Learn French: Au revoir et à bientôt, Monsieur !

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.