RuukkilabraUpper secondary physics

Bonjour ! Introducing yourself

Why can one small word, bonjour, decide how a whole conversation in France begins?

Imagine that your class visits ITER, the international fusion experiment that is under construction (as of November 2026) next to the Cadarache research centre in Provence, in the south of France. You would meet engineers and researchers from many countries there, and a few French phrases, said politely, open doors. This is a scenario for practice: no visit has been booked.

Core path: follow the steps in order. Tasks marked Optional give extra practice. Optional tasks: 1.

Think about it

ITER is in the commune of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (Bouches-du-Rhône), about 35 kilometres north of Aix-en-Provence. Its seven members are China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States, so many people at work speak English, but the region around the site speaks French.

You step off the bus at the ITER visitor centre. It is ten o'clock in the morning and already warm. A woman with a staff badge on her jacket smiles at you and says « Bonjour ! » Your teacher is still on the bus.

What do you say back, and what do you say next?

Sentence starters

  • With a friend I say …, because …
  • With an adult I do not know I say …
  • The choice depends on …
  • In French I already know …

Think about it: greetings and the French you know

In Finnish, you might say moi to a friend, hei to a teacher and hyvää päivää to an older stranger. Who do you greet with which word, and why? Then write down every French word or phrase you already know or recognise, for example from films, songs, food or signs.

Discuss with a partner for two minutes, then write a few lines together.

Predict

Make your predictions before investigating 2 questions

Prediction 1: the first word in the evening

It is seven o'clock in the evening. You arrive at your hotel, and at the reception desk there is a man of about sixty whom you have never met.What do you say first? Commit now; the theory summary will show you.

Prediction 2: asking a name

An engineer of about forty shows your group around. You want to ask her name.Which question fits best? Commit now; the listening, the dialogue and the theory summary will show you.

Investigate

Listen: the phrases of a first meeting

Listen to each phrase, first slowly, then at normal speed, and repeat it aloud. Read the tip: it tells you which letters are silent or how a sound is made. The hints in italics are written with Finnish letters: capitals show the stressed syllable, and õ, ã and ẽ are nasal vowels.

A first meeting at ITER

Read the dialogue first and notice three things: which greeting each person uses, whether they say tu or vous, and in which order the topics come.

Order an evening conversation

What did you notice?

Compare the two conversations: Aino and Claire at the visitor centre, and Eetu and Léa at the hotel.Why do Eetu and Léa say tu and Salut, while Aino and Claire say vous and Bonjour?

Theory summary

Tu or vous?

French has two words for you. Choosing the right one is part of being polite.

  • tu is for one person you know well: a friend, a family member, a classmate, a child. Young people of the same age usually say tu to each other from the first moment.
  • vous is for one adult you do not know, or someone in a formal or work situation: a receptionist, an engineer, a professor. Vous is also the only word for two or more people, whoever they are.

Finnish speakers know the difference from sinä and te (teitittely), but in France the polite vous is much more common than te is in Finland today. A safe rule for a visit: start with vous with every adult. Change to tu only when the other person offers it, for example On peut se tutoyer ? (Shall we say tu?). People often move from vous to tu quickly, for example among colleagues in science and technology; moving back from tu to vous is rare.

The greeting follows the same idea. Bonjour works with anyone during the day; add madame or monsieur to be polite. Bonsoir is for the evening, both when you meet and when you leave. Salut (hi, bye) is only for friends and people your age. In France you say bonjour before anything else: before you ask a question, when you enter a shop, when you meet the guide. Starting without it can sound rude.

The summary table further down puts the tu and vous forms of every question side by side.

Sounds for Finnish speakers

In Finnish, you say every letter you write. In French you do not, and that is the first surprise. Four tips help you most at the start. The pronunciation hints in italics are written with Finnish letters: capitals show the stressed syllable (in French usually the last one), õ, ã and ẽ are nasal vowels, è is an open e and ž is the s of English pleasure.

  1. Silent final letters. Most consonants at the end of a word are not pronounced, and neither is a final -e: salut is sa-LY, vous is VU, français is frã-SÈ, appelles is a-PEL. A final c, r, f or l is often heard, like the r of bonsoir. This is why finlandais (boy) and finlandaise (girl) sound different: in finlandaise the s is no longer at the end, so it is heard, as a z.
  2. The French r is made at the back of the throat, a little like a soft gargle. It is not the rolled Finnish r. Practise with Bonjour, merci and au revoir.
  3. Nasal vowels. In an, en, on, in, un at the end of a word or before another consonant, the air goes through the nose and you do not say the n: bonjour, bien, Finlande, enchanté, un peu. A Finnish speaker easily says a clear n (bon-ŽUR); try bõ-ŽUR instead.
  4. Liaison. A silent final consonant is linked to the next word when that word starts with a vowel or a silent h: vous‿êtes is vu-ZÈT, vous‿habitez is vu-za-bi-TE. After vous before a verb the liaison is compulsory, and the s sounds like a z.

Some letters are friendly for a Finn: the French u (salut) is the Finnish y, ou (vous) is the Finnish u, eu (un peu) is close to ö, and é is a clear e. The j of je and bonjour is like the s in English pleasure.

Listen to the four points, then say them aloud:

Summary

The first minute of a meeting. Use tu with friends and people your age, vous with adults you do not know and with any group. Comment ça va ? also works with vous. With tu, a question can simply rise at the end (Tu parles anglais ?); the inverted form (Parles-tu anglais ?) is more careful. With vous, the table gives the inverted form.

English With tu With vous
Hello! Salut ! Bonjour ! Bonjour, madame.
Good evening! Salut ! Bonsoir ! Bonsoir, monsieur.
What is your name? Comment tu t'appelles ? Comment vous appelez-vous ?
My name is … Je m'appelle … Je m'appelle …
Pleased to meet you! Enchanté(e) ! Enchanté(e) !
How are you? Comment ça va ? Comment allez-vous ?
I'm fine, thanks. Ça va bien, merci. Je vais bien, merci.
And you? Et toi ? Et vous ?
Where are you from? Tu viens d'où ? D'où venez-vous ?
I come from Finland. Je viens de Finlande. Je viens de Finlande.
I am Finnish. Je suis finlandais(e). Je suis finlandais(e).
Where do you live? Tu habites où ? Où habitez-vous ?
I live in Espoo. J'habite à Espoo. J'habite à Espoo.
Do you speak English? Tu parles anglais ? Parlez-vous anglais ?
I speak a little French. Je parle un peu français. Je parle un peu français.
Bye! Goodbye! Salut ! À bientôt ! Au revoir, madame !

When you are not sure, choose Bonjour and vous: being a little too polite is rarely a mistake.

Back to your predictions

Compare your two predictions with the theory. Then answer the opening question in English in one or two sentences: why can one small word, bonjour, decide how a whole conversation in France begins?

    Would you change your prediction?

    Apply

    Complete the sentences

    What does it mean?

    Role-play: meeting at ITER

    Work in pairs. Round 1: A is a Finnish student, B is a researcher at ITER who speaks French (choose where B comes from: France, Italy, Japan, India …). Meet at the visitor centre in the morning, introduce yourselves and say goodbye. Round 2: swap roles. Now you are two young visitors who meet at the hotel in the evening. Speak without reading if you can; the word bank is there if you get stuck.

    Word bank

    Bonjour, madame / monsieur, Salut, Bonsoir, Je m'appelle …, Comment vous appelez-vous ?, Comment tu t'appelles ?, Enchanté(e), Je viens de Finlande, Je suis finlandais / finlandaise, J'habite à …, Je parle un peu français, Parlez-vous anglais ?, Merci beaucoup, Au revoir, À bientôt

    Sentence starters

    • Bonjour, madame. Je m'appelle …
    • Je viens de … J'habite à …
    • Et vous, d'où venez-vous ?
    • Pardon, je parle un peu français. Parlez-vous anglais ?
    • Merci beaucoup ! Au revoir et à bientôt !

    Role-play: your dialogue

    After both rounds, write the French of the dialogue you performed in round 1, or at least six lines of it.

    Perform the role-play with a partner first, then write it together. If you can, perform it to another pair, who check it with the criteria below.

    Optional Extension: introducing a classmate

    To introduce someone else, change je to il (he) or elle (she). For a woman or a girl, the nationality takes -e, as before. Start with Voici … (This is …).

    Now introduce your partner from the role-play to another pair: Voici … Il / Elle s'appelle … Il / Elle vient de … Il / Elle habite à …

    Check your understanding

    1. Two people at once

    During the visit you meet two engineers, Claire and Marc. You want to ask both of them where they come from. What do you say?

    Suggestion: one answer does not show everything you can do, but review the theory summary.

    2. Saying your nationality

    Aino, a Finnish girl, wants to say I am Finnish. Which sentence is correct?

    Suggestion: one answer does not show everything you can do, but review the theory summary.

    3. Pronouncing vous êtes

    How do you pronounce vous êtes (you are)?

    Suggestion: one answer does not show everything you can do, but review the theory summary.

    4. Write: introduce yourself

    Before the (imagined) visit, your teacher asks each student to write a short French introduction for the researchers you will meet. Write four or five sentences: a greeting, your name, where you come from and live, your nationality, which languages you speak, and a polite ending.