French can be such a subtle language. Imagine that! 10 ways to say How are You in French. 10 different ways!
Well, at least, with that you’ll be set for all situations, right?
Casual, formal, lame, friendly, concerned,…
Because you definitely got one ‘how are you’ for each situation. Watch out your spelling though! That’s a sentence that is easily spelled phonetically by most people.
And phonetic spelling… doesn’t make you look very intelligent I’m afraid.
Alright, let dive in!
Watch the video if you want to know how to pronounce all versions of How are you in French!
Comment ça va ? - How are you?
It means, simply, ‘how are you’, it’s the most basic way to ask someone how he or she is doing.
It would be good in all situations (except in super formal fancy situations where you have to bow ahah).
Comment ça va?
Literally, it means, ‘how is it going?’, but that’s really the equivalent to ‘how are you?’ in English.
Comment allez-vous ? - How are you? (formal)
For a much more formal way to ask how are you in French, you can say ‘Comment allez vous?’.
And we’re going to talk about the liaison in the video, but for the moment, you should use this with people you have a great load of respect for.
And that you don’t know much.
It’s not the kind of stuff you are going to say to a driver in front of you, who is not respecting the stop.
See what I mean?
It’s the kind of thing you would say to someone’s grandfather for example. Or for your boss, if it’s a formal kind of setting.
You would say;
‘Comment allez-vous?’
Comment vas-tu ? - How are you doing?
If you want to sounds particularly friendly, you can say ‘Comment vas-tu?’
It means ‘how are you doing?’
But you are really inquiring about how the person is feeling.
Comment vas-tu?
It’s the kind of sentence stuff you would say to a friend you haven’t seen in a while, or to a friend who was sick.
Ça va ? - How are you? (casual)
Yes, it’s only two syllables 😁
Now, if you don’t have the time, if you want to be really quick, or if you don’t really know the person, but that you want to say ‘how are you?’ because you know that’s polite.
You can say, ‘ça va?’
And I do not want to see this written with an ‘s’ please, this is just the internet and phonetic French.. well I guess you know, if more and more people write like that then I guess it’s not a mistake anymore.
But please write it with a c, or a ç (c cédille)
If you see it with an ‘s’, that means the person is speaking to you phonetically, which is not going to help your French much.
Ok, maybe it’s easier for pronunciation or for reading, buuut NO 😆
That’s the beauty of French, you know, letters aren’t sounds (just like the English language, I mean look at how English is spoken and compare it to how it’s written).
So, ‘ça va’ is the kind of stuff you would say to your friend on the internet, when you don’t want to go in details.
You could also say that to someone who just fell.
For example ‘oh, ça va?’
Something like you are inquiring about, not how they feel, much more if they are hurt.
‘Ça va?’
At the end of a French question, you have to go up in pitch. In most languages it is like that – you should already have this natural rhythm.
Because if you say it without going up, it’s not a question and it means ‘I”m good’
I don’t know if you have seen this meme on the internet, you can have a conversation in French with just this sentence.
Ca va? Ca va.Ca va? Ca va.
It means
How are you? I’m good.How are you? I’m good.
😃 Say it out loud, it’s fun.
Ça boume ? - How are you? (super casual)
This one is my favourite. It’s super casual, and you know I like casual French 😉
Ca boume?
It’s kind of a bit lame in a way. You don’t say that to sound smart, you say that to be funny.
It’s something that was probably trendy 30 years ago, or 40?
So yeah, I like that kind of stuff.
Ça roule ? - How are you? (super casual)
This one is basically the same, it’s just another word.
‘Boume’ means, well.. Doesn’t really mean anything, it just is kind of an imagery of, you know, something that explodes.
So because it’s exploding, it’s joyful. Like fireworks.
And this one is ‘roule‘, which means to roll.
How is it rolling?
How is it rolling actually is something in English right? Tell me in the comments.
Ça roule ?
Comment va ? - Whassup?
Now, that’s another kind of casual French.
You don’t really say that because it’s, you know, not so nice.
Comment va?
It’s a bit of a ghetto thing I guess.
It’s the equivalent of the English ‘whasssup?’
It’s a bit lame if you are talking to normal French people.
Three ones to go!
Comment tu te sens ? - How are you feeling?
This one is really only when you want to know how someone is feeling.
Se sentir – to feel
To feel inside.
It’s not the same way as if you touch someone and he’s feeling it. It’s the feeling that you have inside you.
If you are sick for example. You are not feeling good.
Je ne me sens pas bien.
So, in this case, with this sentence, you are asking how the person is feeling internally.
If he or she is ok.
Comment tu te sens?
How are you feeling?
Quoi de neuf ? - What's new?
The last two that we are going to see together are not literal translations of how are you.
But usually, they are used in the same situations. Sometimes they are used after how are you.
For example, in French, when you ask someone ‘comment ça va’, and then if you havent seen them in a while you could say ‘quoi de neuf?’
It means – what’s up? What’s new?
But you could also just say ‘quoi de neuf’ and the person would answer with how they feel, what they have been doing,…
Quoi de neuf?
Quoi de beau ? - What's new?
Alright and the last one of this series of 10 ways to say how are you in French
Quoi de beau?
It means the same way as ‘quoi de neuf’
What is pretty?
What is happening?
What’s new?
Same thing.
You’re ready to speak French! And if you’re looking for a more complete method, try this one 👇
