Mardi Gras: Greeting people in the street during festivities

💬 French wraps ne … pas around the verb to say "not": vous n'êtes pas. Ne shrinks to n' before a vowel.

💬 Saying vous twice is normal in speech: the first one puts the spotlight on the person, like "And you, ..." in English.

💬 Use en for most countries ending in -e: en France, en Espagne "in Spain". Masculine countries take au: au Canada.

🇫🇷 Big carnivals like Nice or Dunkirk draw crowds, but many towns and schools hold their own smaller parades.

💬 On literally means "one" but is used all the time for "people" or "we". It always takes the same verb form as il: on dit, on peut.

💬 Tout le monde looks like "all the world" but simply means "everyone". It takes a singular verb: tout le monde est là "everyone is here".

🇫🇷 In France, saying bonjour when you enter a shop or approach someone is expected; skipping it comes across as rude.

💬 In everyday speech the ne often disappears: you'll hear on connaît pas. Keep ne when writing or speaking carefully.

💬 Aux is à + les squeezed together; French always merges them: aux gens "to people", aux enfants "to the children".

💬 Tutoyer means to call someone tu; the opposite is vouvoyer, using vous. Se tutoyer means doing it with each other.

🇫🇷 Strangers normally say vous to each other, so offering tu is a friendly gesture. Festive moments like carnival loosen the rules, but let the other person suggest it.

💬 Toi is the tu form after words like à; with vous you'd say Bonne fête à vous !

💬 Alors here means "well then", a handy word to kick off a reply. Watch out: bonne fête on an ordinary day usually means "happy name day".

💬 Profiter doesn't mean to profit; it means to enjoy or make the most of something. Add de before the thing: profite bien du soleil "enjoy the sun".

💬 Salut works for both hello and goodbye. The final t is silent.

💬 Soirée means the evening as something you spend, so bonne soirée wishes someone a good night out. To say good night before bed, use bonne nuit instead.

🇫🇷 Salut is casual, fine with friends or after agreeing on tu. With strangers or shopkeepers, Au revoir is the safer goodbye.