Vocabulary · Greetings · Les salutations
සංස්කරණය| Salut |  /sa.ly/ (sah-lew) |
Hi./Bye. | informal | ||
| Bonjour | /bɔ̃.ʒuʁ/ (boh(n)-zhoor) |
Hello | the normal greeting; all day | ||
| Bonsoir | /bɔ̃.swaʁ/ (boh(n)-swahr) |
Good evening, good night, hello | after 19h00 (7pm) | ||
| Bonne soirée | /bɔn swaʁ.e/ (bohn swah-ray) | Good evening | une soirée can also mean a party | ||
| Bonne nuit | /bɔn‿nɥi/ (bohn nooee) |
Good night | the normal farewell after dark | ||
| Quoi de neuf ? | /kwɑ də nœf/ (kwah duh nuhf) | What's up?, How's it going? | lit: what's new | ||
| Pas grand-chose. | /pa gʁɑ̃ ʃoz/ (pah grah(n) shohz) | Not much. | lit: no big-thing | ||
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. One way of remembering these greetings, is that they come in masculine/feminine pairs. One is upon arrival, the other upon departure.
jour : bonjour / bonne journée
matin : bonjour / bonne matinée (early in the morning), bonne journée (early or late in the morning)
après-midi : bonjour / bon(ne) après-midi (early in the afternoon), bonne journée (early or late in the afternoon), bonne soirée (late in the afternoon)
soir : bonjour, bonsoir / bonne soirée (early or late in the evening), bonne nuit (very late in the evening)
nuit : bonjour, bonsoir / bonne nuit
The French never say Bon matin, They do use matinée, journée, soirée but never use nuitée.
Vocabulary · Good-bye · Au revoir
සංස්කරණය| Salut | /sa.ly/ (sah-lew) |
Hi./Bye. | informal (kid stuff) | ||
| Au revoir | /o ʁɘ.vwaʁ/ (oh ruh-vwahr) | Good-bye | lit: to/until seeing again | ||
| À demain | /a dɘmɛ̃/ (ah duh-ma(n)) | See you tomorrow | lit: to/until tomorrow | ||
| À tout à l'heure | /a tu‿ta lœʁ/ (ah too-tah luhr) | See you (later today) | idiomatic, lit: to all to the hour | ||
| À la prochaine | /a la proʃɛn/ (ah lah proh-shehn) | See you (tomorrow) | lit: to/until next time | ||
| À bientôt | /bjɛ̃.to/ (ah byuha(n)-toh) | See you soon | lit: to/until soon | ||
| À plus tard | /a ply taʁ/ (ah plew tahr) | See you later | À plus (short version for "see you") | ||
| Ciao | /tʃao/ (chow) | Bye | Italian | ||
| Bonne soirée | /bɔn swaʁ.e/ (bohn swahr-ay) | Have a good evening | |||
| Bonne journée | /bɔn ʒuʁ.ne/ (bohn zhoor-nay) | Have a nice day | |||
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.
Vocabulary · Names
සංස්කරණයTu 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 with [[wikt:Je m'appelle [name].|Je m'appelle [name].]] , meaning I am called....
Vocabulary · How are you? · Ça va ?
සංස්කරණය| Comment allez-vous ? (formal) , Comment vas-tu ? (informal) , Comment ça va ? / Ça va ? (informal) |
 /kɔmɑ̃‿tal.e vu/ (උදව්·info), /kɔmɑ̃ va ty/ (උදව්·info), /kɔmɑ̃ sa va/ (උදව්·info) |
How are you? | lit: How do you go?, It goes? | ||
| Est-ce que vous allez bien ? | /eskə vu‿zal.e bjɛ̃/ (උදව්·info) |
Are you well? | |||
| Ça va (très) bien | /sa va (tʁɛ) bjɛ̃/ (උදව්·info) |
I'm doing (very) well. | lit. It's going (very) well | ||
| Je vais bien | /ʒə ve bjɛ̃/ (උදව්·info) |
I am well. | |||
| Ça va Oui, ça va |
/sa va/ (උදව්·info) /wi sa va/ (උදව්·info) |
Things are going fine. Yes, I'm fine. |
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| Très bien, merci | /tʁɛ bjɛ̃ mɛʁsi/ (උදව්·info) |
Very well, thanks. | |||
| Pas mal | /pa mal/ (උදව්·info) |
Not Bad | |||
| Pas si bien/pas très bien | /pa si (tʁɛ) bjɛ̃/ (උදව්·info) |
Not so well | |||
| (très) mal | /tʁɛ mal/ (උදව්·info) |
(very) bad | |||
| Comme ci, comme ça | /kɔm si kɔm sa/ (උදව්·info) |
So-so | |||
| Désolé(e) | /de.zɔ.le/ (උදව්·info) |
Sorry. | Désolée if feminine, same pronunciation | ||
| Et toi ? Et vous ? |
/e twɑ/ (උදව්·info) /e vu/ (උදව්·info) |
And you? (informal) And you? (formal) |
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DIALOGUE: Two good friends, Olivier and Luc, are meeting.
Ça va ? is used to ask someone how they are doing. The phrase literally means It goes?, referring to the body and life. A more formal way to say this is Comment allez-vous ?. You can respond by using ça va as a statement; Ça va. in this case is used for I'm fine. The adverb bien /bjɛ̃/ is used to say well, and is often said both alone and as Ça va bien. Bien is preceded by certain adverbs to specify the degree to which you are well. Common phrases are assez bien, meaning rather well, très bien, meaning very well, and vraiment bien, meaning really well. The adverb mal /mal/ is used to say badly. Pasnot /pɑ/ is commonly added to mal to form Pas mal., meaning Not bad. Comme ci, comme ça., literally translating to Like this, like that., is used to say So, so.
To be polite, you can add merci /mɛʁ.si/, meaning thank you, in your responses to the questions e.g., très bien, merci.
Exercises
සංස්කරණය(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
- Translate from French to English.
| Bonne soirée | Have a good evening. |
| À tout à l'heure | See you (later today) |
| Je vais bien. | I am well. |
| Et vous ? | And you? (formal) |
| À demain | See you tomorrow |
| Comment allez-vous ? | How are you? (formal) |
| Salut | Hi./Bye. |
| Très bien, merci. | Very well, thanks. |
| Est-ce que vous allez bien ? | Are you well? |
| Je m'appelle | My name is |
| Bonne nuit | Good night |
| À bientôt | See you soon |
| Pas si bien/pas très bien | Not so well |
| Ça va bien | I'm doing well. |
| Bonjour | Hello |
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
- Translate from English to French.
| What's your name? | Tu t'appelles comment ? |
| Have a nice day | Bonne journée |
| Hi./Bye. | Salut. |
| Not much. | Pas grand-chose. |
| Have a good evening | Bonne soirée |
- Your friend François sees you and starts a conversation. How might you respond?
- François: Salut. Comment vas-tu ?
- You: _________
- François: Quoi de neuf ?
- You: _________
- François: À la prochaine.
- You: _________
- Put the following conversation in order:
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Michel | Je ne vais pas très bien. | Bonjour, Jacques | Au revoir | Comment ça va? |
| 2. Jacques | Désolé. | Ça va très bien! Et vous? Allez-vous bien? | À demain. | Salut, Michel! |
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Michel | Bonjour, Jacques | Comment ça va? | Je ne vais pas très bien. | Au revoir |
| 2. Jacques | Salut, Michel! | Ça va très bien! Et vous? Allez-vous bien? | Désolé. | À demain. |