No, it is familiar. It is out of place with strangers and older people, where bonjour is the greeting.

Does salut also mean goodbye?

Yes. Among friends it is said on arriving and on leaving.

French · phrasebook

How to say hi in French

Hi in French is salut. It is a familiar word: right with friends, family, classmates and people your own age, and too casual for a shop, an office or anyone you call vous. There, the greeting is bonjour.

Aurélien CuvelierSep 19, 2026

salut

anyone · familiar

The ways to say it

salut

anyone · familiar

How to use it

Both exchanges below are between young people meeting casually. In the first, salut comes with the familiar how are you and gets the same word back. In the second, two people introduce themselves with first names only. That is the territory of salut: no titles, no vous.

The word does double duty. Said when you leave, salut means bye. The moment tells you which one you are hearing.

Watch out

The last letter of salut is silent, greyed in the examples. The word ends on its vowel.

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.

Salut Léa, ça va ?Hi Léa, how are you?Salut ! Ça va, et toi ?Hi! I'm fine, and you?

Salut, je m'appelle Hugo. Je suis le frère de Marie.Hi, my name is Hugo. I'm Marie's brother.Salut Hugo ! Moi, c'est Paul.Hi Hugo! I'm Paul.

Next to it: bonjour

Bonjour Léa ! Tu vas bien ce matin ?Hello Léa! Are you doing well this morning?Bonjour ! Ça va, et toi ?Hello! I'm fine, and you?

Bonjour madame ! Je voudrais deux croissants, s'il vous plaît.Hello madam! I would like two croissants, please.Bonjour monsieur ! Voilà, ça fait deux euros.Hello sir! Here you go, that comes to two euros.

Questions people ask

Is salut rude?: No, it is familiar. It is out of place with strangers and older people, where bonjour is the greeting.
Does salut also mean goodbye?: Yes. Among friends it is said on arriving and on leaving.

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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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