"But ça va is a friendly thing to ask, and there's nothing wrong with being friendly if you want to get to know your neighbours, for example. I could see people thinking 'why is she asking me how I am, do I know her?' Whereas in the US and the UK saying 'hello, how are you' is really just an extended greeting, in France you would not ask ça va ? to someone you don't know.Ĭamille says: "I picked up the habit of asking people how they are a lot when I lived in the USA and then I came back to France and started asking people ça va ? in shops, for example, or when greeting neighbours that I didn't know and I got a lot of funny looks. Ça va ? - asking someone how they are doing in France is really limited to people who know.
READ ALSO Why bonjour is the most important word in the French language Mademoiselle is no longer used in written or administrative forms, but it's still used in speech for girls and young women." Unlike in the UK where your bank might start an email 'Hi', in France written communications will always start with a bonjour unless you are writing to someone you know well.īonjour monsieur/madame/mademoiselle - this is a slightly more formal greeting, but not excessively formal and will often be heard in shops, for example.Ĭamille says: "This is a way of showing a little more respect in your greeting, but it's not overly formal and it's perfectly OK to use in most situations where you don't know a person. It's perfectly OK to say 'Bonjour, do you speak English?' The bonjour is just showing a little respect for the person you are talking to."īonjour is also the correct written greeting in most circumstances. "Even if you don't speak any French at all, start your request with a bonjour. In France that would be considered very rude, you must start by greeting the person you are talking to. In the USA and the UK it's not as important to greet people, and it's perfectly OK if you're in a shop to just smile and say 'Excuse me' and then begin your request without saying hello first. If you're out and about you can easily rack up 30 or more bonjours in a normal day.Ĭamille, founder of the language-learning company French Today, says: "The big faux pas here is when people don't say it. Bonjour - the most common French word of them all and the one that generally forms lesson 1 of any language class, so what's to get wrong? Simply not saying it enough! Bonjour is incredibly important in French culture and almost all interactions begin with a bonjour.
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