40 - How to Say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in French

 
 

Listen to this lesson to find out how to say merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year etc.

If you’d prefer to listen on the go, listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Links & Cheat Sheet

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Hi guys! Salut à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast!

This is episode number 40, numéro 40! So in today's short and festive lesson, you'll learn to wish someone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. 

As usual, you can download your lesson cheat sheet; it's free. 

Exceptionally in this episode, you won't have any homework to do afterward. However, you can still join the French Made Easy library, where you'll get access to all the exercises for all the previous lessons. And it's free too.

Vous êtes prêts? Are you ready? On y va. 

So, before we start, I just wanted to let you guys know that this is the last episode for 2020. I'm taking a little break for the rest of December. I'll be back on the 5th of January with more French lessons for you. Every Tuesday, as usual. So, you'll get a break from me for the next three weeks. But don't worry, I'll be back in the new year.

So I thought it would be a good way to end the year, with a very light lesson to teach you how to wish someone Merry Christmas and a happy new year. There are obviously many differents ways to do so, but for now, I'm just focusing on the basic ones. 

Alright, on y va.

So, the simplest and most common way to wish someone a merry Christmas is: 

  • "Joyeux Noël!" (Merry Christmas.) 🎄

Now, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so if you simply want to wish "Happy Holidays," you can say: 

  • "Joyeuses fêtes!" (Happy Holidays)

Super. Now to say "happy new year", you can say: 

  • "Bonne année!" (Happy New Year) 🥳

Also, if you're writing cards or in your messages, you can also say: 

  • "Meilleurs voeux!" It means best wishes or, at this time of the year, "Season's Greetings."

Alright, so let's do a quick recap: 

  • Joyeux Noël! (Merry Christmas)

  • Joyeuses fêtes! (Happy Holidays)

  • Bonne année! (Happy New Year)

  • Meilleurs voeux! (Season's Greetings)

Et voilà! That's was pretty simple, right? 

So, that's the end of this lesson, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, let me know! I'll talk to all of you back in the new year. 

Thanks for your time. 💖

Merci beaucoup et à bientôt! Oh and I almost forgot: joyeuses fêtes!

 
Mathilde Kien6 Comments