- "Bonjour" can be said at any hour if you meet someone for the first time in the day, but if it's late, it's very weird to say "bonjour" as the "jour" (the day) is ending, you would say rather "bonsoir" (good evening). If you say "Bonjour" to someone and it's already the start of the evening, people will reply "Bonsoir" and you'll have to say: "oh, yes, sorry, "bonsoir" because it's already the evening now." (Oui, c'est vrai, bonsoir, c'est déjà le soir, maintenant...)
- You never use "Bonjour" when you take leave of someone.
- "Bonjour" can be also "good morning" in the morning.
- "Bonne nuit" is "good night". It's the greeting we say before going to bed, (or you can say it when you take leave of someone in the night)
- "Bonsoir" is "good evening", so you say it in the evening. And you also can say it when you leave of someone in the evening. You can say it also when you meet someone in the evening instead of "bonjour". (since "bonjour" is weird when it's late)
- "Bon après-midi!" (sometimes spelled "bonne") is "good afternoon", you can say it when you take leave of someone in the after-noon.
- "Salut": (very informal, you can't say it to your boss, but only to friends) = Hello/Hi
How are you?
Note: It's idiomatic, you can't use the verb "to be" (être) in French to say that, you have to use the verb "to go" (aller), a irregular verb (Je vais, tu vas, nous allons, etc...)
- Formal form: Comment vas-tu? (comment allez-vous?)
- Less formal form: Comment tu vas? (comment vous allez?)
- Even less formal form: ça va bien? / ça va?
- Formal form: Je vais bien. (Nous allons bien, for a group)
- Less formal form: ça va bien / ça va.
Slang greetings
- Quoi de neuf? (literally: what is new?) = What's up?
The joke is to reply "Que du vieux". (Nothing's new, all is old)
- Quoi de beau? (literally: what is beautiful?) = What's up?
Salut
"Salut" is very informal, you can't say it with your boss for example, you use it when it's too formal to say "bonjour".
For instance, you meet some close friends, you are a students, and you meet some other young students, etc...
"Salut" means:
- "Hello/Hi" when you meet someone. It's the first word you say when meeting the person. It's the last word you say in this case. For instance: Salut! Comment vas-tu?
- "Bye!" ("Salut" is less formal than "goodbye"), when you are taking leave of someone. For instance: Désolé, je dois partir maintenant... Salut! (Sorry, I have to leave now... Bye!)
- There's only one word for "Salut", unlike English with "Hello, hi, hey", etc...
- Salut is not used for "cheers" or anything else, it's only "hello" and "bye".
Cheers
When someone is sneezing, you will say in French, one of the following:
- A tes souhaits (= Make a wish)
- A tes amours (= I wish you good love relationships)
- Dieu te bénisse (= God bless you)
- Santé! / A ta santé! (= I wish you a good health)
- Tchin' or even Tchin'-Tchin' (It's only an interjection, not a word)
Pardon / Excusez-moi
- Remember, the English "Pardon" is a French word, so, you already know the meaning.
- "Pardon" is the noun from the verb "pardonner" (to forgive)
- When you mean to say "Sorry", you say "Pardon!", it's used when you bump into someone for instance or if you have to make a passage through a crowd, etc...
- You can use also "Pardonnez-moi" (see the conjugations table for the verb "pardonner" to adapt to the person), but it's much more formal, and can be used when you cut off when someone is talking, or if you made a wrong thing to ask for forgiveness.
- Pardon, je voudrais passer s'il vous plaît. (Excuse-me, I have to pass please)
- "Excusez-moi" (see the conjugation table for the verb "excuser"), it is "excuse me", the English "excuse" is also from the French. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=excuse)
- You use "Excusez-moi" also to cut off someone who is speaking, but it's less formal.
- You use "Excusez-moi" when you want to ask a favor, or ask a question the polite way.
- You use "Excusez-moi" (or the more formal "Pardonnez-moi") when you want to call someone's attention.
- Excusez-moi, pouvez-vous fermer la fenêtre s'il vous plaît? (Excuse-me, can you close the window please.)
- Excusez-moi, avez-vous un train pour Paris? (Excuse me, do you have a train to Paris?)
- Je suis désolé(e) / Je suis navré(e).
- If you're a male: Je suis désolé.
- If you're a female: Je suis désolée. (because "désolé" is an adjective)
- Used when you feel sorry for something. If you bump someone really hard for instance, or if someone had a very bad experience and you feel sorry for the person.
- You can say "Je suis vraiment désolé" = I'm really sorry.
- "Très" désolé is not proper at all, the adverb has to be "really" not "très". (really = vraiment, très = very)
- You can say also the short "désolé(e)!" = In this case, it's not so strong, and you can say it instead of "pardon!", it's a bit stronger and it's more formal than "pardon".
- " Je suis navré (e)" / Navré (e) Same thing than for "désolé", but "navré" is stronger and more formal.
"Je suis navré" is very formal, and is a strong regret.
- I beg you pardon, but... = Je vous demande pardon, mais.... To ask a favor.
- Je vous demande pardon?? = Is used to ask the person to repeat again what he/she was just saying. If you say it in an offended tone, it can be a mean to show your strong disapproval about an offending word the person just said.
- Je vous demande pardon! Vous avez dit "idiot"? (I beg you pardon! Did you said "an idiot"?)
- Pardon/Excusez-moi, pouvez-vous répéter? (Excuse me, can you repeat?)
- Some people aso use "hein?" when they didn't hear what you said, or when they want to show incredulity/disapproval, but it's slang, the correct and very formal form is "Pardon?".
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