Greetings & Goodbyes

French Basic Conversation 1

Chapter 1 · Greetings & Goodbyes

👋 Greetings & Goodbyes — Salutations et au revoir

Your very first French conversations: saying hello and goodbye, asking how someone is, being polite, and choosing between the formal and the informal way to speak. No French needed: everything is spelled out for you, including how to say it.

🔊 How French Sounds — La prononciation

French spelling doesn't look like its sound, and that is the first thing to know. The good news: the system is consistent, and a handful of ideas will let you say almost any word. Read this section once now, and come back to it whenever you like.

Three big ideas

1. Many final letters are silent. Most consonants at the end of a word aren't pronounced: Paris = "pah-REE", très = "tray", vous = "voo". The exceptions are usually c, r, f, l (think of the word "CaReFuL"): bonjour ends with a spoken r, salut doesn't end with a spoken t. A final -e is silent too: madame = "mah-DAHM".
2. Nasal vowels. When a vowel is followed by n or m (at the end of a syllable), you don't pronounce the n: you let the vowel resonate through your nose. This guide writes them with a tilde: ã (an, en), õ (on), ẽ (in, ain, un). So bon = "bõ", bien = "byẽ", comment = "ko-mã".
3. Even rhythm. French has almost no word stress: every syllable gets about the same weight, and the last syllable of a phrase is just a little longer. In the pronunciation lines, CAPITALS mark the last syllable of each word, which is the part that carries the gentle emphasis, and hyphens separate syllables.

Accents (é è ê à ù ç) mostly show a spelling difference; only é ("ay") and è / ê ("eh") change the sound. And ü in the pronunciation lines is the French u: practise it by saying "ee" and then pushing your lips into a small circle.

💬 Six Short Conversations — Conversations

Read each one aloud, using the pronunciation line. Speaking out loud, even alone, is the fastest way to make these phrases feel natural.

🗝️ Key Phrases at a Glance — Phrases clés

The formal way (with vous) is for strangers, shops, hotels, work and anyone older; the informal way (with tu) is for friends, family, children and people your own age in relaxed settings. Ça va ? works with both.

🆘 Survival Phrases — Si vous ne comprenez pas

Four phrases every beginner needs. You'll use them in every chapter of this course.

📖 Vocabulary — Vocabulaire

20 key words and phrases from this chapter. French nouns have a gender, masculine or feminine, which shows in the little word before them: le / un (masculine) and la / une (feminine). Learn the little word together with the noun. The only nouns in this chapter are the titles monsieur and madame.

✍️ Try It Yourself — Exercices

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.