Bonne année !

Happy New Year!

Questions & Answers about Bonne année !

Why is it bonne and not bon?

Because année is a feminine noun in French, and adjectives usually agree with the noun they describe.

• masculine: bon
• feminine: bonne

So:

• un bon jour would use the masculine form
• une bonne année uses the feminine form

That is why the greeting is Bonne année !

Why is there no word for a or the in Bonne année !?

In short greetings and wishes, French often leaves out the article.

So instead of saying something like une bonne année, French naturally says:

• Bonne année !
• Bon anniversaire !
• Bonne journée !

This is just the standard idiomatic way to express a wish.

What does the accent in année do?

The word année has two accents:

• a in année has no accent
• the two é letters have an acute accent

The é tells you the vowel is pronounced like ay in English, but shorter and cleaner.

So année is pronounced approximately ah-nay.

The accents are part of the spelling, so you should write them: année, not annee.

How do you pronounce ?