How does a French Say Nice to Meet You?
Updated: March 5, 2021 by Mylene in French ExpressionsArray ▪
“James, I’d like to introduce you to Hélène. As I already told you, she lived in France for many years, and she’d be happy to help you start your new project in Paris. Good luck! I’ll let you two take it from here.”
At this point, James would say “Nice to meet you Hélène”.
Nice to meet you in French
In this article, I’ll give you many expressions to say nice to meet you in French. Among these expressions, you’ll find:
- Enchanté(e)
- Ravi(e) de te/vous rencontrer
- Ravi(e) de faire ta/votre connaissance
- C’est un plaisir de te/vous rencontrer
- C’est un plaisir de faire ta/votre connaissance
- Heureux(se) de faire ta/votre connaissance
- On m’a beaucoup parlé de vous
- Infographic: 10 expressions to say nice to meet you in French
Greeting with Nice to meet you
In some cases, we are fortunate enough to be introduced to someone who can help us professionally. Other times, it is a personal context where we’re meeting someone new. Whether a professional or a personal introduction, it is important to know what to say, and how to think and act.
Remember, it is essential to learn greetings as it plays an important role in the interpersonal relationships of many cultures, such as French, American, or Japanese.
In reality, introductions are the first step in befriending a new person. Ultimately, learning how to say nice to meet you in French is what you need to start a successful exchange and help you avoid awkward situations when you don’t know what to say.
In this post, I’ll show you how to say nice to meet you in French so that you learn how French speakers say nice to meet you and how to pronounce nice to meet you in French.
When to use Nice to meet you?
No matter the language, nice to meet you is a useful expression. Be proactive and learn how to say nice to meet you, so you make that new exchange more successful and likely to happen again. Either with locals, natives, or peers, here are various situations where you’ll need to know how to say nice to meet you:
- When traveling, you need to actually hold a conversation while on a trip, no matter which foreign country you’re visiting. Before you get to your destination, you should take the time to learn a few phrases in the local language. Among the fundamental phrases to learn, “nice to meet you” is a must-learn expression. I’d recommend adding it to the list with other basic words such as hello, thank you, goodbye, sorry, and excuse me.
- When writing an email, we often find ourselves looking for formal or polite ways to greet someone we’ve just been introduced to by email. It is highly probable that you received or sent an email that included “nice to e-meet you”, right? In English, it is, however, advised not to use “e-meet”, or choose other appropriate ways, as described in this article 5 Clever Ways to Say “Nice to Meet You” in Writing.
- When studying abroad, international students often report that speaking skills are the greatest difficulties they encounter in foreign countries. This is true for many international students in Australians’ universities as these students face many difficulties to engage with domestic students. Starting an exchange with a hello followed by a nice to meet you is a prerequisite to building relationships and benefiting from the opportunity for intercultural learning.
- When improving cognitive skills, such as retaining the name of the people you meet at an event, don’t just respond with, “Nice to meet you”. Instead, say, “Nice to meet you, George.” This technique, as well as the benefit of language learning to the brain, is detailed in the following article 8 Ways to Train Your Brain to Learn Faster and Remember More.
Now, let’s focus on the French language.
In this article, I’ll teach you how to say nice to meet you in French. Informal or formal exchanges can create successful relationships, and feel comfortable is what matters most when meeting someone for the first time.
Learn to say Nice to meet you
To start, I’ll present the many ways of saying nice to meet you, as well as the details when each expression is most suitable to use when speaking French. Not only you’ll learn how to say nice to meet you in French, but also you’ll discover the cultural aspect of greeting in French.
Should you extend your hand to give a handshake? Should you hug the other person? Or you should kiss, la bise, which is an integral part of the French greeting culture. No doubt that these are common questions most non-native French have.
Again, since pronunciation is of major importance to Master Your French, I’ll show you the right pronunciation of nice to meet you and its comparable expressions. If you’d like to check other expressions and greetings in French, check the brief guide to learn useful French expressions.
Various expressions to say nice to meet you
Below is a list of diverse ways to say nice to meet you in French. Use these phrases when you meet someone for the first time, and don’t forget to smile 🙂.
Common way:
- Enchanté(e)
Formal expressions:
- Ravi(e) de te/vous rencontrer
- Ravi(e) de faire ta/votre connaissance
Expressions with pleasure:
- C’est un plaisir de te/vous rencontrer
- C’est un plaisir de faire ta/votre connaissance
- Heureux(se) de faire ta/votre connaissance
- Ca me fait plaisir de discuter avec vous
Expression with a compliment:
- On m’a beaucoup parlé de vous
As you’ll use these phrases almost every time you encounter a new person, let’s dive into their meaning and when to use each of these expressions.
The casual nice to meet you in French
Enchanté is the simplest and the common way to say “nice to meet you” in French. Enchantée is the feminine form of this French word. Both of masculine (enchanté) and feminine (enchantée) have the same pronunciation. In fact, the last e in the feminine form of enchantée is a silent e.
What does enchanté(e) mean in French?
Its literal translation is “enchanted” in English. While the word “enchanted” in English means to charm, to attract, or to bewitch, its accurate meaning in French is “I’m delighted”.
Again, enchanté is the everyday nice to meet you in French. Enchanté(e) is to be used whenever you want to say “nice to meet you” or “delighted to meet you”, as French people do.
The formal nice to meet you in French
Je suis ravi(e) de faire votre connaissance is another way to say nice to meet you in French. Use it whenever you wish to sound formal.
Similarly, “Je suis ravi(e) de vous rencontrer” is another great and formal alternative to say nice to meet you. Again, if you’d like to use the informal version of these two expressions, you can say “Je suis ravi(e) de faire ta connaissance” or “Je suis ravi(e) de te rencontrer“.
The pleased to meet you in French
To express pleasure and at the same time to stay formal you can use “C’est un plaisir de vous rencontrer” or “C’est un plaisir de faire votre connaissance“. Literally, this means it was a pleasure to meet you.
If you replace vous and votre with te and ta respectively, you’ll end up with “C’est un plaisir de te rencontrer” and “C’est un plaisir de faire ta connaissance“. These two expressions communicate pleasure but are an informal way to say nice to meet you.
Now, if you had a pleasant discussion with someone you can use “Ça me fait plaisir de discuter avec vous“. This expression translates to “I was pleased talking to you”.
If you’d like to express pleasure and also highlight a real feeling of happiness, your best choice is to say “Heureux(se) de faire votre connaissance“.
To sum up, you can use “C’est un plaisir de faire votre connaissance” to be safe and formal, and you can choose “Heureux(se) de faire votre connaissance” as a less formal version of nice to meet you in French.
The French nice to meet you with a compliment
Time to go for compliments? Then you can say “On m’a beaucoup parlé de vous” which translates to “They told me a lot about you” or “I heard a lot about you”. In this case, it is a way of saying nice to meet you and at the same time making a compliment to the other person. The other person would reply “en bien j’espère” which is the typical reply of a French native. (Bien sûr, of course!)
Of course, you can aim the top and make a compliment with “Je suis honoré(e) de faire votre connaissance” but think about this well. In which situation would you want to say that you are honored to meet someone? It is rare, but you might need it one day. Who knows!
The nice to e-meet you in French email
What if you’d like to write nice to meet you when composing an email in French. Imagine that you’re writing an email and you’d want to say that you’re delighted to meet someone at a certain date.
That should be easy for you now, but the subtle choice of the verb tense can make it tricky to say nice to meet you through email. In this situation, the meeting, or e-meeting, will happen in the future, which is different from greeting someone you just met.
The recommendation is to use le conditionnel, not the future tense when writing nice to meet you in French. Email and use the French conditional tense which allows you to show that you’re not giving direction to the other person. Instead, you’re just expressing a wish to meet in a solicitous way as follows “Je serais ravi de vous rencontrer“.
Infographic in French: 10 expressions to say nice to meet you
It is always a pleasure
It’s important to learn the proper way to say nice to meet you in French because making a good first impression is essential in many situations.
Whether a social event or a business meeting, using appropriate expressions could be very helpful when making initial introductions.
It could help you make a new friend, boost your chances in a business deal, or even elevate you in the eyes of the person you just met.
If you’re starting to learn French, you should build your French with the basics of common words, expressions, and pronunciations. Check our brief guide to learn useful French expressions.
In addition, check our videos on Instagram and on YouTube. You’ll find a lot of learning materials to help you boost your French language skills.
Are you ready now to nail that next introduction in French? That’s what Master Your French online courses help you achieve.
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