Introduction
Introduction
French has both a formal and informal way of addressing people. This makes asking the simple question "How are you?" slightly more complicated than in English. You need to know which "you" to use:
• tu the informal, which takes the second-person singular verb tense, or
• vous the formal, which also doubles as the second-person plural pronoun, equivalent to "you all".
Tu is used among close friends, family, and people younger than you. Vous is used for strangers - or even acquaintances - and people older than you.
It is very important to use which level of formality to use. It can be very insulting to someone to address them incorrectly.
To learn more about tu, vous and similar words, check out the subject pronouns lesson.
• tu the informal, which takes the second-person singular verb tense, or
• vous the formal, which also doubles as the second-person plural pronoun, equivalent to "you all".
Tu is used among close friends, family, and people younger than you. Vous is used for strangers - or even acquaintances - and people older than you.
It is very important to use which level of formality to use. It can be very insulting to someone to address them incorrectly.
To learn more about tu, vous and similar words, check out the subject pronouns lesson.
Vocabulary
Vocabulaire
être
to be
temporal
bien
fine
well
tu
you
informal nominative personal
comment
how
interrogative
bon
good
mal
bad
badly
chance
fortune
luck
chance
vous
you all
nominative personal
you
formal nominative personal
you all
accusative personal
you
formal accusative personal
you all
dative personal
you
dative personal
you all
disjunctive personal
you
formal disjunctive personal
Phrases
Les phrases
Prends soin de toi
Take care
Bonne chance
Good Luck
Comment allez-vous ?
How are you?
formal
Comment ça va ?
How are you?
informal
Qu'est-ce que tu racontes ?
What's up?
Tout va bien ?
Everything okay?
Bien.
Fine.
Je vais bien.
I'm fine.
Je ne vais pas très bien.
I'm not very well.
Très bien.
Very good.
Mal.
Bad.
Et toi ?
And you?
informal
Et vous ?
And you?
formal
Comments
Commentaires