The most common French greetings are are bonjour (meaning: good morning and hello) and au revoir (meaning: good-bye). Another common informal greeting is salut, which means both hi and bye. This post covers French greetings in depth, offering a complete list of formal, informal and slang greetings.

30 French Greetings For Survival In France (With Audio)

What are the most common French greetings?

How to greet somebody in French

There are several ways to greet somebody in French, depending on the hour of the day and who you are addressing.

Be sure to use bonjour with strangers and not salut. Salut means hi but it is informal and strictly for people you already know as well as kids and teenagers.

Similarly, use ‘Comment allez-vous? for ‘How are you?’ in formal situations and ‘Ça va?’ in informal situations.

Bonjour bon-joor Hello, good morning!
Salut sal-u Hi!/bye
Ça va? sa-vah How’s it going?
Comment ça va? como-sa-vah How’s it going?
Comment vas-tu? como-vah-tu How are you? (informal)
Comment allez-vous? como-allay-voo How are you? (formal or to group)
Bon après-midi boh-apray-mee-dee Good afternoon!
Bonsoir boh-swahr Good evening.

This page on our site covers how to say hello in French in detail.

How to say goodbye in French

There are several ways to say good-bye in French, also depending on the time of day and who you are addressing.

Use au revoir in formal situations. Note the pronunciation of au revoir is ‘oh-vwhar’. The re is optional and a bit more formal.

Salut also means bye but it is strictly informal. Use salut with people you already know or kids and teenagers.

Au revoir ohv-voir Good-bye
Salut! sah-loo Bye! (informal)
Bonne nuit bun-nwee Good night
Bonne journée bun-joor-nay Have a nice day
Bonne soirée bun-swahr-ay Have a nice evening
À bientôt! ah-bi-ehn-toh See you soon!

This page on our site examines how to say goodbye in French in detail.

Couple in Paris in front of the Eiffel tower

How to ask how somebody is doing

There are several ways to express how you are doing. Very simply, you can answer the question ‘Ça va?’ (How’s it going?) with ‘Ça va’ (Literally it goes or ‘fine’). You can also add to your answer. For example: ‘Ça va bien’ (I’m doing well).

While ‘Comment allez-vous?’ (How are you?) literally means ‘How do you go?, you can answer the ‘je‘ (I) form of aller (to go).

For example, ‘Je vais bien’ literally means ‘I go well’ or I’m fine. ‘Je vais mal’ literally means ‘I’m going poorly’ or ‘I’m not doing well’.

Another way to answer is ‘tout va bien’, which translates literally to ‘everything goes well’, or ‘all is well’.

Ça va sah-vah I’m okay.
Ça va bien, merci. sah-vah-bi-ehn, mersee I’m well, thanks.
Ça va mal sah-vah-mahl I’m not doing well.
Ça va comme ci comme ça com-see-com-sah I’m so-so.
Je vais bien. I’m fine.
Je vais mal. I’m not doing well / I’m doing poorly.
Je vais comme ci, comme ça. I’m so-so.
Tout va bien. Everything is going fine.

This page on our site covers various ways to ask, “How are you?” in French.

How to introduce yourself

There are several ways to say nice to meet you in French. The two most common are ‘Je suis ravi de faire votre connaissance’, which translates literally to ‘I am delighted to make your acquaintance’.

‘Enchanté’ translates literally to enchanted. You can simply exclaim, ‘Enchanté!’. In addition, you can also say, ‘Je suis enchanté de faire votre connaissance’.

Bienvenue! bi-ehn-vuh-noo Welcome!
Ravi de faire votre connaissance! ravee-duh-fair-vo-truh-co-nay-sanse Nice to meet you (formal)
Enchanté(e)! uhn-shan-tay Nice to meet you!

This page on our site explores seven ways to say “nice to meet you” in French in detail.

Slang French greetings

The French love to use informal greetings. Here is a very brief list. ‘Tu es en forme’ literally means ‘Are you in shape’?

It’s fun greeting to use with friends. Similarly, ‘Quoi de neuf’ (literally ‘What of new’?) or ‘What’s new?’ is good for friends and good acquaintances.