Module 1 of 8
Your first exchange
Five expressions that cover the first thirty seconds.
The first exchange in any language is the same four moves: greet, give your name, take theirs, leave. In French that is Bonjour, Je m'appelle…, Enchanté(e), Au revoir — five expressions once you add Merci, and between them they cover more of your first week than any amount of grammar will. Learn them as whole phrases and resist taking them apart. Je m'appelle is literally "I call myself", and knowing that right now helps you with nothing.
Bonjour is the one to over-use. Salut is warmer and much narrower — a friend, a classmate, someone your own age who used it first. If you cannot tell which situation you are in, Bonjour is never wrong, and that is the whole rule: being slightly too formal costs nothing, and being too familiar costs something. The asymmetry is worth more to you at this stage than a table of registers.
Played by your device’s own French voice. It is a synthetic voice, not a recording of a teacher — close enough to learn the shape of a word, not close enough to copy exactly.
- BonjourHello, good day — safe in any situation
- SalutHi / bye — informal only
- Je m'appelle Camille.My name is Camille.
- Comment tu t'appelles ?What is your name? (informal)
- Enchanté.Pleased to meet you — said by a man
- Enchantée.Pleased to meet you — said by a woman
- Merci.Thank you.
- Au revoir.Goodbye.
- À bientôt.See you soon.
- Bonjour ! Je m'appelle Alex. Enchanté.The whole opening, run together
Greet, name, acknowledge, leave. Five phrases cover the first thirty seconds — and when you cannot read the situation, Bonjour is never wrong.