bonne nuit
/bɔn nɥi/
The English phrase "good night" is translated into French as bonne nuit.
Bonne nuit is used specifically as a farewell or a wish for a good sleep, not as a general greeting for the evening.
Meaning: a farewell (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the feminine adjective bonne (good) and the feminine noun nuit (night).
Which one should you use?
Use bonsoir as a greeting when arriving somewhere in the evening, but use bonne nuit only when someone is actually going to sleep or leaving for the night.
How do you pronounce it?
/bɔn nɥi/
Did you know?
- The word nuit is used in the French idiom une nuit blanche, which literally means 'a white night'. This refers to staying awake all night, rather than sleeping.
- In a romantic context, a French speaker might avoid bonne nuit and instead use fais de beaux rêves, which means 'have beautiful dreams'.
- The French word for 'nightmare' is cauchemar, which stems from the Old French caucher meaning 'to press'. This describes the feeling of being weighed down during a bad night, rather than just a 'bad dream'.
Examples in context
- Bonne nuit à tous !Good night, everyone!Tatoeba #1226174 by sacredceltic, translation #1082672 by MUIRIEL
- J'ai dit bonne nuit.I said good night.Tatoeba #7284178 by Rockaround, translation #2405824 by CK
- Bonne nuit, ma chère.Good night, my love.Tatoeba #5859110 by dufromage, translation #5857232 by OsoHombre
- 45 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Chloé and Nathan are leaving a dinner party.
- ChloéOn y va, bonne nuit tout le monde !Let's go, good night everyone!
- NathanBonne nuit Chloé, à demain.Good night Chloé, see you tomorrow.
- ChloéÀ demain, Nathan.See you tomorrow, Nathan.
- NathanSalut !Bye!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “good night” translations and entries bonne nuit, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
