French Dialogue • Greetings Greetings  Les salutations | |
|---|---|
| Jacques et Marie | |
| Jacques | Bonsoir, Marie. |
| Marie | Euh ? Tu t’appelles comment ? |
| Jacques | Moi[1], je m’appelle Jacques. |
| Marie | Ah, oui. Quoi de neuf, Jacques ? |
| Jacques | Pas grand-chose. Alors , au revoir, à demain, Marie. |
| Marie | À la prochaine, Jacques. |
| Olivier et Luc | |
| Olivier | Salut. |
| Luc | Bonjour. |
| Olivier | Tu t’appelles comment ? |
| Luc | Luc. Et toi ?[3] |
| Olivier | Je suis Olivier. |
| Luc | Ah, oui. Alors, à bientôt, Olivier. |
| Olivier | Salut, Luc ! |
Greetings
| French Vocabulary • Greetings Greetings Les salutations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Salut | Hi./Bye. | (informal) | |
| Bonjour | Hello | (more formal than salut) (all day) | |
| Bonsoir | Hello | (after 19h00) | |
| Bonne soirée | Good evening | ||
| Bonne nuit | Good night | bun nwee | |
| Quoi de neuf ? | What’s up (about you)? (lit. what’s new) | ||
| Pas grand-chose. | Not much. (lit. no big-thing) | ||
Formal Lesson – Greetings
When talking to one’s peers or to children, Salut is used as a greeting. Its English equivalents would be hi and hey. Bonjour, literally meaning good day, should be used for anyone else. Bonsoir is used to say Good evening. Bonne nuit is used to say Good night before going to bed.
Good-bye
| French Vocabulary • Greetings Good-bye Au revoir | ||
|---|---|---|
| Salut. | Hi./Bye. | (informal) |
| Au revoir. | Good-bye. | ohrvwahr (ev not pronounced) |
| À demain. | See you tomorrow. | ah duhman (Lit: To/Until Tomorrow) |
| Au revoir, à demain. | Bye, see you tomorrow. | |
| À tout à l’heure. | See you (later today)! | ah tootah luhr |
| À la prochaine. | See you (tomorrow)! | ah lah proh shayn |
| À bientôt. | See you soon. | ah byantoe |
| Ciao | Bye. | chow (Italian) |
Formal lesson – Good-byes
In addition to being used as an informal greeting, Salut also means bye. Again, it should only be used among friends. Another informal greeting is ciao, an Italian word commonly used in France. Au revoir is the only formal way to say Good-bye. If you will be meeting someone again soon, use À bientôt or À tout à l’heure. À demain is used if you will be seeing the person the following day.
Names
Tu t’appelles comment ? is used to informally ask someone for his or her name. It is normal to just reply by stating your name, however you may also respond Je m’appelle [name] (I am called…). In the next lesson, you will learn more formal ways of asking someone for their name.