Literally, these questions mean “what do you call yourself?”. In French, you can find it out by asking “ Comment vous appelez-vous?” (formal) or “ Comment t'appelles-tu?” (informal). When meeting anyone, one of the first things you'll want to know is their name. Comment vous appelez-vous? / Comment t'appelles-tu? – “What’s your name?” S'il vous plaît…” It literally means “Hello, please…”, which would sound a bit strange in English, but it's the normal way to start a polite request in French. asking a stranger for directions or asking to see a menu in a restaurant, you should start with “ Bonjour. In fact, when asking for something in French – e.g. Just learn the phrase as a whole for now, and things will become clear later.) (Why is it s'il te plait and not s'il tu plait? It's a grammatical thing that you don't need to worry about as a beginner.
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So s'il vous plaît and s'il te plaît both mean “please” (literally, “if it pleases you”), but s'il vous plait is the more polite version. ( Vous is also what you should use when addressing a group of people in any situation, similar to saying “you guys” or “you all” in English). Vous is a more polite and formal version, best used when talking to a stranger or older person. Tu is what you'd use when addressing a friend. In French there are two ways of saying “you”. What's the difference? It's all about “you”: So when in France, remember what your mother taught you, and say s'il vous plaît (“please”) when making a request. S'il vous plaît / s'il te plaît – “Please”Īs a tourist, the last thing you want to be is rude. A more casual way to greet people is salut, which can mean either “hi!” or “bye!”. In the evening, you could also say bonsoir (“good evening”).
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It's universally polite and friendly, whether the situation is formal or informal.īonjour is a combination of the words bon (“good”) and jour (“day”). There are many ways in French to say “hello”, but bonjour is undoubtedly the most well-known. French Greetings and Polite Phrases Bonjour – “Hello” Here's a quick “French phrases” video I made that will help you with pronunciation for most of the phrases in this article:īefore we get started, if you’re looking for an online French course, here’s the course I recommend: French Uncovered – Learn French Through the Power of Story, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. So whether you're planning to travel to Paris for a week or move to Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! for the rest of your life, here are the most important and useful French phrases that you should learn A.S.A.P.
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How do you expect to communicate with anybody if the only thing you've learned so far is a verb table? I've long advocated that set phrases are the best thing for beginners to learn when starting out.Īfter all, isn't the goal of language learning to communicate? À quelle heure est-ce qu’il faut régler la note?
HOPEFULLY IN FRENCH PLUS
Où se trouve la station de métro la plus proche?