Bonjour means “hello,” or “good morning,” or “good afternoon,” while bonne journée means “have a good day.” So if you ran into someone at the grocery store one morning you would say, “bonjour” when you saw them and then, “bonne journée” when you parted ways!
Both are used to greet people but not a the same time of the day. Say "Bonjour" until the end of the afternoon and "bonsoir" once the evening starts. Bonjour is a greeting and only a greeting at the difference of "bonsoir" that can be used to say good bye in the evening and evening ONLY.
The most common way to say “hello” in French: Bonjour!
Literally meaning “good day”, Bonjour is the most commonly used French greeting.
Bonjour: the Most Common Way to say hello in French
Saying “bonjour” has to be the most common way of saying hello in French. And it's usually accompanied by a “bisous à la française” – a kiss on the cheeks – or a firm hand shake.
Well, they both generally mean "good evening". But you use one when you greet someone, and you use the other when you are saying farewell. In other words, BONSOIR is in the same category as HELLO, whereas BONNE SOIRÉE is in the same category as GOODBYE.
Au revoir.
(Oh reh-vwah) This is the most common ways of saying goodbye in French, and it's acceptable for the vast majority of situations, formal and informal.
au revoir ! ⧫ salut ! bye bye au revoir ! ⧫ salut !
Make sure you say Bonjour, or else you'll be considered very rude. And when you leave, you should say “goodbye”, as well. You'd typically say “Bonne journée” (“Have a nice day”). “Merci, au revoir” (“Thank you, goodbye”) could also work.
Saying bonjour is the most common way to greet someone in French. It's a flexible, all-purpose term: You use it to greet people in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Bonjour is always polite, and it works in any situation.
You can either reply saying "Bonjour" back or you could say "salut" which also means hello but in an informal way. This is especially important in French because French-speakers tend to be much more formal about greetings.
It literally means “good day”, and it's by far the most well-known French greeting. The nice thing about bonjour is that it's the most safe and polite of all greetings in French.
Generally speaking, bonjour is the standard method of saying “good morning.” But depending on where in the world you are, you may also be able to say bon matin! Interestingly, you generally want to say bonjour to someone once per day. The next time you see them, you should use a more informal greeting!
Origin of French Leave
It is common to hear this in the context of someone abandoning his or her military duties. This expression allegedly comes from the practice of French people leaving a party without saying goodbye to the host. According to OED, it was first recorded shortly after the Seven Years' War.
Once you reach the end of the afternoon around 6 p.m., you stop saying bonjour and you start to say bonsoir, which means “good evening.” Unlike bonjour, you can use bonsoir when saying goodbye where it would translate more to “goodnight” instead of “hello.” If it's so late in the night that whoever you're saying ...
If someone greets you with one of these expressions, it's polite to respond. In French, the appropriate reply to "good morning" is simply "Bonjour", and you may also add "Comment allez-vous?" (How are you?).
Just as in English, there are several ways to say hello in French. You can simply use the informal salut (hi) on its own. You can also use bonjour (good morning or good afternoon) or bonsoir (good evening). You would only use bonne nuit (good night) at bedtime.
Don't ask people you've just met personal questions – the French are very private. This means no talking about age, income, marital status, or even what the person did last weekend – these topics are considered quite rude and should be avoided.
Hi! “Au revoir” means “goodbye” so the opposite would be “Bonjour” / “Salut” / “Coucou” (see our lesson on French greetings for more on their differences)
How to reply to au revoir. The best way to respond to “au revoir” is to simply reply “au revoir”. In formal situations you can reply with “au revoir madame” or “au revoir monsieur” (goodbye, ma'am or goodbye, sir).
Ciao is an Italian word often used in French too. The Italians use it to mean either "hi" or "bye", but in French it generally means "bye". Now that you know how to translate 'Ciao' in English, why not go further and test our online French course for free?