In a nutshell,
tu is informal and singular
, while vous is formal and/or plural. That is, if you’re talking to more than one person, it doesn’t matter what your relationship is – you always need vous. It’s only when talking to a single person that the choice must be made.
How do you say you have plural in French?
Secondly,
‘vous’
is also classed as the ‘plural’ way of saying ‘you’. That means if you’re speaking to more than one person, be it two people or a group of a million people, you must always address them as ‘vous’.
What does you plural mean in French?
In summary,
vous
is the formal or plural form of you, while tu is the informal, singular form. You should use vous when you’re talking to strangers, authority figures, work colleagues, older people, or groups of people, whereas tu should be used for friends, family, and children.
Should I use vous or tu?
Knowing when to use which French pronoun will help you navigate through many social situations.
“Tu” is only used to address one person
, while “vous” is used to address one or more people. As a singular second person pronoun, “vous” is used in more formal contexts while “tu” is more familiar.
What are the 3 ways of saying you in French?
There are five words to say you in French:
vous, tu, toi, te and t’
. Learn the French yous, including a complete analysis of tu vs vous + phrases to switch. There are five words to say you in French: tu, vous, toi, te and t’. Here is a guide to the French yous, including an in depth analysis of tu versus vous.
What is a French person called?
1. French person – a person of French nationality. Frenchman,
Frenchwoman
.
How do you say and you in French formally?
The French translation for “And you? (formal)” is
Et vous ?
. The French, Et vous ?, can be broken down into 2 parts:”and” (et) and “you (singular polite form and plural)” (vous).
What is à in French?
The French prepositions à and de cause constant problems for French students. Generally speaking, à means
“to,” “at,” or “in
,” while de means “of” or “from.” Both prepositions have numerous uses and to understand each better, it is best to compare them. Learn more about the preposition de.
What is formal and informal in French?
The distinction between tu and vous is one of the most confounding aspects of French, and one of the most basic. … In a nutshell,
tu is informal and singular
, while vous is formal and/or plural. That is, if you’re talking to more than one person, it doesn’t matter what your relationship is – you always need vous.
Do the French still use vous?
We asked French people from a wide range of ages and experiences and although most of them agreed that
the use of vous is decreasing over time
, they tended to apply very different rules to their own use of tu and vous.
What is the meaning of Voulez vous?
“Voulez-Vous” (pronounced [vule vu] voo-lay-voo; French for
“Do you want?
“) is a 1979 song by the Swedish group ABBA, written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
Is nous formal?
Nous is
a plural pronoun
: this is the we you use mostly in written form, or when you want to be more formal. On is a more informal we, used predominantly in speech or casual writing (in emails to your friends for example).
How do you ask tu or vous?
- Tu shows familiarity, closeness.
- Vous shows a respectful distance, deference, not wanting to sound too familiar.
- When in doubt, use vous. You can’t really go wrong! …
- You need to ask, be given or give permission to do so.
What’s your name in French?
If you’d like to say “What is your name?” in French, you generally have two options. To pose the question formally, you’d say “
Comment vous-appelez vous?
Speaking informally, you can simply ask “Comment t’appelles-tu?”
