Our inaugural post. If you are a novice French speaker and would like to learn more about the French language, then you have arrived at the right place. In this site we will endeavor to improve your ability to communicate in French, one phrase at a time.
We have to start somewhere, so why not at the top? Most likely, the first word you will hear when your conversation with a Francophone begins will be the word “bonjour.”
This is the French word for “hello” and they almost always use it to start a conversation. This is no different from how English speakers say “hello” when they initiate a conversation with someone.
The younger crowd will need to append monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle when they greet adults. It conveys respect. For example, a young student may greet her teacher by stating “bonjour madame.”
Note that when greeting an adult, “bonjour madame” will suffice, as the last name is typically not used in greeting people.
Saying Goodbye in French is accomplished with the words “au revoir.” Just as you would start a conversation with “bonjour” so too must you end it with “au revoir.” There are other opening and closing greetings of course, but for now, consider bonjour and au revoir your two main bookends to a conversation. One to start, and one to close.
The same rules apply to au revoir as they do to bonjour. That is, to convey respect, append monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle to au revoir. As with bonjour, the use of the last name is not necessary.
Recap: open a conversation with bonjour (append monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle as required) and close the conversation with au revoir (append monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle as needed).
In our next post, we will examine the use of salut in place of bonjour, with a focus on when it would be appropriate to do so. Also, we will examine additional conversation starters and how best to respond to them.
Till Then,
Isabelle