7 - How to Ask "How Are You?" in French
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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"!
Bonjour à tous! Hello everyone! Welcome back to another episode of French Made Easy! Thanks for tuning in today. It's episode number 7, numéro sept, and today we are learning how to ask "how are you?" and how to reply to this question!
As always, make sure you download your episode cheat sheet so you can listen to the words and see how they are written at the same time!
You ready? On y va. Let's go.
Here are a few ways to ask "how are you?" in French.
If you are talking to someone you don't know very well, or who you need to be quite formal with, you can say:
Comment allez-vous ? It means "how are you?"
You can also say: vous allez bien ? Meaning, "are you well?"
Now, just a quick note regarding these two phrases, they can also be used when addressing a group of people.
Ok now, if you know the person you are talking to, or don't need to be formal, then you can say:
Comment ça va ? It means "how's it going?"
You can also say: ça va ? Also meaning “how's it going?", which is an abbreviated version of “comment ca va ?”
Comment vas-tu ? Meaning, "how are you?"
And last one, you can also say: tu vas bien ? Meaning, "are you well?"
Ok, let's do a quick recap!
When addressing someone in a formal way or a group of people, you can say:
Comment allez-vous ? It means, "how are you?"
Vous allez bien ? Meaning, "are you well?"
When addressing someone in a non-formal way, you can say:
Comment ça va ? (how's it going?)
Ça va ? (also how's it going?)
Comment vas-tu ? (how are you?)
Tu vas bien ? (are you well?)
Ok bien joué, well done!
Now, let’s look at some ways to reply to the question, "how are you?"
If you need to be formal you can say:
Je vais très bien, merci. It means “I’m doing very well, thank you.” Répétez après moi: je vais très bien, merci.
You can also say: je vais bien, merci. Meaning I’m doing well, thank you. Répétez après moi: je vais bien, merci.
If you don’t need to be formal you can just say:
Ça va très bien. (It’s going very well.) Répétez après moi: ça va très bien.
You can also say: ça va. (It’s going well.) Repeat after me: ça va.
Ok, let’s repeat that quickly:
When replying to someone in a formal way you can say:
Je vais très bien, merci. (I’m doing very well, thank you.)
Or: je vais bien, merci. (I’m doing well, thank you.)
When replying to someone in a non-formal way you can say:
Ça va très bien. (It’s going very well.)
Ça va. (It’s going well.)
If you are not going well, let’s say you have a bad day: do not worry, I’ll cover that in an other episode. 😬
Alright, we’re almost there! Let’s now just repeat all of these phrases before wrapping up the lesson.
To ask someone “how are you?” you can say:
Comment allez-vous ? (how are you?)
Vous allez bien ? (are you well?)
Those two sentences: formal.
Less formally:
Comment ça va ? (how's it going?)
Ça va ? (also how's it going?)
Comment vas-tu ? (how are you?)
Tu vas bien ? (are you well?)
Now, to reply to the question “how are you?” in a formal way you can say:
Je vais très bien, merci. (I’m doing very well, thank you.)
You can also say: je vais bien, merci. (I’m doing well, thank you.)
Or less formally:
Ça va très bien. (It’s going very well.)
Ça va. (It’s going well.)
Bravo, you’ve done it! Well done guys. That was quite a lot. But now you’ve got a few different ways of asking someone how they are and a few responses in your pocket as well!
Alright, that's it for this episode, thank you so much for listening. Don’t forget to download your lesson’s exercises by clicking the link in the episode’s notes and make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any new episodes. And if you are enjoying this podcast, I'd really appreciate a quick rating and review.
Merci beaucoup et à bientôt. 😊