User blog:Avatar XIII/French Avatar Leçon 1 : Les Éléments Essentiels

Bonjour tout le monde, et bienvenue à ma nouvelle série pour apprendre de la langue française. Je suis si ravi d'avoir cette opportunité et j'espère que vous appreciiez cet experience. Aujourd'hui, on apprend les éléments essentiels de cette langue. Il y a beaucoup d'informations, mais ne soyez pas timide. Ce tâche n'est pas impossible.

Since this is an early lesson, I'll mix in English a lot with French so that it is possible to comprehend. As stated before, we'll start with the very basics.

Saying Hello and Goodbye
To say "hello" in French, say "Bonjour". That is the formal greeting, and it should be used when greeting someone in a higher position than you, or with strangers. "Salut", pronounced "sa-lou", is the informal greeting, and this can be used with friends.

To say "goodbye" in French, say "Au revoir". I honestly can't explain how to pronounce this one, since the French R sound is very different from the American English R sound, so I'll link a video after this that will be of some assistance. If you are going to see the same people again soon, you can say "À bientôt" which is basically "see you soon", or "À demain" which is "see you tomorrow". There are also other ways to say goodbye, but those are the most common.

Asking "How are you?"
In English, when we want to know how someone is doing, we say "How are you?". The French do say this sometimes (obviously in French), but there is a more common way to ask how someone's day has been. The verb aller is instrumental in this. To ask someone how they're doing, you can ask "Vous allez bien?" which is formal, or "Tu vas bien?" which is informal. Alternatively, you can just ask "Ça va?".

Saying Thank You and You're Welcome
This is very important. After all, you don't want the French to think of you as a rude American ;)

Joking aside, to say thank you in French, you can say "merci", or "je vous remercie / je te remercie" formal/informal.

To say you're welcome, it's common to say "de rien" which is informal. Alternatively, you can say "je vous en prie" which is formal, or "je t'en prie" which is informal.

Conclusion
That covers the most essential basics. If you have any questions, post them in the comments below, and I'll try my best to answer them. Until next time, à bientôt !

Link for an intro to the French R sound : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCw_lEb1qXk

The 4th Avatar 20:53, April 5, 2016 (UTC)