Marie est en bonne santé maintenant.

Marie is in good health now.

Breakdown of Marie est en bonne santé maintenant.

• être: to be
• Marie: Marie
• maintenant: now
• en bonne santé: healthy

Questions & Answers about Marie est en bonne santé maintenant.

Why is it est and not a? In English we say “Marie is healthy,” but could you also say something like “Marie has health” in French?

In French, the idea of being healthy is expressed with être (to be), not avoir (to have).

• Correct: Marie *est en bonne santé. = “Marie *is healthy.”
• Incorrect: Marie *a en bonne santé.* (this doesn’t work in French)

You can use avoir with la santé in other structures, but you need more words, for example:

• Marie a retrouvé la santé = “Marie has regained her health.”

For the simple idea “to be healthy,” the natural expression is être en bonne santé.

What does en bonne santé literally mean, and why do we need the preposition en?

Literally, en bonne santé means “in good health.”

• en = “in” (used for states or conditions)
• bonne = “good” (feminine form)
• santé = “health”

French often uses en + noun phrase to describe someone’s state or condition:

• en forme = in shape
• en colère = angry (literally “in anger”)

So you must keep the en.

• Correct: Marie est *en bonne santé.*
• Incorrect: Marie est bonne santé. (missing en)

Why is it bonne and not bon santé?

Santé is a feminine noun in French, so any adjective that agrees with it must be feminine.

• Masculine: bon
• Feminine: bonne

Because santé is feminine, you say:

• une *bonne santé*
• en *bonne santé*

If the noun were masculine, you’d use bon instead, for example:

• un *bon repas* = a good meal

How can I tell that santé is feminine?

There is no 100% reliable rule; you generally have to learn the gender with each noun. However:

• Many abstract nouns ending in -té (like liberté, égalité, beauté, bonté, santé) are feminine.

You can also see the gender from the words used with it:

• la santé (article la is feminine)
• en bonne santé (adjective bonne is feminine)

So when you see la santé / bonne santé, that tells you santé is feminine.

Why can’t we just say Marie est saine to mean “Marie is healthy”?

You can say saine, but it doesn’t usually mean “in good physical health” in everyday speech.

• sain / saine more often means:
  • wholesome, healthy (for food or environment): une alimentation saine = a healthy diet
  • sane (mentally): d’esprit sain

To talk about a person’s general health in normal conversation, French speakers strongly prefer:

• Marie est *en bonne santé.*
• Marie est *en pleine forme.*

Marie est saine is grammatically correct but sounds strange or ambiguous for “Marie is healthy” in most contexts.

Is en bonne santé a fixed expression, or can I change the word order or words inside it?

It’s essentially a fixed expression. The normal, idiomatic form is:

• être en bonne santé

You shouldn’t change the order or drop words:

• Correct: en bonne santé
• Incorrect: en santé bonne / en bien santé / bien en santé (in standard European French)

You might hear en santé by itself in some regions (especially in Quebec French), but in standard French, en bonne santé is the safest and most natural choice.

Can I say Marie est en santé maintenant instead?

It depends on the variety of French:

• In Quebec French and some other North American varieties, être en santé is common and natural:

  • Marie est en santé maintenant. (sounds fine in Quebec)

• In standard European French, en santé alone sounds unusual or regional. People normally say:

  • Marie est en bonne santé maintenant.

If you’re learning general/standard French, use en bonne santé.

What’s the difference between Marie est en bonne santé maintenant and Marie va bien maintenant?

Both can be translated as “Marie is well now,” but there’s a nuance:

• Marie est en bonne santé maintenant.

  • Focus: her overall health, often more “objective” or medical.
  • Suggests she has recovered from an illness or has no health problems.

• Marie va bien maintenant. (aller bien = to be doing well / to feel well)

  • Focus: how she is doing or feeling right now, more general.
  • Could be about physical health, mood, or general situation.

If you want to emphasize her health status, choose en bonne santé. If you want a more general “she’s doing fine now,” choose va bien.

Where can I put maintenant in this sentence? Is the word order flexible?

Yes, maintenant is quite flexible. All of these are possible:

• Marie est en bonne santé *maintenant.*
• *Maintenant, Marie est en bonne santé.*
• Marie, *maintenant, est en bonne santé.* (more emphatic, with commas in writing)

The most neutral, everyday version is the original:

• Marie est en bonne santé maintenant.

Is it possible to say Maintenant Marie est en bonne santé without a comma?

Yes. In speech, the pause is optional; in writing, you can use a comma or not, depending on the rhythm you want:

• Maintenant, Marie est en bonne santé. (comma = clearer pause/emphasis)
• Maintenant Marie est en bonne santé. (still acceptable; slightly less marked)

Both are grammatically correct. Using the comma is often recommended because it reflects the natural pause after Maintenant when you’re setting the scene.

How would this sentence change if we talked about more than one person, like “Marie and Paul are healthy now”?

You mainly change the subject and the verb form:

• Singular: Marie *est en bonne santé maintenant.*
• Plural: Marie et Paul *sont en bonne santé maintenant.*

The expression en bonne santé itself stays the same for plural subjects. Only the verb agrees:

• Les enfants *sont en bonne santé.*

How do I make this sentence negative, like “Marie is not healthy now” or “Marie is no longer healthy”?

Use ne … pas for simple negation, and ne … plus for “no longer”:

1. Not healthy now

   • Marie *n’est pas en bonne santé maintenant.*
     = Marie is not in good health now.

2. No longer healthy

   • Marie *n’est plus en bonne santé.*
     = Marie is no longer in good health.

In speech, people often drop the ne in casual contexts:

• Marie est pas en bonne santé maintenant. (informal, spoken)
• Marie est plus en bonne santé. (informal, spoken; context needed to avoid confusion with “more”)

Is there a liaison between est and en when speaking?

Yes, there is normally a liaison: the final t of est is pronounced and links to the vowel at the start of en.

• Written: est en
• Spoken: /ɛ.t‿ɑ̃/ (sounds like “eh-tahn”)

So you would say:

• Marie es*t‿en bonne santé maintenant.*

This liaison makes your French sound much more natural and fluent.

Could I replace “Marie” with a pronoun? Would I say Elle est en bonne santé maintenant or C’est en bonne santé maintenant?

To replace Marie, you use elle:

• Elle est en bonne santé maintenant. = “She is healthy now.”

You cannot say C’est en bonne santé maintenant here; that’s incorrect because ce (c’) wouldn’t have a clear noun to refer to, and en bonne santé describes a person, not a thing.

So:

• Correct: Elle est en bonne santé maintenant.
• Incorrect: C’est en bonne santé maintenant.