The French language attracts with its beauty. It is spoken by 270 million people worldwide. In this article, you will learn how to speak politely in French.
In this article, you will learn ways to say "please" in French and figure out in which situations to use them.
Why learn French
The French language is distinguished by its melody. In a conversation, the French voice rises and falls. From the fact that the words in the sentence are interconnected, the speech sounds like one melody. This makes French seem like an incredibly beautiful language. This is one of the reasons why it is very popular.
Another reason to learn French is the history and culture of the country. Everyone who loves Hugo, Dumas, Voltaire and other famous personalities wants to read their works in the original, speak their language and even think in it.
French is the official language of the UN. It is spoken by almost 300 million people worldwide. For 35 countries of the world, French is the official language.
"Please" in Russian and French
Being in another country, people cannot avoid communicating with its inhabitants in the local language. No matter how hard you try to abstract from the outside world, in an unfamiliar place you sometimes have to ask for directions, ask for help or find out some important information.
Without knowing the language in a foreign country, it is difficult to survive. That is why tourists learn the basics of a foreign language before the trip or, in extreme cases, take phrasebooks with them.
However, not everyone knows, for example, how to pronounce "please" in French. Phrasebooks do not always prescribe pronunciation in Russian letters.
At the same time, in Russian the word "please" we can use:
- When we ask for something. For instance: Give me this book please.
- When we answer a request. For instance: Is it possible with you? - You are welcome.
- When we respond to gratitude. For example: Thank you very much! - You are welcome.
- When we send something. For instance: Please, your payment.
- When we experience emotions: indignation, indignation, surprise, etc. For example: Here you are please!
- When we want to be polite. For instance: Weigh me, please, this piece of meat.
In French, we use different words and phrases in these situations. Let's try to figure out how it will be "please" in French in different speech situations.
Request and response to gratitude
So, in French, there are two versions of the word "please" when asking:
- S "il vous plaît - sil wu ple(pronunciation of "please" in French in Russian letters). The phrase "sil wu ple" is used either when addressing a large number of people, or to express respect in a formal speech.
- S "il te plait - strength cho ple. This phrase is used when referring to loved ones, peers, and in general to everyone with whom you are on "you".
When we want to respond to gratitude, the phrases "sil vu ple" and "sil te ple" are not suitable. There are several options for "please" in French in response to "thank you".
- Je vous en prie - same vuzanpri. This is a common phrase in response to "merci". This is a respectful form of address.
- Je t "en prie - same tanpri. The same phrase, but when referring to "you".
There are several colloquial phrases that the French use in everyday life:
- Il n "y a pas de quo i or just pas de quoi - il nya pa de cua / pa de cua - " It's my pleasure".
- C "est tout a fait normal - se here a fe normal- "everything is fine".
- C "est vraiment peu de choses - se vraeman pyo de shoz- "it's a real trifle."
The following phrase is similar to Spanish De nada:
- De rien - le ryan- "It's my pleasure". This is an abbreviated version of the phrase Ne me remerciez de rien (n yo myo römercier gyoryan), translated into Russian - "Don't thank me for anything."
The English often use the phrase No problem in speech. (know problems)- No problem. The French also began to use this combination. This is often the answer to Excusez-moi ( Excuze mua) i.e. "sorry".
- Pas de probleme - pa de problems - "no problem".
- Y'a pas de souci - I am pa de sushi- "no problem" (this is a more colloquial version of the phrase above).
Regional Expressions of Thanks
In Quebec, people respond to "thank you" like this:
- Bienvenue - bianwenu- "please". Looks like English You are welcome (yu a wellcome)
This expression sounds in Lorraine (northeast France) and in the western regions of Switzerland:
- A votre service - a votr service- "at your service".
If you want to indicate that helping a person was a joy to you, then you can use the following phrases:
- C "est un plaisir - satan plazier- "it's a pleasure" ("with pleasure").
- Ca me fait plaisir - sa myo fe plaisir"It gave me pleasure."
And this phrase is often heard in the south of France in the city of Toulouse:
- Avec Plaisir - avec plezir- "with pleasure".
However, if you say so in the north of France, you may be misunderstood.
Where French is required
In what cases you can not do without knowledge of French:
- You are going to work in France. There is no language here. You can start a career in a French company in Russia, but you still have to learn the language.
- You are going to live in countries where French is the official language. The French respect their culture, so getting off with knowledge of English will not work here.
- You are going to study in France. Higher education will require you to have a high level of foreign language proficiency.
In this article, you learned how to say "please" in French, and explored several variations of how to use it depending on the situation.
If you want to study a language seriously, then you will have to master the basics of the language: phonetics, grammar, spelling, vocabulary.
The first thing we start communicating with other people is a greeting. And the first words that we must learn if we want to communicate with foreigners are the words of greeting. Words of goodbye will also come in handy.
Greetings and farewells in French is the topic of today's post.
Today we will learn how to say hello and say goodbye in French.
Greeting in French
As in Russian, in French there are formal and informal forms of greeting and farewell.
I write pronunciation in Russian as clearly as possible. In fact, where the “n” sound is registered, in the word Bonjour! for example, this sound is nasal, so we do not pronounce “n” as such. Voices of words are available in many online dictionaries.
So, let's start with polite forms:
I don’t put stress - just don’t forget that it falls on the last syllable (you can read about this in the article).
These polite forms are used to greet strangers or to greet people in a polite way when necessary. The logic is the same as in Russian - we say good afternoon until the evening, good evening - when it's dark.
If you are meeting with a peer, relative and you just need to say “Hello!”, We will say:
Pay attention to the fact that we pronounce "sala" and not "salute". The letter "t" at the end of words, as a rule, is not readable.
goodbye in french
Let's move on to goodbye. When the meeting with a person ends, we say: “Goodbye!”, “See you!”, “Bye!” etc.
Again, we can say goodbye formally or informally.
The last two expressions are more suitable for an informal farewell.
If we just want to say "Bye!" we will use:
That is, the word Salut! we can say both hello and goodbye.
Related phrases when greeting
As a rule, when we start a conversation, we not only say hello, but also ask how the person is doing. After you have said hello, you can use the phrases suggested below.
I will give an example of the most common options for such a greeting and response to it:
| Word | Transcription (reading) | Translation |
| ca va? | sa wa? | How are you? |
| Vous allez bien? | wu hall bien? | How are you doing? |
| Comment allez vous? | koman tale wu? | How are you doing? |
| ça va, merci | sa wa, merci | Okay (fine), thanks. |
| ca va bien | sa wa bien | Okay (things are going well) |
| ca va mal | sa wa mal | bad (things go bad) |
| pas mal | pa mal | Not bad. |
| Et vous? | uh woo? | And you? (in response to the question - how are you?) |
| Et toi? | uh tua? | And you have? (in response to the question - how are you?) |
The first option is the most common and most often used in everyday informal communication, the second two options are more formal, used when referring to a person as “you”. Vous is translated as - "you".
I will give an example of the simplest greeting dialogs.
Formal option:
- Bonjour! Comment allez vous? - Good day. How are you?
- Ca va bien, merci. Et vous? - Okay, and you?
- Pas mal. - Not bad.
informal option:
- Salut, ca va? - Hi, how are you?
- Ca va, et toi? - Fine and you?
- Ca va bien. - Good.
Note that it is not necessary to answer ça va bien if all is well. Just ça va also means that everything is fine (normal). So use whichever option you like.
By learning these simple phrases, you can say hello to a French speaker, find out how he is doing and say goodbye to him.
Come back to my blog and keep learning French. If you have questions, you can ask them in the comments.
Content:
The most commonly used expression for the French "goodbye" is "au revoir", but in this language, in fact, there are many ways to say goodbye. Here are some of the more common ways.
Steps
1 Ordinary goodbye
- 1
Say "au revoir" in any setting. This is the standard French translation of Russian "goodbye" and can be used in casual and formal settings, with strangers as well as friends.
- "Au revoir" is usually translated directly as "goodbye". However, a more accurate translation is "see you again" or "meet again".
- "Au" translates as "before". "Revoir" is translated as "see again", "meet again".
- Pronounce "Au revoir" like "o-revoir".
- 2
Use Salut in an informal setting. You can use "Salut" as a way to say "bye" among friends or in other everyday situations.
- Avoid using "Salut" in a formal setting.
- Also note that "Salut" can be used to greet someone as well as to say goodbye.
- The term has a number of translations, including "greetings", "all the best".
- Say "Salut" like "salut".
- 3
Use "adieu". Although "adieu" is not used as much as it used to be, it can still be used in most situations as a way of saying goodbye.
- "A" translates as "to" and "Dieu" means "God". In a more literal translation, this phrase sounds "to God" and is the same as saying "go with God" or "have a good trip."
- A rough transcription of "adieu" would be "adyu".
2 Wishing you all the best
- 1
Wish someone a good day with "Bonne journée". This phrase is translated as "good day", and in fact means "I wish you a good day."
- "Bonne" means "good".
- "Journée" means "day".
- Approximate pronunciation of the phrase "bon jurney".
- Say "passez une bonne journée" in slightly more formal situations. It literally means "have a good day" or "spend a good day". Say the sentence like "pa-se une bon zhurney".
- 2
Wish someone a good evening with "Bonne soirée". It literally translates to "good evening" and is the same as saying "have a good evening" to someone.
- "Bonne" means "good".
- "Soiree" means "evening".
- Pronounce this phrase like "bon soiree".
- 3
Wish someone a happy journey with "Bonne voyage", "Bonne route" or "Bonnes Vacances". Each of these phrases can be translated something like "happy journey" and each of them can be used to say goodbye to someone who is leaving for a trip or vacation.
- "voyage" means journey, Trip, "bon voyage" is most accurately translated "good luck". Pronounce it like "bon voyage".
- "Route" means "road", "route", or "way". The phrase is usually used to say "have a good trip" or "have a good trip", and is pronounced "bon rut".
- "Vacances" means "vacation" or "vacation", so the phrase "Bonnes vacances" means "have a nice vacation" or "have a nice vacation". Pronounce it like "bon vacancy".
- 4
Use "Bonne continuation" for a brief meeting. This phrase is generally only used to say goodbye to someone you briefly met and will most likely never see again.
- The phrase can be translated "good luck" or "good luck".
- Say the phrase like "bon continuacion".
- 5
Ask someone to take care of themselves with "Prends soin de toi". In Russian, this phrase means "take care of yourself."
- "Prends" means "to take".
- "Soin" means "care".
- In this context, "de" conveys a prepositional case.
- "Toi" means "you".
- Pronounce the entire phrase as "pran sua de tua."
- 6
Wish someone good luck with "Bonne chance" or "bon courage". Both sayings can be said to someone who is leaving, and both mean "good luck" in one form or another.
- "Bonne chance" is used when the recipient is lucky. "Chance" means "luck", "chance" or "luck". Pronounce "Bonne chance" like "bon chance".
- "Bon courage" is used to tell someone to "be persistent" or "go all the way". "Courage" means "courage" or "fortitude". Pronounce "bon courage" like "bon courage".
3 Other ways to say goodbye
- 1
Say goodbye for a short time with "à la prochaine" or "à bientôt". Both statements mean something like: "see you soon."
- More literally, "à la prochaine" means "until the next time", which basically means "until the next time we meet".
- Say "à la prochaine" like "à la proschen".
- The direct translation "à bientôt" means "in the near future", but the main meaning in Russian is "see you soon".
- Say "à bientôt" like "a bian tou".
- 2
Use "à plus TARD". This phrase roughly means "see you later."
- A more literal translation means "later". Plus means "more" and tard means "late".
- This phrase is rather informal, but you can make it even more informal by dropping "tard" and just saying "à plus".
- Say "à plus TARD" like "a plus tar".
- 3
Say goodbye to someone during the day with "à demain". This phrase means "see you tomorrow" or "see you tomorrow".
- "Demain" means "tomorrow".
- Pronounce the phrase like "a deman".
- 4
Use "à tout à l"heure" or "à tout de suite" when you see someone in the near future. Both phrases mean something like: "see you in a short time."
- Use "à tout à l"heure" to say "see you soon" or "see you soon" Pronounce it like "a tou ta ler".
- Use "à tout de suite" to say "see you soon". Pronounce it like "and here is the suite."
- 5
Tell someone you just met:"ravi d'avoir fait ta connaissance". This statement roughly translates to "Nice to meet you."
- "Ravi" means "delighted".
- The rest of the phrase "d" avoir fait ta connaissance" translates roughly as "that met you".
- Pronounce the sentence as "ravi davuar fe ta conesans".
Tired of constantly using "Au revoir" ("Goodbye")? Do you know many ways to say hello in French and just one expression to say goodbye?
If you want to know how to say goodbye in French without saying "Au revoir", you're in the right place.
Today we are going to look at 10 French goodbyes. Let's start with the most formal version and end with the most "easy" in meaning and familiar in use.
- Adieu (Goodbye)
Adieu used infrequently. This is the most formal option, and it always has a tone of dryness, completeness and formality, similar to the Russian "goodbye." It can be safely used in a situation where you no longer plan to see the interlocutor, or when one of you is on his deathbed.
- Bonne journée/Bonne soirée (Have a nice day/Good evening)
Both of these expressions are rather formal, and their formality can be strengthened by adding the polite title Monsieur, Madame or Mademoiselle after them. You can also add "au revoir". In this case, the phrase will not bear the shade of a final farewell, but will be perceived as a polite regret for well-being.
- A plus tard (See you soon)
Full form of expression a plus tard sounds pretty formal. Note that in this case, the "s" at the end of the word plus not pronounced, unlike the more casual and colloquial abbreviated version of this expression - plus.
- À bientôt/À tout à l’heure (See you soon. See you soon)
These two expressions are very similar. But, a tout a l'heure implies that you and the interlocutor will still see each other at some point today., at the same time as a bientot may mean that you will see each other within a week or in the coming days.
- À demain (Until tomorrow)
This expression is the best fit if you and your interlocutor work or go to school and see each other regularly and daily.
- À la prochaine (See you later)
If au revoir implies a future meeting (literally meaning "until we meet again"), then a la prochain implies that you plan to see the interlocutor in the near future. If you don't want to see the person again, better avoid this expression!
- Salut! (Till!)
In whatever sense this word is used - as a greeting or as a farewell, it is an invariable element of informal speech and the most common phrase among those who communicate with each other on "you".
- Ciao! (Till!)
Surely you are thinking: "How can you use "Ciao" in French, it's Italian!". This is true, but the enterprising French have never been against borrowing a couple of expressions from other languages. That is why there are so many English loanwords in French. "Ciao" is a great way to say goodbye to your friends, no matter what language you speak.
- Je m'en vais (Well, I went)
If a friend's party is dragging on and you still have to get home and finish unfinished business, then this expression is a great way to say goodbye and leave the party without offending anyone.
- Je me casse/Je me tire (I'm leaving)
These two expressions mean about the same thing, and it is better not to use them in polite society, because they can be perceived as bad manners at best, and as an insult at worst. Therefore, use them wisely and only in the circle of close friends.
Whether you want to sound more natural and relaxed with friends, or you're a serious businessman who cares about connecting with partners, we've got you covered. Today we offer you a choice of several French greetings that you can use in parallel with the good old and a little bored Bonjour.
1) Bonjour! - Hello! (Good morning!)
This is the basic and foundational French greeting and works in any situation, formal or informal. It is often the first word that learners of French learn, and rightly so! It's common courtesy to say good afternoon to a baker walking into a corner bakery, or to a waiter about to order coffee on the terrace of a Parisian café. The neglect of this small form of politeness can be regarded as an extreme form of bad manners, and therefore - to cause sidelong glances. After sunset, you can replace this little courtesy with Bonsoir!(Good evening!). Usage Bonjour! or Bonsoir!- the best option for the first greeting in a formal or informal situation.
2) Salute! - Hey!
An excellent greeting, usually addressed to those whom you see quite often or know quite well, i.e. colleagues, classmates, acquaintances, close friends. This is an informal greeting, so it should be used as such and not in a business meeting. Don't forget: the 't' at the end of a word is not pronounced according to the general French rule of voiced consonants in this position without an 'e' following them.
3) Coucou! - Hi!
An extremely informal greeting, save it for close friends and family, otherwise you may be looked at with offended bewilderment. The phrase "faire coucou (à quelqu'un)" means "to wave or say hello (to someone)" and is also used informally. And "jouer à coucou" means to play hide and seek (jumping out with a cry of "cuckoo!"). So the playful and familiar tone inherent in this word, in itself, suggests in what situation you can afford it.
4) Quoi de neuf? - What's new?
While remaining informal, this greeting shows great interest and literally translates as "What's new?". An excellent greeting for a friend who has not been seen for some time, which encourages discussion of successes, achievements and interesting events.
5) Allô? – Hello?
This is definitely not the way to greet someone on the street. Leave it only for talking on the phone or for a situation where you need to ironically attract the attention of someone who is “turned off” from what is happening and does not pay attention to what is being addressed to him.
As you can see, the forms of greeting in French are not as numerous and varied as, but believe me, this language is fraught with many discoveries, surprises and unexpected, and sometimes absurd turns. However, that is why it is so exciting!