COURSE vs. PLATE

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin. 

Today we continue with restaurant English; we are going to learn the correct translation of the Spanish word plato.

It can be translated into English as course or plate. Do you know what the difference is? And when I say course I am not referring to an academic course.

COURSE: one of the parts of a meal. You can use the following words to talk about the different parts of a meal.
⇒ The first course (the starter*), for example salad or soup
⇒ The second course (the main course), for example fish or steak
⇒ The third course (dessert**), for example ice cream, fruit or cake

*UK English = starter, / US English = appetizer
**UK English also uses the word pudding

A typical meal has three courses (the starter, the main course, dessert), but some meals have just one course and others can have many.

PLATE: a flat, round dish that you put food on.

And now for some examples.

Example 1: There were five different courses served at the wedding banquet. By the time dessert was served, I was too full to eat anything else.

Example 2: This restaurant offers a two-course lunch special for $5.99.

Example 3: We could serve the cheese course on those lovely, antique, blue and white Danish plates.

To get some writing practice, I encourage you to write your own sentence or two with these words. You can post your sentences on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and will give you feedback about your writing ASAP.

Have a nice day!