bonne nuit mon amour
In French, 'good night love' is expressed as bonne nuit mon amour.
The phrase is used to bid good night to a romantic partner. Other variations used for a romantic partner include bonne nuit mon cœur (good night my heart) or bonne nuit mon chéri/chérie (good night my darling).
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to 'good night my love'. The word mon (my) is a standard part of the expression in French.
Which one should you use?
Unlike in English, where you might say 'good night love' without a possessive, French almost always requires a possessive pronoun like mon before amour in this context. You can also use Dors bien mon amour to say 'sleep well, my love' or Fais de beaux rêves, mon amour to say 'have beautiful dreams, my love'.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word bonne is the feminine form of 'good' used to agree with the feminine noun nuit.
Did you know?
- While you use mon amour to mean 'my love', the word amour is masculine, meaning you cannot use the feminine 'ma' even if the person you are speaking to is a woman.
- Calling a partner mon chéri or ma chérie literally means 'my cherished one', derived from the verb chérir meaning 'to cherish'.
- The word amour is a linguistic traveler that likely owes its modern French pronunciation to influences from Old Occitan, a language spoken in Southern France.
Examples in context
- Je t'aime, bonne nuit mon amour.I love you, good night my love.
- Dors bien, bonne nuit mon amour.Sleep well, good night my love.
Example conversation
Lucas and Manon are getting ready for bed in their apartment.
- LucasTu es prête pour dormir ?Are you ready to sleep?
- ManonOui, je vais me coucher.Yes, I am going to bed.
- LucasBonne nuit mon amour.Good night, my love.
- ManonBonne nuit, Lucas.Good night, Lucas.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries amour, mon, nuit, CC BY-SA 4.0.
