For the last 2 weeks you got to enjoy my maman on French Truly TV but she went back to France on Monday and I had to say “Au revoir maman”, good bye mom.
Which inspired me this week to teach you 10 different ways to say good bye in French! There are so many options to say “Au revoir”!
Vous êtes prêts?
Au revoir: most standard way to say good bye, you are actually saying “until we see each other again.”
Salut: casual word to use with your friends and your close ones, not your doctor! Salut also goes 2 ways: it means hi and it means bye! So you can use it at the beginning and at the end of your conversation.
Ciao: In the same spirit we use the Italian Ciao but in French only to say bye.
Here’s a fun easy to remember rule, adding the preposition “à” before a time related word means “see you”. Need an example?
Lundi means Monday.
À lundi means see you on Monday.
à = see you
La semaine prochaine means next week.
À la semaine prochaine means see you next week.
à = see you
See the pattern?
So, staying in the logic here are some more ways you can say good bye:
À demain = see you tomorrow
À bientôt = see you soon
À ce soir = see you tonight
À plus tard = see you later
À la prochaine = until then
I am not adding “Adieu” because it means farewell. In other words you will never see that person again. If you need a clue, Dieu in French means God…
There are of course tons of other ways you can say au revoir! Which other expressions do you know?
in 3 easy steps