Ten Expressions To Say Hello and Goodbye in French

In this lesson, we learn ten expressions for saying hello and goodbye in French.

Watch the video as many times as you need, until you feel you can give the French translations as we go!

Now we can see what we’ve learned. Look at the English and see if you can provide the French for these expressions:

Part 1:

Hello!	Show Bonjour!
Hi!	Show Salut!
Hello! (on telephone)	Show Allô!
Good evening!	Show Bonsoir!
Pleased to meet you!	Show Enchanté(e)

Part 2:

Have a good day!	Show Bonne journée!
See you!	Show Ciao!
See you later!	Show À tout à l’heure!
Goodbye!	Show Au revoir!
Good night!	Show Bonne nuit!

Notes on Usage

Addressing People in French

You can build on these expressions by adding a title, depending on who you are addressing. This sounds very formal in English, but is common in France:

Bonjour… Hello… Bonsoir… Good evening Au revoir… Goodbye…

Madame. Madam. Monsieur. Sir.

Bonjour! is used during the daytime until around early evening, after which you switch to Bonsoir, ‘good evening.’ Bonjour! can be used in both formal and informal settings, while Salut! is generally only used amongst close friends and family.

Enchanté(e)

When you write the expression ‘pleased to meet you’ from the perspective of a male speaker, you would write enchanté. From the perspective of a female speaker, we write enchantée. However, there is no difference in pronunciation, so we only see this difference when it is written down.

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