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In French au revoir (pronounced oh-ruh-vwahr) means goodbye, bye and farewell. It is the most formal way of saying good-bye. In this post we’ll closely examine the pronunciation of au revoir, salut vs. au revoir and look at some related expressions.
Au revoir
Good-bye
Au revoir
Before we go any further let’s have a closer look at how to pronounce au revoir. The au is pronounced like “oh” as in “oh my gosh!”. Pronouncing the -re is optional. Sometimes it’s pronounced and sometimes it’s skipped over. The -voir is pronounce “vwahr”. Hence, the complete pronunciation is: “oh-ruh-vwhar” or “oh-vwhar”.
Allez, au revoir !
When saying au revoir, the French often precede it with the word allez. This comes from the verb aller, which means to go. Thus, aller, au revoir can translate to both “Well, goodbye”.
Allez, au revoir !
Well, goodbye!
How to reply to au revoir
The best way to respond to au revoir is to simply reply au revoir. In formal situations you can reply with au revoir madame or au revoir monsieur (goodbye, ma’am or goodbye, sir).
Au revoir vs salut
The greeting word salut translate to both “hi!” and “bye!”. It is much less formal than au revoir. In more formal settings using au revoir would be much more appropriate.
Salut!
Bye!
Adieu
Adieu also means goodbye in French. Au revoir means goodbye when it’s expected that the two people will see each other again. Adieu, however, means goodbye forever. The word adieu is most commonly used when somebody passes away. Adieu literally means “to God”, similar to adios in Spanish.
Adieu
Goodbye
Expressions with au revoir
In French, au revoir appears in a few expressions.
- Ce n’est qu’un au revoir Meaning: “It’s just a goodbye” and the French name of the song, Auld Lang Syne
- Au revoir, à la prochaine. Bye! See you next time!
- Au revoir, bonne journée. Bye! Have a nice day!
All French word of the Day lessons
Au revoir means “good-bye” in French.
Related lessons:
Word of the Day Lessons | Lessons by David Issokson
