What is the difference between bonne nuit and bonsoir?

Bonsoir greets someone in the evening. Bonne nuit is said at bedtime or when people part for the night.

Can you say bonne nuit to a stranger?

Yes. The phrase has no tu or vous in it, so it suits anyone. The second exchange on this page shows it with a title.

French · phrasebook

How to say good night in French

Good night in French is bonne nuit. It is what you say to someone who is going to bed, or when you part for the night. It is not a greeting: in the evening, people greet each other with bonsoir.

Aurélien CuvelierSep 19, 2026

bonne nuit

good night

anyone

The ways to say it

bonne nuit

good night

anyone

How to use it

Both exchanges below happen at the end of the day. In the first, someone announces they are going to sleep and gets bonne nuit back, with a wish to sleep well. In the second, a hotel receptionist shows a guest to a room and says it with vous and a title. The phrase itself does not change with the person.

English uses good night both ways, as a late goodbye and as a bedtime wish. French keeps bonne nuit for the second. Say it to someone arriving at a dinner and you have told them to go to bed.

Watch out

The last letter of bonne nuit is silent. It is greyed in the examples, and the phrase ends on the vowel before it.

In a real conversation

Each exchange is a line and its reply. Greyed letters are written and not pronounced. A tie marks a liaison, with the sound you hear under it. A label under a verb names its tense when it is not the present.

Je vais dormir, il est déjà tard. Bonne nuit !I'm going to sleep, it's already late. Good night!Bonne nuit, Hugo. Dors bien !Good night, Hugo. Sleep well!

Votre chambre est au premier étage. Bonne nuit, monsieur.Your room is on the first floor. Good night, sir.Merci beaucoup. Bonne nuit, et à demain matin.Thank you very much. Good night, and see you tomorrow morning.

Next to it: bonsoir

Bonsoir Léa, tu rentres du travail maintenant ?Good evening Léa, are you coming home from work now?Bonsoir ! Oui, je suis fatiguée, la journée était longue.Good evening! Yes, I am tired, the day was long.

Bonsoir madame, vous fermez bientôt ?Good evening madam, are you closing soon?Bonsoir monsieur, dans dix minutes. Vous avez le temps.Good evening sir, in ten minutes. You have time.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between bonne nuit and bonsoir?: Bonsoir greets someone in the evening. Bonne nuit is said at bedtime or when people part for the night.
Can you say bonne nuit to a stranger?: Yes. The phrase has no tu or vous in it, so it suits anyone. The second exchange on this page shows it with a title.

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Written by

Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck

Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck: the app, and the verification pipeline behind its dictionary. Every entry is grounded in the official TORFL lexical minimum and a 20,000-word frequency corpus, and every example sentence passes a certification review before it ships.

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