Basic French Conversation - My Name Is, But Who Are You?

After you have got past the basic hello's it is always polite to introduce yourself and those around you.

So without further ado, the most basic french phrase you will learn here is how to introduce yourself in French.

The basic phrase for 'my name is' is Je m'appelle , prounced similair to Jem-appell. This is always followed by your name, for example Je m'appelle Oli.

If you want to take this a step further and introduce someone else 'Voici' is usually acceptable, for instance 'Voici Michael'. Voici loosely translates as 'this is'. If you are feeling particularly formal however 'Je presente' or 'I Present' would be more acceptable.

If you need to ask someone elses name things get a bit more complex 'Comment Vous Appellez-Vous?' is the standard french phrase for 'What is your name'

This is pronounced as 'Kom-mon voo-zah-peh-lay voo' I bit of a mouthful I know!

Saying Please and Thank You in French

Saying please and thank you in French is one of the first things most people pick up, and these simple French phrases will stand you in good stead.

Please is S'il vous plait, pronounced seel voo play

Thank you is Merci, pronounced as you see it (Thank god)

You're welcome is De Rien, pronounced dah ree-ehn

These French pleasentaries are pretty much required if you want to keep the french people on your good side, keep polite by using these easy to learn french phrases :)

Saying Goodbye in French

When you finish off your early conversations with the French it is only polite to say goodbye. There are a few variations of these basic French phrases but the basics are fairly easy to remember!

Au Revoir is the most simple, it simply means goodbye, it is pronounced more along the lines of oh ruhvwar though, so take care!

Bonsoirre is the next one you will find, there should be a bit of accentuation there, but I haven't figured out how to do that easily on this keyboard yet! This french phrase is pronounced as bonsoir but with an elongated e at the end, more like bon swar-ey.

This is the commonly used farewell at the end of the night.

For the lads out there, if you ahve a special french girl in your life the romantic French phrase "fais de beaux reves" is invaluable. This basically means "Make Beautiful Dreams", or to you and me, "Sweet Dreams"

If you become close friends with a french person of the opposite sex you will generally find them ending a conversation on the phone or in text with bisoux, bisous or a similar spelling (But they mostly sound the same). This basically means small kisses, like they generally use on the cheek. This is pronounced Bizou and is heard a lot throughout France!

Saying Hello in French

So when you first meet a French person you will undoubtedly want to say hello without making yourself look a tit, especially when the french person turns out to be pretty damn hot and sporting that lovely French accent!

Fortunately saying hello in French is pretty easy!

Good Morning and Good Day in French can both be covered by Bonjour, you say this pretty much how it sounds, except when you say the 'j' make sure you put a heavy z on it,sou it sounds more like 'bonzjhoor'

Good Evening in French is covered by Bonsoir, which sounds something more like Bonswar when spoken!

When you know someone a little better you can say shorten it to Salut, the french don't really pronounce the 't' though so it is more like Sah loo