salutations de
salutations de is the French way to say "greetings from".
This phrase is used at the beginning of a letter or postcard to send good wishes from a specific location. It is typically followed by the name of a country, city or region to indicate where the sender is writing from.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of salutations (greetings/salutations) and de (from).
Which one should you use?
You may also use Salutations de la part de for a formal tone or Salut de la part de and Bonjour de la part de for informal situations.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
salutations de is quite formal and is more commonly found in written correspondence like postcards or letters than in spoken conversation. For even more formal written correspondence, use Salutations de la part de. In informal settings, use Salut de la part de or Bonjour de la part de.
Did you know?
- Unlike in English where 'Greetings from…' is a very common postcard opening, a French person writing a postcard might often skip the 'greetings' part entirely and simply write 'Petit coucou de…' which translates to a much more playful 'A little wave from…'.
- The word salutations shares its linguistic DNA with the English word 'salute', both descending from the Latin 'salutare' which means 'to wish health'.
- In French correspondence, the phrase de la part de implies that the greetings are being sent 'on behalf of' specific people rather than just originating from a location.
Examples in context
- Salutations de France !Greetings from France!This example shows how to use salutations de to send greetings from a country.Tatoeba #10896651 by felix63, translation #1151808 by Quazel
- Salutations de Paris !Greetings from Paris!
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucas and Manon are looking at a postcard.
- LucasRegarde cette carte, salutations de Lyon !Look at this card, greetings from Lyon!
- ManonC'est super ! Qui l'a envoyée ?That's great! Who sent it?
- LucasC'est mon cousin qui habite là-bas.It's my cousin who lives there.
- ManonC'est très gentil de sa part.That's very kind of him.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
