## wildan1

Loukassit0 said:


> "L'apéro" is often at home and rarely in a bar, drinking beers.


In AE we could invite people over to our house _for drinks, for cocktails, for a drink before dinner_ (the latter suggesting that you would then have dinner--either at home or in a restaurant).

_Happy hour_ usually takes place in a bar, not at home. And it suggests discounted drinks. (Bars sometimes offer _"all-day happy hour"_ to lure people in on a slow day or evening.)


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## ScrapPaper

wildan1 said:


> _Happy hour_ usually takes place in a bar, not at home.


This is true for younger people, but bars in the USA and Canada are often very noisy, with loud music and/or TVs, so older people, people who don't like having to shout to be heard, and people with hearing disabilities aggravated by loud music prefer to have their happy hour at home.

Two examples: My mother, now in her late 90s, hasn't been to a bar in decades. But she has "happy hour" every day at home with her husband and whoever is visiting — sometimes with alcohol, more often with non-alcoholic drinks, plus snacks. 

The senior's residence where my father lived (in Canada) had a late afternoon "happy hour" every day, organized by the residence management.


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## wildan1

As I said above, SP, “usually”—which doesn’t exclude other idiosyncratic uses of the term.


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## Nicomon

About this comment : 





ScrapPaper said:


> (In Quebec, it's called "le 5 a 7" -- because that's the usual time of day for it: 17:00 to 19:00.)


 We actually say  « *Un* cinq à sept ».  And it should be spelled at large, as I just wrote. 


> _Cinq à sept_ est un nom masculin invariable qui s’écrit en toutes lettres, avec ou sans traits d’union. On peut également employer, selon le contexte, la formule _heure de l’apéritif_.
> - À l’occasion du vernissage de l’exposition, je vous invite à *un cinq à sept *qui aura lieu le 16 décembre prochain. (et non : *un 5 à 7*).  Source


   This is indeed usually translated as _happy hour. _But I wouldn't say_ « cinq à sept »  _for the examples that SP gave in post 18.
Those sound more like _goûter d'après-midi_, to me.


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## Yendred

Attention, car en France, "un cinq à sept" n'a pas du tout le même sens !
Il s'agit ici d'un rendez-vous entre amants !


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## Nicomon

Tu m'as devancée.  J'allais ajouter ce qui suit - que je viens de lire sur cette page - à mon post : 





> In France, _cinq à sept_ was originally used as a metonymy for a visit to one's mistress, derived from the time of day French men would make such a visit


  Mais je n'écrirais pas _5 à 7 _ou 5@7 contrairement à ce qui est écrit sur la même page.


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## Yendred

Oui, et l'expression est toujours comprise dans ce sens-là en France, et jamais dans le sens d'apéritif.
Ici, on dirait : je vous invite *à un apéritif* / *à un cocktail* / *à prendre un verre*


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## Nicomon

Yendred said:


> Ici, on dirait : je vous invite *à un apéritif* / *à un cocktail* / *à prendre un verre*


Ces expressions seraient comprises au Québec aussi, bien sûr.
Par contre le sens « rendez-vous entre amants » de _cinq-à-sept_ n'est pas courant au Québec, que je sache. 

Extrait de cet article amusant : 





> Finalement, le concept de “cinq à sept” ou “heure festive” peut en partie correspondre à celui de “pot” (dont le sens ne fait pas partie de l’usage général au Québec) tel qu’il est décrit dans les dictionnaires usuels français : “Fam. Réunion autour d’une boisson, notamment dans une collectivité professionnelle. Cocktail. Exemple : Inviter qqn à un pot. Faire un pot d’adieu. (Petit Robert).”


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## broglet

In the south of France _un apéro_ will invariably be _pastis _(51 or Pernod) usually mixed in the ratio 1 to 7 with water and served with ice cubes. 
Accompanying food will often be_ charcuterie_ or _brandade de morue_ with a baguette.  
Friends often invite one another for an apéro before lunch or dinner rather than for a real meal.


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## plantin

broglet said:


> Friends often invite one another for an apéro before lunch or dinner rather than for a real meal.


In France, we can also mix both: "apéritif dînatoire", a kind of "evening brunch".


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## Yendred

Nicomon said:


> Extrait de cet article amusant :



Merci pour cet article. Très amusant en effet ! 
Il faut croire qu'entre le moment où ils quittent le travail et le moment où ils rentrent à la maison, les québecois et les français ont des préoccupations différentes


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## wildan1

plantin said:


> In France, we can also mix both: "apéritif dînatoire", a kind of "evening brunch".


_Brunch_ implies a meal between breakfast and lunch that takes place, say, between 10 AM and 2 PM on the weekends; for the evening, in AE _un apéritif dînatoire_ could be called _drinks with heavy hors d'œuvres. _(The latter term in AE meaning snacks served with drinks, not a first course of a meal.)


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## plantin

wildan1 said:


> _un apéritif dînatoire_ could be called _drinks with heavy hors d'œuvres._


Thank you for the accurate expression I didn't know, that's why I said "kind of".


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

I guess this doesn't count for anything, but I've never seen or heard "drinks with heavy hors d'oeuvres" (often pronounced "oar dervz"  ). "Drinks with/and snacks"?


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## atcheque

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> "Drinks with/and snacks"?


Alors ce n'est plus trop _dinatoire_, mais un simple apéro.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

"apéro" isn't the same as "pot". "prendre un pot" is just "have (or 'go for', selon contexte) a drink", usually in a bar; "un pot" is usually for a special occasion" (e.g. "un pot de départ" when someone is retiring).


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## wildan1

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> I've never seen or heard "drinks with heavy hors d'oeuvres"


It's pretty common around where I live--mostly used for official events (receptions, weddings, etc.)--which is mostly what _cocktail-dinatoire_ are, too.

Like this one.


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