Phrases(fr)

Welcome and bienvenue!

Salut, Bonjour!

Bonjour is a universal greeting that can be spoken to anyone at any time. In France, greeting people is very important, and some will even say bonjour aloud when entering a public room or bus.

If you're being casual, you can say Salut(~hey) ! any time of day!

Bon après-midi is often used as a farewell in the afternoon, while bonsoir is an evening greeting. ( "bonsoir" is an evening hello and "bonne soirée" an evening goodbye.)

Greetings:

fr
Bonjour, et bienvenue!	Hello/Good morning and welcome!
bonsoir	plus bon matin in Québec only
Enchanté	Nice to meet you.

Farewells:

fr
bonne journée	(have a)good/nice day
bon(ne) après-midi	(have a)good noon (note: un/une après-midi)
bonne soirée	(have a)good evening
bonne nuit	(have a)good night/have a good night sleep
au revoir	It is more polite to add "monsieur, madame or mademoiselle" or the person's name after "au revoir".
À demain	See you tomorrow
à bientôt	See you soon
Adieu	old expression (to God, forever goodbye)

A good way to remember bonne soirée is to think of a party! Usually, parties happen in the evening. A soirèe is a French word, which means party. So whenever you see "bonne soirèe", just think of a party!

How are you?

Ça va can be used both to ask how someone is doing and to answer the question!

Salut, ça va(bien) ?	Hi, how are you?/Are you doing well?
Ça va (très) bien, et toi ?	I'm (very) fine/It's going (very) well/I am doing (very) well., and you?
Comment ça va ?	How are you doing?

Thank you

Merci is the most common way to say thank you or thanks in French.

You can use it whether you’re talking to your best friend, a seller, a waiter or your boss without any risk of offending anyone.

However, it may be considered a bit cold and short depending on the context.

That’s why it’s often better to expand on the basic merci and use one these common variations:

• Merci beaucoup (thank you very much)

• Merci d’avance (thank you in advance)

• Non merci (no thank you)

• Merci à tous (thank you all)

Sometimes you may also hear these alternative ways of saying thank you in French:

• Merci bien (thanks a lot)

• Merci infiniment (thank you a million)

• Merci mille fois (thank you a thousand times)

• Un grand merci à (a big thank you to…)

Excerpt

Désolé!, je suis désolée! (Sorry! I am sorry!/ my bad! )

Oui, pardon! (Yes, pardon me! )

Oui, s'il te plaît ! (yes, [if you] please!)

Je suis d'accord. (I agree. )