It's often the case in French that you'll find several words that mean basically the same thing, and it's not always easy to know which one is appropriate. Our new mini series looks at some of the most common word pairs, and sorts out which should be used and when.
Why do I need to know the difference between bonjour and salut?
Because both are greetings, but one is a bit more casual than the other.
What is the difference?
Bonjour - roughly pronounced bohn-jor - is the one French word known across the world, even to people who do not speak the language. It's often described as the most important word in the entire French language.
Salut - roughly pronounced sah-loot - may not have been taught in your French class, but it is also a greeting.
Salut is often translated as 'hi', but really it's more informal than that - it's probably more similar to 'hey' and it's very much a greeting to be used among friends, colleagues or people you know well.
While in the anglophone world it would be perfectly acceptable to greet a server or shop assistant with 'hi', in French Salut would be a bit too informal, so you should stick to bonjour.
You could start a casual email with 'bonjour' but you would be unlikely to start an email or formal correspondence with 'salut'. That being said, you could use it to start a text message conversation.
If you're not sure which is appropriate, it's probably best to stick to bonjour unless you know the person well.
Salut also has a super-power - it doubles as an informal goodbye, unlike bonjour which can only be used for ‘hello’.
Examples
Salut Clara, je suis en bas. Tu peux me laisser entrer? - Hi Clara, I'm downstairs. Can you let me in?
Bonjour Monsieur, vous pouvez me laisser votre manteau - Hello sir, you can leave your coat with me.
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