How do you say hello in French
There are many ways to say hello in French. Some of the ways to greet people are formal and some are informal. In the USA many people think we do not have such a division between the formal and informal greetings, but we do.
You will not say ‘hey man’ to your professor, nor will you say ‘it is a pleasure to meet you’ to your friend. That being said here are a few different ways you can say hello in the French language from Paris to Montreal, Canada.
Hello in French
French hello
- Hello including good morning, good afternoon and good day in English is Bonjour in French. This is both formal and informal. Bon means good and jour means day. Bon Bon is a candy in fact. And think of soup de jour, which is soup of the day. It is pronounced ‘bon’ like Jame Bond with out the ‘d’ and ‘zhore’ like ’shore’ but with a z sound. To say hello in French is bonjour.
- Hi in French or an informal way of saying hello in France is salut. It sounds like the English word ’salute’ like ’salute a soldier’ but with out a ‘t’ at the end of the word. This is an informal hello or greeting in Paris or Quebec or anywhere really.
When learning words like greetings of hello in a language try not to use a French dictionary or translations. Use word lists and memorized them. When you have say ten to twenty words put them on a piece of paper and carry them around with you. Making word lists and carrying them around with you is one of the best ways to learn.
I am making this site to include many such word lists. From vocabulary list you can make your own flash cards for all the greetings.
Say hello in French and meet beautiful people from France
Basically people are friendly, do not believe, for example, that Parisians are snobs or people from Montreal do not like speaking the English language. If you smile and make an effort you will meet good and bad people everywhere. I am an American that has live in Europe for many years. I am not a European but an American and perceived that way and people are really friendly to me.
So learn to say “hello” and smile and France can be your playground. But the smiling is very important.
Tags: French words
2 responses to How to say hello in French
What is the best way to say hello to the CEO of my company. We are a US division and the French president is coming to visit. If I see him how do I say hello. I’m just an ordinary office worker and I want to be respectful.
Bonjour is the safest way of saying hello in French.
Bonjour Monsieur Smith …. is even better.
Je m´appelle John – My name is (I call myself)
Je suis heureux(se) de faire votre connaissance – I am happy to meet you.
Je voudrais présenter …. – Is I more formal way to say, I would like to introduce Mr. Miller…
Enchante – is a very formal way of saying it is nice to meet you. I do not know if you want to use it, but I say it.
comment allez-vous? – how are you? This is formal. Remeber vous is the formal form in French.
So maybe these help. It is better to keep it simple and learn a couple good ones as you might be stressed and fumble if you know too much. You could even use some home made flashcards to practice.
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