Thursday, May 21, 2020

À Tout de Suite Ways to Say See You Soon In French

The French use several expressions to say see you soon or see you later. As you learn French greetings, you may have learned à   bientà ´t and its the standard. But there are many more ways to express this phrase, covering the subtleties of meaning between expressions and important cultural differences. See You Soon in French: À Bientà ´t À bientà ´t, with its silent final t, is the generic way to say see you soon. It expresses your desire to see the other person soon, but without giving a precise time frame. It is laced with an implicit sense of wishful thinking: I hope to see you again soon. See You Later in French: À Plus Tard À plus tard is only used when you are going to see the other person again later the same day. So, à   plus tard, as opposed to à   bientà ´t is a specified time frame. You are not giving a precise time, but it is understood that you will likely see the person later that same day.   See Ya: À Plus The informal way to say à   plus tard is à   plus or A when texting or emailing. Note the pronunciation difference between these two expressions: in à   plus tard the s of the word plus is silent, but in the other expression, the s is strongly pronounced in à   plus. This is one of many examples of irregular rules in French. Just like with see ya in English, à   plus is quite informal and can be used more casually, whether you are seeing the person later the same day or dont have a timeframe in mind, just like with à   bientà ´t. Its used frequently with younger speakers.   À La Prochaine: Till Next Time Another casual way to say see you soon in French is à   la prochaine. It stands for à   la prochaine fois which literally means until next time. Here again, the time frame is not specifically stated. À Tout de Suite, À Tout à   lHeure, À Tout: See You Later   The construction of these phrases doesnt translate literally into sensical phrases in English but are frequently used colloquialisms in French.   À Tout  de suite  means see you right away, very soonÀ Tout à   lHeure  or  Ãƒ   plus tard  means see you later todayÀ Tout  is the colloquial form of the phrase but still refers to seeing the person later the same day. The final t of tout is pronounced here toot . À Specific Time: See You Then In French, if you place an à   in front of an expression of time, it means see you... then. À demain  means see you tomorrowÀ mardi  means see you on TuesdayÀ dans une semaine  means see you in a week Cultural Remarks The way the French set up informal appointments is very different than what most people do in the U.S. In the states, making plans with friends usually seems very casual with no obligation attached. For example, if friends were to say lets get together this weekend, Ill call you later this week, many times it wont happen.   In France, if someone tells you they would like to get together later that week, you can expect a call and its likely the person will have put aside some time for you during the weekend. Culturally, its much more expected to receive follow-through on the casual plan making. Of course, this is a general observation  and is not true for everybody. Finally, note that un rendez-vous is both a personal and a work appointment. Its not necessarily a date, as some people mistakenly believe.

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