The informal French greeting “Salut!” (pronounced sah-lu) has several meanings including hi and bye. The French strictly use salut with acquaintances and not strangers. In more formal situations the French use both bonjour and au revoir. Keep reading to learn how to use salut in conversational French.
Salut – [saly]
Hi/bye
Salut – hi, bye
Uses of salut in French
Using salut to say “hi!”
In informal situations, the French use salut as a greeting to say “hi!”.
Salut, mon ami! Ça va?
Hello my friend! How’s it going?
Salut les gars! Je m’appelle Sylvie.
Hi guys. My name is Sylvie.
Using salut to say “bye!”
Similarly, the French use salut as in informal way of saying “bye!”
Salut tout le monde! Je m’en vais maintenant !
Bye everybody! I’m leaving now.
Salut! À la prochaine !
Bye! See you next time!
More usages of salut
Salut has a few more uses. As a verb, “saluer” means to greet.
Je salue les invités quand ils arrivent.
I greet the guests when they arrive.
As a noun “un salut” means a wave or nod.
Je lui fais un salut de main.
I give him a wave of the hand.
Word of the Day lessons | Lessons by David Issokson
Related lessons:
- Bonjour – hello
- Au revoir – goodbye
- Ça va – fine, how’s it going?
- 15 ways to say goodbye
- 20 ways to say hello
- Greetings
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