Today we’re looking at the expression “Vive la France !”, which means “long live France!”. The French use this expression to convey national pride and commonly use it on Bastille Day, the national holiday on July 14, and at sporting events such as the soccer World Cup and Olympic games.
Vive la France ! – [viv la frɑ̃s]
Long live France!
Grammatical explanation
In the expression vive la France, the verb vive is the third-person singular subjunctive form of the verb vivre (to live).
Example sentences
This first example sentene uses to potentially confusing words. The verb visiter is used for visiting places whereas rendre visite à is used for visiting people. The French use the feminine noun fois to express times as in how many times an action is carried out.
J’ai visité la France trois fois dans ma vie et c’est mon pays préféré au monde. Vive la France!
I’ve visted France three times in my life and it’s my favorite country in the world. Long live France!
For this second example sentence, notice that I didn’t translate vive la France into English. This is because the French expression has been adopted in the English language.
Vive la France ! J’adore ce pays et je vais apprendre le français!
Vive la France! I love this country and I’m going to learn French!
Related lessons
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