10 Ways to Say Hello in French (and When to Use Each)

The standard way to say hello in French is bonjour, pronounced /bohn-ZHOOR/ - it works with anyone during the day, and in shops it’s not just polite, it’s expected. After about 6 pm, switch to bonsoir.

Here are 10 ways to say hello, ranked from the essentials every learner needs to the specialized ones you’ll only use in specific situations - with pronunciation and exactly when each fits.

Hear every greeting pronounced by native audio. Get it on the App Store or Google Play.

The 10 greetings at a glance

The essentials: bonjour and bonsoir

Bonjour literally means “good day,” and it’s the one greeting that works with absolutely anyone - strangers, shopkeepers, colleagues, elders. In France it’s a genuine social contract: walking into a bakery without saying bonjour first reads as rude, regardless of how simple your request is.

Bonsoir takes over from roughly 6 pm onward as the evening greeting. Don’t confuse it with bonne soirée, which means “have a good evening” and is said when leaving, not arriving.

The casual ones: salut, coucou, ça va ?

Salut /sah-LÜ/ is the informal “hi” - friends, family, peers, any time of day. It conveniently also means “bye,” used either direction. Coucou /koo-KOO/ is warmer and more playful still, common with close friends, partners and children, especially in texts. Ça va ? can double as a full greeting on its own - the reply is often the exact same words back: ça va !. For the full etiquette behind these, see casual ways to say hi in French.

The specialized ones: allô, enchanté, re, bonjour à tous

Allô is reserved strictly for the telephone - saying it in person is a classic learner mix-up that gets an easy laugh. Enchanté(e) /ahn-shahn-TAY/ means “delighted [to meet you]” and is used specifically at first introductions; add the -e in writing if a woman is speaking (enchantée). Re or rebonjour handles the awkward case of greeting the same person a second time in one day - French etiquette frowns on a plain second bonjour, since it implies you forgot the first. Bonjour à tous (or bonjour tout le monde) is how you greet a group rather than one person.

The bonjour rule: why French greetings are not optional

In France, greeting is not decoration - it’s the price of entry into any interaction. Say bonjour before asking for anything, whether you’re buying a croissant or asking a stranger for directions. Adding madame or monsieur (bonjour madame) is an easy upgrade that reads as extra polite. This same logic explains why the register split between casual ways to say hi in French and formal bonjour matters so much - and it tracks the same line as formal vs informal French more broadly.

Which greeting should you use? (decision recap)

• Shop, work, stranger, daytime → bonjour
• Same, but evening → bonsoir
• Friend, any time → salut or coucou
• Answering the phone → allô
• Meeting someone for the first time → bonjour, then enchanté(e) after names
• Seeing the same person again that day → re, or just a smile

Ten greetings sounds like a lot, but in practice you’ll lean on just three - bonjour, salut and enchanté(e) - for the overwhelming majority of real conversations. Learn those three with confidence first, and the rest will fill in naturally as you need them.