How to say "How are you?" and "How are you doing?" in French

[Tinyturtle]

Hi Everyone,

I don't know how to say "How are you" and "How are you doing" in French!

I found this sentence:    Comment allez-vous?

Does it convey the meaning "How are you" or "How are you doing"? 

Please help and thank you in advance!

[Cath]

"How are you ?" can be translated "Comment allez-vous ? / Comment vas-tu ?", whereas "How are you doing / going ?" is less formal and is translated : "Comment ça va ?" or "Ça va, toi / vous".

[Christine]

I'll add another less formal one, "Tu vas bien?", which, translated, is more like "Are you fine?", but is heard very often (the answer usually is "Oui, et toi?").

[swapnal gole]

Exactly..!

[janet strand]

I lived in France for many years, I married a French man, had a baby in France and after 2 years I began to speak French. A lot of what I learned was slang but I would say "comment ca va? or ca va?. If  you are good friends with someone you just say "ca va"?

[marc vicogne]

yes you can ,depending where you live you will find sometime that even as a french speaking person you may have problems to be understood this is due to the patois in the area

I come from the north (pas de calais) and the patois is Picard or chtimi

[KARIM BEN]

Hi Tinyturtle,

You can express it in a variety of ways. In French, the way we say it depends on the social group you talk to.

 

In working classes, even among youth circles or students and even within the low middle class,

we say: 'ça va?', 'ça roule?', 'quoi de neuf?', 'comment ça va?', 'tu vas bien?', 'la vie est belle?'.

But on tv programmes, in the so-called good society, we would say: 'Comment allez-vous?', 'Est-ce que vous allez bien?',

'Comment vous portez-vous?'.

 

So, we have no exact way to express the British 'how are you doing?'. But you can simply use 'ça va?'. And how are you? : 'comment vous allez/ tu vas?'.

 

 

[janet strand]

I agree with somewhat with you Tinyturtle, how to say how are you to  friends "Ca va?",but I'm not sure about the working class as I still have the same respect for them as the high society. So I would treat them the same and use "Comment allez-vous?"

[KARIM BEN]

Hi Janet, I have no disrespect to the working classes. But to avoid being misunderstood, I say 'less educated French'. 'ça va'?' wouldn't offend a a factory worker but would surely please him.

[Tinyturtle]

Hi Friends,

So,  if we meet a person for the first time, I think we should use "Comment allez-vous". We keep thing in a polite way

When we get closer, we should use "comment ca va" or "ca va". By this way, people might feel more comfortable and friendly

[Jean Grage]

@Tinyturtle Yes that's good :) ! If you're close enough you can use : " comment tu vas ? " too. That's equivalent to comment ça va.