Hello in French

In this tutorial lesson above you will learn how to say “hello” in French. There are two ways: Bonjour and Salut. To say hello you say “bonjour” (pronounced Boh-zhoo). You can use this word from the early morning all the way until the late afternoon. If you are saying hello to an older woman or a woman who do not know you would say “bonjour madame”. If you are saying hello to the man who do not know or who is older than you then say, “bonjour monsieur”.

If you are meeting somebody who is your own age, younger than you or somebody you know you can say “salut” (pronounced Sah-loo). This word would be the English equivalent to hi.Towards the early evening you are going to want to say “bon soir” (pronounced boh-sou-ah). This means good evening. At the end of the evening when you are parting ways you can say “bonne nuit” for goodnight.

Cultural Differences

When you go to France you will quickly discover that saying hello is a very important part of the culture. Indeed, if meet another person at any time of the day it is very important to greet them in the proper way. In fact, in many instances the French culture puts a stronger emphasis on greetings then in the English-speaking culture.

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