Questions & Answers about Salut Marie, comment vas-tu ?
Why does this sentence use vas ("go") instead of a word for "are"?
In French, you don't ask "how are you?" but rather "how are you going?" using the verb aller (to go). Because of this, comment vas-tu ? literally means "how do you go?". Why is it vas-tu instead of tu vas?
To ask a question in French, you can swap the order of the subject (tu) and the verb (vas). This is called inversion. You could also say comment tu vas ?, but comment vas-tu ? is very common and sounds a bit more polite, even with friends. Why is there a hyphen between vas and tu?
Whenever you flip the order of a verb and a subject pronoun to ask a question in French (like changing tu vas to vas-tu), you must connect them with a hyphen. Is salut used the same way as bonjour?
No, salut is an informal greeting, much like "hi" or "hey" in English. You should only use it with friends, family, or people your own age. If you are speaking to someone you don't know well, you should stick to bonjour. Learn Salut Marie, comment vas-tu and more in French
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