Leçon 1 – Introductions

Culturally, the French greet people, especially their family and friends with kisses on the cheeks. The number of kisses depends on the region where they are from. Some regions have the people give three kisses; one kiss on each cheek, some give four. For formal greetings, the handshake is the safest bet, with some greeting words. You will learn how to say greeting words that you can use everyday.

These words can be used in many occasions. Learn it very carefully. You may cover the French word, and use the English word as key to memorize, and vice-versa. French has two ways of speech, informal and formal. Informal is when the conversation is made between people who is familiar with one another; formal is when the conversation is between strangers, or between people with different social standing.

The following words that can be used in formal situation.

Bonjour pronounce as boñzhoor means Hello, Good Day, Good Afternoon.

Bonsoir pronounce as boñswar means Hello, Good Evening.

Bonne Nuit pronounce as bon nwee means Good Night.

Je m’appelle … pronounce as zhuh mapel means My name is ….

Je suis … pronounce as zhuh swee means I am ….

C’est … pronounce as say means It is …

Enchanté (for male speaker) pronounce as añchañtay means Pleased to meet you.

Enchantée (for female speaker) pronounce as añchañtay means Pleased to meet you.

Au revoir pronounce as ovwar means Goodbye.

À bientôt pronounce as ah byañtow means See you soon.

À tout à l’heure pronounce as ah too tah lehr means See you really soon.

À demain pronounce as a duhmañ means See you tomorrow.

À la prochaine (fois) pronounce as ah la prowchen fwa means See you next time.

Merci pronounce as mairsee means Thank you.

Merci beaucoup pronounce as mairsee boku means Thank you very much.

De rien pronounce as duh ryañ means Welcome (as in after a thank you given to you).

Comment allez-vous? pronounce as kuhmañ talay vu means How are you?.

Je vais bien pronounce as zhuh vay byañ means I’m well.

Comment vous appelez-vous? pronounce as kuhmañ voo zaplay voo means What is your name?.

Monsieur (M) pronounce as muhsyuh means Mister (Mr), Sir.

Madame (Mme) pronounce as mahdahm means Madam.

Mademoiselle pronounce as mahdmwazel means Miss (Ms).


The following words that can be used in informal situation.

Salut pronounce as salew means Hello.

Ça va? pronounce as sah vah means How are you?.

Comment ça va? pronounce as komoñ sah vah means How is it going?.

Ça va bien pronounce as sah vah byañ means I’m doing well.

Ça va très bien pronounce as sah vah trair byañ means I’m doing very well.

Ça va pas pronounce as sah vah pah means I’m not doing well.

Oui pronounce as wee means Yes.

Non pronounce as noñ means No.

Donc pronounce as donk means So.


What the French would do…

They would greet people together with the words ‘monsieur’, ‘madame’ or ‘mademoiselle.

Étudiant(e) A : Bonjour monsieur/madame/mademoiselle.
Étudiant(e) B : Bonjour monsieur/madame/mademoiselle.
Étudiant(e) A : Je m’appelle …………….
Étudiant(e) B : Enchanté(e).

A Conversation (Formal)
Personne A : Bonjour, je m’appelle Céline Dion.
Personne B : Bonjour madame. Monsieur Roux, enchanté.
Personne A : Enchantée.

A Conversation (Informal)
Personne A : À la prochaine fois donc ?
Personne B : Oui, au revoir.
Personne A : Au revoir, à bientôt.
Personne C : Ça va ? / Comment ça va ?
Personne D : Ça va pas / Ça va.

REVISE

1.How do you say ‘Good Afternoon’ and ‘See you tomorrow’ in French ?

2.How do you say ‘I am …’ in French?

3.How do you say ‘Thank you very much’ and ‘Welcome’ in French?

4.How do you say ‘What is your name?’ and the response ‘My name is …’ in French?

Hello Everyone!!

My name is Saiful and I am doing this blog for the purpose of studying as I have to complete my task for my course which is Computer and Technology. For your information I am a student of University of Industry Selangor and currently taking Bachelor of Education (Hons) in TESL. I am always passionate of learning about other languages because through the language you can actually gain the knowledge about people's culture, tradition and many other things related to it. So, I would like to share with all of you about the language that I am still learning right now which is French language. Hopefully that you can enjoy as much as I do about knowing the information regarding this language. It is fun to learn so make full use of it.Thanks.