How are you doing in French pronunciation. The correct greeting is the beginning of successful communication
The traditional culture of communication in France is characterized by a certain originality, differing markedly from the culture of dialogue in a number of other countries. This is especially expressed in greetings. This element of speech etiquette is marked by the presence of a certain marking, since a greeting that is acceptable in one social environment may be unacceptable in another. In addition, the choice of specific wording may be dictated by the situation.
The use of any specific greeting patterns in each language (in this case, French) depends on who, where and when the conversation is taking place. When choosing an appropriate form of communication, the type of relationship between two or more interlocutors is usually taken into account. When using words and expressions of greeting in a dialogue, one should not forget that the situation of greeting, as an element of speech etiquette, is intended to express goodwill and politeness towards the interlocutor.
In French, the speech act of greeting involves the use of the following formula: Pardon! (appealative to attract attention)+Bonjour/Bonsoir, (the greeting itself)+Monsieur/Madame/Mademoiselle/ma belle...! (appellative to enhance politeness)+….
However, the most commonly used components of this formula are the neutral type, which (as in many other languages) are formal or informal in nature. The French express a universal informal greeting with the word “Salut!” (which means Hello!).
This lexeme is used exclusively when communicating with relatives and close friends. Saying “Hello!” to a stranger or to a person who is older in age is not accepted among the French. But such a lexical unit as Bonjour! (translation: Good afternoon! or Hello(those)!) - a more formal, and at the same time more common means of expressing greetings.
It is noteworthy that there are strictly defined time frames in greetings. Linguists identify greeting patterns that contain instructions for the appropriate time of day. So, if in Russian, for example, we can specify the time of day in a greeting, equally using such forms of greeting as Good morning! or Good afternoon! or good evening! and even good night! then the French language offers only two basic formulas: Bonjour! (Good afternoon - morning!) and Bonsoir! (translation: Good evening!).
Of course, there is also the Bon matin model! (translation: Good morning!), but usually only theoretically. In live communication, so to speak in practice, this scheme is considered outdated and is almost never used.
To continue communication, the French (like other peoples) use certain phrases and expressions more often than the standard type. Their choice depends on the specific situation that arises in the process of communication. Below is a table of standard phrases used in French to continue and maintain a conversation in a greeting situation.
| Puis-je savoir votre nom? | May I know what your name is? |
| je m'appelle... | My name is… |
| enchanté de faire votre connaissance!… | Nice to meet you… |
| je ne vous ai pas vu longtemps… | I haven't seen you... |
| je suis heureux de vous voir… | glad to see you… |
| je suis content de vous revoir | glad to see you again |
| comment-allez-vous? | How are you doing? |
| quoi de neuf? | what news? |
| voulez vous boir quelque chose?… | Would you mind getting something to drink?... |
| merci, avec plaisir | thanks, with pleasure |
| attendez une minute s’il vous plaît… | wait a minute please... |
| Rencontrons-nous (au hall) | I would like to meet you in the lobby) |
| je suis marie(e) | I'm married |
| Je suis celibataire | I'm single (not married) |
| permettez-moi de me presenter… | let me introduce myself… |
| permettez-moi de vous présenter à mon mari… | let me introduce you to my husband... |
| qu’est-ce que çela veut dire?… | what does it mean?… |
| voila ma carte de visite… | This is my business card… |
| soyez comme chez vous… | Make yourself at home… |
| pardonnez-moi de vous avoir dérangé… | sorry for disturbing you… |
| c'est très gentil de votre part… | this is very kind of you... |
| j'ai beaucoup entendu parler de vous… | I've heard a lot about you... |
Greetings in correspondence
It should be noted that greeting patterns are the same in both spoken and written French. In this regard, a letter of any nature - formal, informal, business, official and personal - always begins with clichéd or template phrases. The so-called standard formules d’appel are the first to be introduced into the text of a letter to greet a partner, comrade, or pen pal.
Any letter traditionally begins with a polite address to the addressee - Mademoiselle/Monsieur/Madame. When corresponding with people you know well, additional speech elements are acceptable that make the address less formal: Cher(Chère) Monsieur/Madame/Mademoiselle! (translation: dear...!). Using initials or surnames after greeting statements is considered incorrect, that is, write - Chère Mademoiselle Djuval! – will be wrong.
When correspondence is carried out with unfamiliar persons, representatives of various organizations and services, administration, letters begin with the traditional addresses Monsieur/Madame or more formal speech forms Messieurs/Mesdames.
If necessary, mention of the position or profession of the communicant is also allowed in the greetings. For example: docteur (doctor) - Monsieur le Docteur, maître (notary, lawyer) - Monsieur le Maitre, Monsieur le Minister,... (Mr. Minister,...), Madame le Juge (Madam Judge,...), Monsieur le Mair (Mr. Mayor ...), Monsieur(Madame) et cher Maître (Dearly respected ... - famous writer and artist).
Be polite and express yourself correctly, then communicating in a foreign language will help expand your circle of friends and will only be a joy!
Regardless of whether you want to sound more natural and relaxed in the company of friends, or you are a serious businessman who needs to establish contact with partners, we will help you. Today we offer you a choice of several French greetings that you can use in parallel with the good old and a little boring "Bonjour".
1) Bonjour! - Hello! (Good morning!)
This is a basic and fundamental French greeting, and it works in any situation, formal or informal. This is often the first word that French learners learn, and rightly so! It is common courtesy to say good afternoon to the baker when entering a corner bakery, or to the waiter when about to order coffee on the terrace of a Parisian café. Neglect of this small form of politeness can be regarded as an extreme form of bad manners, and therefore 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) Salut! - Hello!
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 in that capacity 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 that position without an 'e' following them.
3) Coucou! - Hi!
An extremely informal greeting, reserve 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 in informal communication. And “jouer à coucou” means playing hide and seek (jumping out shouting “peek-a-boo!”). So the humorous and familiar tone inherent in this word 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 to “What's new?” An excellent greeting for a friend whom you have not seen for some time, which encourages you to discuss successes, achievements and interesting events.
5) Allô? - Hello?
This is definitely not the way to greet someone on the street. Leave it only for conversations on the phone or for situations where you need to ironically attract the attention of someone who has “switched off” from what is happening and does not pay attention to the fact that they are being addressed.
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’s why it’s so exciting!
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Where does the conversation begin? Traditionally - with greetings! In this lesson you will learn some phrases that will help you say hello and goodbye. You will also learn to name other people.
Say hello in French
So, the standard greeting phrase for the French is - "Bonjour!"[bɔ̃zhur], which, depending on the time of day, can mean both “good afternoon” and “good morning”.
If you need to greet someone in the evening, use the expression "Bonsoir!"[bɔ̃suar].
These phrases can be used in relation to any person, however, if the atmosphere of your meeting is informal, then you can safely say "Salut!"[Salyu], which means “Hello!”
We say goodbye correctly
To end a conversation and say goodbye, you don’t need to come up with anything new - there are already certain clichés in the language. When breaking up, the following phrases will help you:
Au revoir![about revoir] - Goodbye!
If you are saying goodbye to a friend, or in any other informal situation, you can use phrases such as:
À bientôt![and beats] - See you soon!
À demain![a demyo] - See you tomorrow!
À tout a l'heure![a tu ta ler] - See you soon!
À plus tard![a plu tar] - See you later!
Turnover C'EST
The phrase c’est is usually used to indicate an object or person, and literally translates as “it is.” The element c’ is an abbreviation of the pronoun ce (this), in which the vowel sound denoted by the letter e has been dropped. You encountered this phenomenon in the previous lesson. The element est is the 3rd person singular form of the verb être (to be), which is also familiar to you from the material already covered. Do not forget that this verb is not translated into Russian. For example:
C'est Jeanne.[se jean]. - This is Zhanna.
C'est Pierre.[se pierre] - This is Pierre.
C'est Madame Martin.[se Madame Martɛ̃] - This is Madame Martin.
Interestingly, the French do not have patronymics, but they have special addresses for a woman or a man.
In an official setting, when addressing a stranger or an older person, it is better to use formulas such as "Monsieur + Surname" when addressing a man, "Madame + Last Name"- to a woman, and "Mademoiselle + Surname", if your interlocutor is a young unmarried girl.
If the surnames are not familiar to you, only one address is used, for example: Bonjour, Madame [bɔ̃zhur madame]. - Hello madam.
In written speech, these addresses are usually abbreviated:
C'est Mademoiselle Bernard.[sie Mademoiselle Bernard]. - This is Mademoiselle Bernard. — C'est Mlle Bernard.
C'est Monsieur Dubois.[say Monsieur Dubois]. - This is Mister (Monsieur) Dubois. — C'est M. Dubois
C'est Madame Martin.[se madam martɛ̃]. - This is Madame Martin. — C'est Mme Martin.
Lesson assignments
Exercise 1. Translate into French.
1. Hello Pierre!
2. This is Mr. Bernard.
3. See you soon, Zhanna.
4. This is Mademoiselle Martin.
5. Goodbye, Madame Dubois.
6. See you tomorrow, monsieur.
Answer 1.
1. Salut, Pierre!
2. C'est Monsieur Bernard.
The first thing we do when communicating with other people is greeting. And the first words that we must learn if we want to communicate with foreigners are words of greeting. Words of farewell will also come in handy.
Greetings and farewells in French are the topic of today’s post.
Today we will learn how to say hello and goodbye in French.
Greetings in French
As in Russian, in French there are formal and informal forms of greeting and farewell.
I write the pronunciation in Russian as clearly as possible. In fact, where the “n” sound is written, in the word Bonjour! for example, this sound is nasal, so we don’t pronounce “n” as such. Vocalizations 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 manner 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 meet a peer or relative and you just need to say “Hello!”, we will say:
Please note that we pronounce “salya” and not “salute”. The letter “t” at the end of words is usually not readable.
Farewell in French
Let's move on to goodbye. When a meeting with a person ends, we say: “Goodbye!”, “See you later!”, “Bye!” etc.
Once again, we can say goodbye formally or informally.
The last two expressions are more suitable for informal farewells.
If we just want to say “Bye!” we will use:
That is, in a word Salut! we can say both hello and bye.
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.
Let me give an example of the most common variants of such a greeting and response to it:
| Word | Transcription (reading) | Translation |
| Why? | sa va? | 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. |
| What's the matter? | sa va bien | Okay (things are going well) |
| What's wrong | sa va mal | Bad (things are going bad) |
| pas mal | pa mal | Not bad. |
| Et vous? | eh woo? | And you? (answer question to the question - how are you?) |
| Et toi? | eh tua? | And you? (answer question 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 addressing a person as “you”. Vous is translated as “you”.
Let me give you an example of the simplest greeting dialogues.
Formal version:
- Bonjour! Comment allez-vous? - Good afternoon. How are you?
- Ca va bien, merci. Et vous? - Okay, what about you?
- Pas mal. - Not bad.
Informal option:
- Salut, why? - Hi, how are you?
- Ca va, et toi? - Fine and you?
- Ca va bien. - Fine.
Please note that it is not necessary to answer ça va bien if everything is fine. Simply ça va also means that everything is fine (normal). So use the option that suits you.
By learning these simple phrases, you can say hello to a French speaker, find out how they are doing, and say goodbye.
Come back to my blog and continue learning French. If you have questions, you can ask them in the comments.
