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How to Say ‘Hello, ma'am, hello, sir.’ in French

Bonjour Madame, bonjour Monsieur.

bon-zhoor mah-dam bon-zhoor muh-syur

[bon-zhoor mah-dam bon-zhoor muh-syur]

🇫🇷 In France: Greeting the women and men on the panel separately is classic French politeness. A plain Bonjour with no title can sound a bit casual in front of a jury.

Phrase Breakdown

Bonjour Madame,

bon-zhoor mah-dam

Hello Madam,

A polite greeting to a woman. Say 'bohn-ZHOOR ma-DAM'. The 'on' is nasal.

Example

Bonjour Madame, ça va ?

Hello Madam, how are you?

Words in this phrase

Bonjour

[bon-zhoor]

Hello / Good morning

A polite standard greeting, very common in the morning at school drop-off or pick-up.

Example

Le matin, je dis Bonjour au papa devant l'école.

In the morning, I say hello to the dad in front of the school.

Madame

[mah-dam]

Madam / Ma'am

Polite title for a female teacher or adult woman.

Example

En parlant à la professeure, je dis : « Super, merci beaucoup Madame. »

When speaking to the female teacher, I say: “Great, thank you very much, Madam.”

bonjour Monsieur.

bon-zhoor muh-syur

hello Sir.

A polite greeting to a man. 'Monsieur' sounds like 'muh-SYUH', and the 'n' and 'r' are silent.

Example

Merci, Monsieur.

Thank you, Sir.

Words in this phrase

bonjour

[bon-zhoor]

Hello / Good morning

A polite standard greeting, very common in the morning at school drop-off or pick-up.

Example

Le matin, je dis Bonjour au papa devant l'école.

In the morning, I say hello to the dad in front of the school.

Monsieur

[muh-syur]

sir

A respectful form of address for a man.

Example

Monsieur Dupont aime les croque-monsieur avec du fromage.

Mr. Dupont likes croque-monsieur with cheese.

Guides for French learners

The Most Common French Verbs: the 20 You'll Actually UseThe 20 most common French verbs, with the present-tense forms you need, real example sentences with native audio, and two shortcuts for past and future.Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.

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