"How are you?" in French

After you greet someone, you’ll want to ask how they are or how’s it going. Here are some common questions that follow a greeting.

For friends or family:

For strangers or more senior people:

What do you say if someone asks you one of these questions?

A common follow-up question is, "And you?", "Et toi?" or more formally "et vous?"

If someone tells you that he or she is not feeling well you could say the following…

If someone is feeling great you might want to say the following…

The above words are extremely important. From experience, I know that the most important phrase in any language is how to say you’re sorry! Others disagree. They say that there are THREE important phrases that you absolutely must know in any language. They are:

Hmm, I can’t think of a situation in which I’d need to use all three, but I’ll leave it to your imagination! That’s it for today’s lesson.

À bientôt!
Marie-Claire Rivière and the Rocket French Team

P.S. If you’d like to improve your French, practice makes perfect!

Exercise 1: Pretend that you are meeting a friend of yours named Sandra. Say the whole sentence out loud with your response in French to the questions below. (There’s not a single right answer.)

Sandra: Salut!

You: _________________________________________________

Sandra: Comment ca va??

You: _________________________________________________

Sandra: Très bien, merci !!

You: _________________________________________________

Exercise 2. Read the following conversation and translate it into English below.

Claire: Salut Paul, ca va?

Paul : Très bien, et toi?

Claire: Bien merci, je suis content d’entendre que tout va bien. 

Claire: _________________________________________________

Paul : ________________________________________________________

Claire: _________________________________________________