French Greetings

How to say hello, introduce yourself, ask how someone is, say goodbye, and use polite French phrases.

Bonjour et bienvenue — hello and welcome to this guide to French greetings.

In this article, we’re going to learn some of the most useful French words and phrases you can use when meeting people, introducing yourself, asking how someone is, saying goodbye, and being polite.

Bonjour et bienvenue

The phrase bonjour et bienvenue means:

I should also introduce myself, seeing as we’re going to be spending a bit of time together.

How to introduce yourself in French

The phrase je m’appelle means I’m called.

Literally, it means I call myself.

So, if you were called Pierre, you could say:

Or, if you were called Marie:

Pronouncing bonjour

A useful tip for pronouncing French words is that you usually stress the final syllable.

So, with bonjour, try saying:

The j is quite soft, and the r at the end can be tricky at first. It’s almost like a harsher version of an h sound.

You’ll notice this sound in lots of French words, including names like Pierre and Marie.

Your first French cue card

As you work through these lessons, you might find it useful to write down new words and phrases.

A good tool to use is cue cards. Write the English words on one side and the French on the other side. Then, when you practise, look only at the English and see if you can remember the French.

How to say “How are you?” in French

If you meet somebody, you can say bonjour, but then you can also ask:

How would you say Hello Marie, how are you?

And how would you say Hello Marie and Pierre, how are you?

How to answer “Comment ça va?”

The word comment means how, and ça va means something like it’s going.

So, if somebody asks you Comment ça va ?, you can answer:

Very often, instead of saying Comment ça va ?, French speakers simply say:

You can answer:

Oui means yes, and non means no.

More French greetings

Literally, bonjour means good day. Bon means good, and jour means day.

You can use bonjour to mean hello, and in France you can also use it in the morning to mean good morning.

There’s one more way to say hello, and that’s when you’re answering the phone in French. You can say:

How to say goodbye in French

The main way to say goodbye in French is:

You can also use salut to mean bye.

If you’re going to see the person again tomorrow, you can say:

Two phrases I like to use when I’m in France are:

You can use them when you’re leaving somewhere:

Please, thank you and excuse me

Now let’s look at a few useful words for being polite in French.

The word merci is a good one for practising your French accent.

It has two syllables, and you’ll hear lots of learners pronounce it MAIR-see, but remember that in French you usually emphasise the final syllable.

Finally, pardon is one of those words you can use all the time. You can use it if you bump into somebody by accident, or to say excuse me if you want to get someone’s attention.

Quick recap