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

je vais prendre ça avec moi – I’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 gauche – you 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”

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 poulet – I’m going to have the chicken
je vais prendre le plat du jour – I’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

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 vin – I’m having a glass of wine
je vais prendre / manger une pizza – I’m going to have a pizza
j’ai pris / mangé des spaghettis à la bolognaise hier soir – I 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 maison – he has a big house
elle a beauoup de livres – she has lots of books
Pierre a une très forte personnalité – Pierre has a very strong personality
ils ont deux filles et un fils – they have two daughters and a son
nous avions une maison à la campagne – we used to have a house in the country