Is comment ça va rude?

No, it is familiar. It is right with friends and family, and out of place with someone you call vous.

How do you answer how are you in French?

Briefly and positively, then return the question, in the same register as the person who asked. Both exchanges on this page show it.

Why does comment allez-vous use the verb to go?

French expresses how someone is doing with the verb to go. Word for word the question reads: how go you.

French · phrasebook

How to say how are you in French

How are you in French is comment ça va with friends and family, and comment allez-vous with anyone you call vous. They are not interchangeable: the first is familiar, the second is what you say to a stranger, a client or someone older.

Aurélien CuvelierSep 19, 2026

comment ça va

how are you

anyone · familiar

The ways to say it

comment ça va

how are you

anyone · familiar

comment allez-vous

same meaning

someone you call vous, or several people

How to use it

The reply mirrors the question. In the first exchange the friend answers in kind and sends the question back with the word for you in its tu form. In the second, the answer uses the verb of the question and returns it with vous. Matching the register of the person who asked is the whole skill.

French treats the question as a greeting more than an enquiry. A short positive answer and the question returned is the expected move, in both registers.

Watch out

Comment allez-vous is built on the verb to go, not the verb to be. French asks how you are going, and the answer goes the same way: I go well.

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 Marie, comment ça va ?Hi Marie, how are you?Ça va bien, merci, et toi ?I'm fine, thanks, and you?

Bonjour madame, comment allez-vous ?Hello madam, how are you?Je vais très bien, merci, et vous ?I'm very well, thank you, and you?

Questions people ask

Is comment ça va rude?: No, it is familiar. It is right with friends and family, and out of place with someone you call vous.
How do you answer how are you in French?: Briefly and positively, then return the question, in the same register as the person who asked. Both exchanges on this page show it.
Why does comment allez-vous use the verb to go?: French expresses how someone is doing with the verb to go. Word for word the question reads: how go you.

More French phrases

Each one with its tu and vous forms, its register and real exchanges.

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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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