There are two tiny words in French that make a humongous impact

prendre - to take

The literal meaning of the verb “prendre” is “to take”.

je vais prendre ça avec moiI’m going to take that with me
voulez-vous prendre le bus?do you want to take the bus?
tu peux prendre la deuxième rue à gaucheyou can take the second road on the left

However, when you’re talking about food and drink, you can use “prendre” to mean “to have

prendre - to have

If you’re talking about food and drink, you can use the verb prendre” to mean “to have”. If you think about it more as being like “intake”, you can imagine that when you eat or drink something, you take it into your body.

au petit-déjeuner, je prends des céréales et des fruits at breakfast, I have cereal and fruit
je vais prendre un café I’m going to have a coffee
j’ai pris une boisson et un biscuit I had a drink and a biscuit
veux-tu prendre un verre? do you want to get a drink?

If you’re ordering something to eat or drink, a really common way to do it in French is simply to say, “je prends…” followed by what you want. It literally means, “I take…”, but it’s a very common way to order.

moi, je prends un vin rouge, s’il vous plaît I’ll have a red wine, please

Or, you can also say, “je vais prendre…”, which literally means, “I’m going to have…

je vais prendre le pouletI’m going to have the chicken
je vais prendre le plat du jourI’m going to have the dish of the day

Let’s have a quick look at the present tense and past tense conjugations of the verb “prendre

PRENDRE TO TAKE
je prends I take / I’m taking
tu prends you take / you’re taking
il prend he takes / he’s taking
elle prend she takes / she’s taking
nous prenons we take / we’re taking
vous prenez you take / you’re taking
ils prennent they take / they’re taking

j'ai pris I took / I’ve taken
tu as pris you took / you’ve taken
il a pris he took / he’s taken
elle a pris she took / she’s taken
nous avons pris we took / we’ve taken
vous avez pris you took / you’ve taken
ils ont pris they took / they’ve taken

avoir - to have

In English, we can use the verb “have” as a way of saying that you’re eating or drinking something:

I’m having a glass of wine
I’m going to have a pizza
I had spaghetti bolognese last night

In French, however, you cannot use “avoir” to mean that you’re eating or drinking. Either you can use the verbs “manger” (to eat) or “boire” (to drink), or, as we discussed above, you can use the verb “prendre”, which literally means, “to take”.

je prends un verre de vinI’m having a glass of wine
je vais prendre / manger une pizzaI’m going to have a pizza
j’ai pris / mangé des spaghettis à la bolognaise hier soirI had spaghetti bolognese last night

If you’re not talking about food and drink, however, you can use “avoir” to mean “to have

Let’s have a quick look at the present tense and past tense conjugations of the verb “avoir

AVOIR TO HAVE
j’ai I have / I’m having
tu as you have / you’re having
il a he has / he’s having
elle a she has / she’s having
nous avons we have / we’re having
vous avez you have / you’re having
ils ont they have / they’re having

j'avais I had
tu avais you had
il avait he had
elle avait she had
nous avions we had
vous aviez you had
ils avaient they had

Let’s have a look at a few example sentences using different forms of “avoir

il a une grande maisonhe has a big house
elle a beauoup de livresshe has lots of books
Pierre a une très forte personnalitéPierre has a very strong personality
ils ont deux filles et un filsthey have two daughters and a son
nous avions une maison à la campagnewe used to have a house in the country

Can I have two coffees?

If you’re ordering yourself a coffee, in French, you ought to use the verb “prendre

Puis-je prendre un café? Can I have a coffee?

But, if you want to order two coffees, you can use “avoir”. Why? Well, the verb “prendre” is used if you’re ordering something you’re going to eat or drink yourself. However, if you’re ordering two coffees, at least one of them is most probably for somebody else, so you can use the verb “avoir” rather than “prendre”, since you’re not going to be intaking both of them

Puis-je avoir deux cafés?Can I have two coffees?

Now, don’t worry if you get these verbs wrong; you’ll still be perfectly understood. However, if you’d rather avoid them altogether, just say this:

Deux cafés, s’il vous plaît Two coffees, please