Symbiose
Openers
- Coucou ! — Hey! Warm, informal, very common between friends.
- Salut, ça va ? — Hi, how's it going? The default.
- Quoi de neuf ? — What's new?
- T'es dispo ce soir ? — Are you free tonight? Note t'es, not tu es.
- Je te dérange pas ? — Am I bothering you? The dropped ne is normal in writing to friends.
- Ça faisait longtemps ! — It's been a while!
Reacting
- Ah ouais ? — Oh yeah? / Really?
- C'est pas vrai ! — No way! (literally "that's not true")
- Trop bien ! — So good! / Awesome.
- J'avoue. — True, fair enough. Extremely common; literally "I admit".
- Grave. — Totally. One word, full agreement.
- Ça craint. — That sucks.
- Courage ! — Hang in there. There is no clean English equivalent.
- Ça me fait plaisir. — That makes me happy / glad to hear it.
Softening what you say
French leans on small hedges far more than English does. Dropping them is the fastest way to sound blunt by accident.
- Je pense que… — I think that…
- Si tu veux — if you like. Softens a suggestion.
- Ça te dit ? — Fancy it? / Sound good?
- Ça t'embête si… — Would you mind if…
- Franchement — honestly. Signals a real opinion.
- Du coup — so / therefore. Filler in almost every casual thread.
- Enfin bref — anyway. Closes a tangent.
Making plans
- On se voit quand ? — When are we meeting?
- Ça marche pour moi. — Works for me.
- Je te tiens au courant. — I'll keep you posted.
- J'arrive dans 10 min. — I'll be there in 10.
- Désolé, je peux pas ce soir. — Sorry, I can't tonight.
- On dit 19h alors ? — Let's say 7pm then? Times are written 19h, not 7pm.
Ending a thread
- À plus ! — See you later. Often written A+.
- Bonne soirée — have a good evening. Used constantly; skipping it feels curt.
- Je file, on se parle demain. — I'm off, talk tomorrow.
- Bisous — kisses. Normal between friends and family, not romantic by default.
- Prends soin de toi. — Take care of yourself.
- Repose-toi bien. — Get some rest.
Abbreviations you will see
- mdr — mort de rire, the French lol.
- ptdr — stronger version of mdr.
- stp / svp — s'il te plaît / s'il vous plaît (please).
- jsp — je sais pas (I don't know).
- tkt — t'inquiète (don't worry).
- bcp — beaucoup (a lot).
- rdv — rendez-vous (meeting, appointment).
Two habits worth copying
Drop the ne. In casual writing, French speakers negate with just pas: je sais pas, c'est pas grave. Keeping the ne everywhere is a reliable tell that someone learned from a textbook.
Send short messages. French threads run in bursts of one line, not paragraphs. A three-sentence reply reads as formal — and for a learner, short lines mean more turns, which means more practice.
Using these without memorising them
Lists like this fade within a week if you only read them. The phrases that stay are the ones you sent to somebody and got a reply to. Pick three from this page, use them in a real conversation this week, and let the rest go.