In this series entitled French Essentials I will teach you some basic French vocabulary which may come useful if you travel to France or any French-speaking country, or in case you meet the man of life or the woman of life who just happens to be French! You have to start somewhere So, let's start by the very beginning. Let's start by the very beginning with some greetings. Of course "Bonjour" is hello and "bienvenue" is welcome. Je m'appelle is one way of saying my name is. It literally means I call myself, but you just also could say: I am, je suis. Or you could also say: 'My name is Alexa' Now, repeat using your own name Can you say... then your name. Can you say that? Très bien. "Comment ça va" means how are you? You would answer: I'm okay You could also say: I'm not okay I'm not bad Or you could say I'm so-so, like this / like that. And that's what "comme ci comme ça" means. Or you just could simply say: I'm okay Sometimes, you may hear: or Now, they both mean How are you? But it literally means How are you going? It means: How are you? You use the "vous" form for formal way when you talk to someone you don't know, or when you talk to a group of more than one person. And "tu" to someone who you know very well. Now, listen again "Merci" means thank you. Obviously when I said: it means I am French When I said: I speak French and English Why don't you try it yourself now? Tell me what your name is, whether you're okay, and what language you speak. Now let's learn some polite phrases, learn how to say please and thank you, and so on. Again, depending on who you are talking to, means please. Can you say that? Well done! Now, translated word for word it means 'if it pleases you' The "vous" in "s'il vous plaît" is used in a more formal way, when you talk to someone you do not know and when you are talking to more than one person as I mentioned earlier. Thank you is: And not "mercy" like I hear quite often. And 'you're welcome' is: It's okay. It's nothing. You may have heard of: which means 'thank you very much' or 'a lot'. If you wanted to say excuse me? You could either say: Again, depending on whether you are talking to a person that you know well or that you want to use the more formal way. You will notice that "excusez-moi" seems easier to remember since it sounds very similar to "excuse me" Can you hear that? Or you could also say: It literally means forgive me, you know this word, don't you? Pardon? That means 'sorry' or 'forgive' Now, let's finish by saying our goodbyes You could say: It literally means 'to see you again' Goodbye. "Salut", which means 'hi' or 'bye' But it's more informal so I would be careful when using it. If you were to go to bed, you would say: That means 'good night' or for 'good evening' or goodbye, as well. 'Have a good day' "Jour" means 'day', and "journée" means day as well Have a nice evening: And another way of saying 'goodbye' would be: See you soon. You have as well "à tout à l'heure", which means 'see you later' As in I will see you today again shortly, and not maybe tomorrow. So "à tout à l'heure" means see you later, shortly, in the same day. Right now we have covered some useful words. Why don't you repeat all these words after me? and again, watch this video again to you get used to the greetings. Repeat after me, "répétez après moi". What I suggest you do is go over these words over and over again, watch this video again. That's it for me. Bisou bisou.