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French greetings

Bonjour and its partners, greetings for each part of the day, how are you, tu or vous, your name and where you are from, please, thank you and sorry, and the customs that go with them in France and Quebec. Seven units end with a complete first conversation.

Progress

About this course

Quebec's Office québécois de la langue française draws a clear line between greetings and wishes. Bonjour and bonsoir greet. Bonne journée, bonne soirée, bon après-midi, bonne fin de journée and bonne nuit are wishes, and they close a conversation. So you walk into a shop with bonjour and leave with au revoir, often with bonne journée. The course starts from this rule because most mistakes with French greetings are mistakes of timing and register, not of vocabulary.

The seven units are hello and goodbye, greetings through the day, how are you, tu or vous, your name and where you are from, please, thank you and sorry, and greeting customs with a first conversation. Salut is the informal hello and also means bye, so a conversation between friends can begin and end with it. Vous is the default with any adult you do not know. Using tu where vous is expected can sound rude or overly familiar, so when in doubt, start with vous. The answers to ça va run from très bien and pas mal to comme ci, comme ça and bof. After an introduction people say enchanté, and a woman writes enchantée, with an extra e, though the two forms sound exactly the same. The grey respellings are a rough first guess, and the recordings use a voice from France.

The customs unit adds the physical side. Most of France greets friends with two kisses on the cheek, but in Finistère one is common and in parts of the west four. The full pattern in a shop has three parts: bonjour as you come in, merci when you pay, and au revoir as you leave. People also say a general bonjour when they enter a small waiting room, and in a lift.

Before you start

Nothing is required beforehand, but French spelling hides many silent letters, so French alphabet and pronunciation will help you say bonjour and s'il vous plaît the way they sound. If you have done English greetings, the unit order will feel familiar.

When you finish

You will be able to greet anyone with bonjour, close with bonne journée or bonne soirée at the right time, and ask and answer ça va. You can choose between tu and vous, use Madame and Monsieur, give your name and where you are from, say please, thank you and sorry politely, and follow the custom of la bise in a first conversation.

  1. 1Hello and goodbyeIn France you say bonjour when you walk into a shop, a waiting room or a lift, even to people you do not know.
  2. 2Greetings through the dayBonjour opens a conversation and bonne journée closes it: the two look alike but are not interchangeable.
  3. 3How are you?Ça va ? Ça va. The same two words make the question and the answer; only the tone of voice changes.
  4. 4Tu or vousSince 2012 French government forms no longer offer Mademoiselle: Madame is used for every woman, as Monsieur is for every man.
  5. 5Your name and where you are fromEnchanté and enchantée sound exactly the same; the extra e is only there in writing, for a woman.
  6. 6Please, thank you and sorryS’il vous plaît means literally if it pleases you, and the abbreviation SVP appears on signs all over France.
  7. 7Greeting customs and a first conversationMost of France greets friends with two kisses on the cheek, but in Finistère one is common and in parts of the west four.

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Sources for this course (9)
  • Office québécois de la langue française, Banque de dépannage linguistique: BON MATIN, emploi comme formule de salutation et de souhait (vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/22656) and BONJOUR au sens de au revoir (vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/25384)
  • Légifrance, Circulaire n° 5575/SG du 21 février 2012 relative à la suppression des termes Mademoiselle… (legifrance.gouv.fr/circulaire/id/34682) and Conseil d’État, 26/12/2012, n° 358226
  • Maire-info, 23 février 2012
  • France Diplomatie, International Francophonie Day 2026 (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 25 March 2026, citing the OIF report)
  • Le français de nos régions (Mathieu Avanzi)
  • La carte des bises (francaisdenosregions.com, 2016)
  • eCampusOntario, Introduction to French, 1.2 Greetings (ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/frenchcopy)
  • TV5Monde Apprendre le français (apprendre.tv5monde.com)
  • University of Texas at Austin, Français interactif (laits.utexas.edu/fi).

Checked: 2026-10-17