"À bientôt !"
Translation:See you soon!
76 Comments
Is there really a big difference between "see you soon" & "see you later????
1710
There are many casual phrases that one can say upon saying goodbye to someone. In one sense, they are not to be taken literally. "See you soon" does not necessarily mean it's going to be very soon. "See you later" does not necessarily mean that you will see them later the same day, but only sometime later. The casual remark made when greeting someone is "How are you?" You really don't expect the person to tell you how everything is going with them. It is a polite and natural thing to do among friends. It is referred to as meta-talk. The other sense is that when you are learning French, you will need to take hold of the idea that "bonjour" is "hello" and while one might be thinking "hi there", "hey buddy", "howdy", and a myriad of other such casual expressions, you need to translate it as "hello". The same for à bientôt = see you soon, à plus tard = see you later, à demain = see you tomorrow, etc., at least while you are doing the Duolingo exercises. In casual conversations among your friends, you may be much more loose about how you translate it.
In English i don't know, in French "à bientot" means an indefinite time,it's the wish to see you soon, "à plus tard"(see you later) the laps of time is short, in the same day.
yes. Later is not the same as soon. It has a section where you can see the words.
"a" = verbe avoir "to have".
"à" = preposition, "to".
à bientôt = litterally "to soon."
- 1710
Hi, Perce_Neige (I know you know this already, but this is for the others reading the comments). There are many phrases that may be said upon parting company. When learning the French expressions, be aware that there are different terms in English, just as there are in French (even though their meanings may be relatively similar). While they are all somewhat equivalent in the sense of "so long", "see you later", and "bye" being something that one might say, it is important to know the difference.
- à bientôt = see you soon
- à plus tard = see you later
- à demain = see you tomorrow
- salut (hi/hey/hello) -informal- said upon greeting; (bye/so long) said upon leaving
- bonjour = good morning/good afternoon/hello
- au revoir = goodbye (not good bye, good by, or good-bye, or bye-bye)
Since these terms are idiomatic in English, they are not fully grammatical sentences. I.e., there is no "We will see you soon" or "I will see you soon"; it's just "See you soon!" It isn't that you can't say "we will" or "I will", but simply that it is not usually said that way. The small 'word' à is used in many ways: one of them is with expressions of parting. As such, WordReference suggests that it be treated as "see you..." when referencing a future meeting, and not literally translated as "to" or "until". Please see: http://www.wordreference.com/fren/%C3%A0
Is there a childish/funny way to say goodbye, like the English "smell you later alligator"?
Like nelson from the simpsons.
The full thing where I am is "smell/see you later alligator don't forget your toilet paper"
In English, the actual phrase (before modified in the cartoon The Simpsons) is "See you later alligator!" and the reply is "After while, crocodile!"
This is old but if anybody else new wants to know about stuff like this, you can probably use some of your lingots to test yourself on idioms. I haven't done it yet but things like this might show up. It's worth a try + idioms should be useful for everyday speech n yeah it's also just another nice thing to study even if you don't get what you wanted.
"bientôt" = bien + tôt = very + soon = adverb
à bientôt = until (we meet) very soon.
"au revoir" = à + le + re + voir = until (the moment we) again + meet = verb
au revoir = until we meet again
There's an older practice of not putting accents on capital letters though, in fact my textbook in high school advocated it. It's not done here but if seen elsewhere it could cause confusion.
I have found a good explanation that "À bientôt" is used as an official and polite phrase, when you don’t know will you meet or not; "À la prochaine" is used for friends, when you know that you definitely will meet and there is no need to make an appointment. Then, "À plus tard" is used when you’re sure or it’s very likely that you will meet again on the same day (or evening), but the time and conditions are not necessarily agreed. And "À tout à l'heure" refers to some particular moment (agreement or timetable, or in the end of the phone call before arrival). Please correct me if it’s wrong ☺
It should be, the aim here is to invoke the same feeling in an English reader as in a French reader.
Although duolingo suggests using "see you later", "until next time" is a perfectly valid translation.
À bientôt does in fact mean see you soon. As i learned in chapter2 of my college course. The important thing to remember is not to translate things word for word. But, to translate it for the concept.
ya u r right bientot means soon but the whole phrase à bientot means see you soon or meet soon
Yes, literally, but isn't it used in French as a more generic "see you"? I.e. not necessarily implying the "soon" part?
- 1710
There are many expressions in English involving "see you" just as there are many expressions in French using * à *. Learning them and their similarities and differences is why we're studying French.
No it is not. Final consonant are not pronounced unless there are 2 of them, like in "un test".
I was taught that A does not need an accent when it is a capital ie at the beginning of a sentence. Is this not correct?
Yes, accents are compulsory to distinguish the verb "a" (has) from the preposition "à" (to/at) or the conjunction "ou" (or) from the adverb "où" (where). But on Duolingo, capital letters are not required at the beginning of sentences.
Accents are not necessary when letters are capital because it is not that easy to type something like À when we use computer. However it is recommended not to ignore them when we write because the accents do be useful in distinguishing the meaning of words. Hope it would be helpful and do forgive my poor English, I am not a native English speaker.
As @chetlin explained in an older post, that is a practice used in some books. It is not a rule; disobeying it doesn't make a sentence wrong.
I know it's functionally useless, but does anyone know what the etymology behind "bientôt" is? What its most literal translation could be?
"Good__?"
Is "tôt" some kind of bastardization of the word "temps"?
As in, "To good times", or maybe even "In good time"?
"bientôt" =
- bien = well, very, enough
- tôt = soon
"tôt" comes from "tostum" (popular Latin), from the past participle of the verb "tostere" (to grill/roast/burn) which probably first meant "warmly/hotly", and from there "promptly".
No it does not.
late = tard
later = plus tard
see you later = à plus tard (generally said when you expect to see someone again the same day)
does "à tout à l'heure" mean "see you later" ? if not, what does "à tout à l'heure" mean when someone tell it at the end of a conversation?
Oui, "à tout à l'heure" means "see you later" (same day).
Short version "à toute" or "à tout'" (so as to keep the T sound).
I forgot the line above the o in bientot and it said "pay attention to your circumflex" instead of saying "pay attention to your accent". What is a circumflex and how is it different to an accent?
There are several types of accents:
- acute accent = é
- grave accent = è - à - ù
- circumflex accent = â - ê - î - ô - û
- umlaut (le tréma) = ë - ü
In most cases, a circumflex accent above a letter shows that in old French or Latin, the word had an -s: "une fenêtre" used to be "fenestre"; "bientôt" has derived from late Latin "tostum"
It's not natural english. You cannot always translate word for word and have it work.
"au" is the contraction of "à" + "le" (to the/until the/till the)
Therefore, the verb "revoir" is used as a noun.
What's the difference between a/has and a/see you soon and also what's the difference between a and bientot!
"a" = has
"à" is a preposition, which can have a number of translations depending on the verb or phrase.
- 355
See the above comments. Capital A at the beginning of a sentence is equivalent to à (ie:accent grave) which is idiomatic for "see you" in this context. "a" no accent, would be "has". A or "à" is "see you" when used before bientôt. At least that is my understanding.
I translated this into English as See you soon or See you later and it was marked incorrect??????
You have to enter one translation and for this sentence, the only correct one is "see you soon".
"See you later" back translates to "à plus tard".
In 1948 I was taught that the only upper case letter to carry an accent was E - É, È, Ê. Since every book I saw obeyed this rule, I never doubted it!
Now you know that "à" can be capitalized with its accent (À) and on a course teaching French, I would think it is useful.
Also, when you have to write other foreign words, you may need these as well: Â, Î, Ô, Û, Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, À, Ç, Ù
I am a Brit and I have never heard of the term "meta-talk". Do you mean "small talk"?
What about "see you later?" That's what I wrote and it said I was wrong. ??
Please ask for more NEW French stories. Duo has promised new one for more than 6 months. Please suggest this to some of your other friends here. If you haven't used it much, I think that using stories for both oral comprehension and general understanding of French usage is extremely helpful.
- 355
Harris, have you looked recently? There are 12 levels of stories now. Some are up to 5 parts. That is quite an addition since the last time I looked(maybe a month ago). I totally agree with you that the stories are very helpful and informative. I often forget to use them. It is a good way to get those XPs.
I checked with a friend of mine and I am pronouncing correctly but apparently the app doesn't think so
I checked with a friend of mine who is French and I am pronouncing correctly. The app seems to think otherwise
