Breakdown of Au revoir et à bientôt, Monsieur !
Questions & Answers about Au revoir et à bientôt, Monsieur !
What do au revoir and à bientôt literally mean?
Au revoir literally means "to the seeing again" (from revoir, meaning "to see again"). À bientôt literally translates to "until soon". French uses this à + [time word] pattern a lot for saying goodbye, like à demain (see you tomorrow). Why does the word à have an accent mark on it?
The accent shows that à is a preposition meaning "to," "at," or "until" in this phrase. Without the accent, a is the verb meaning "has" (like in "il a" - he has). The accent doesn't change how it sounds, but it is important for written French! How do you actually pronounce Monsieur?
It is pronounced roughly like "muh-syuh." The on in the middle loses its usual nasal sound, and the r at the end is completely silent. It is one of the few words in French where you just have to memorize the special pronunciation. Why is Monsieur capitalized in this sentence?
In French, title words like Monsieur, Madame, and Mademoiselle are capitalized when you are speaking directly to the person. If you were just talking about an unnamed man (like "the gentleman is tall"), you would write le monsieur with a lowercase m. Learn Au revoir et à bientôt, Monsieur and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free