soins de santé
/swɛ̃ d(ə) sɑ̃.te/
In French, healthcare is soins de santé.
soins de santé is used to describe the organized provision of medical services intended to maintain or improve people's health. While soins de santé focuses on the actual provision of services, the word santé on its own refers specifically to the state of being healthy.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is a combination of soins (care or attention), de (of) and santé (health), literally meaning "care of health".
Which one should you use?
Depending on your context, different terms may be more appropriate. soins de santé refers to the provision of medical services, whereas le système de santé is the more common way to refer to the healthcare sector when discussing topics like government policy. To imply the much wider concept of healthcare, you can also use la médecine. Additionally, services de santé can be used as a formal way to translate "health services".
How does it change in a sentence?
When referring to healthcare services, the word soins is almost always used in its plural form.
How do you pronounce it?
/swɛ̃ d(ə) sɑ̃.te/
Did you know?
- While soins de santé is the general term, the French state uses the specific term Sécurité sociale (or la Sécu) to refer to the national healthcare funding system.
- The word santé comes from the Latin sānitātem, which is the root of the English word 'sanity'.
- The word soins used in this phrase comes from the verb soigner, which is used not just for treating patients but also for 'taking great care' of a task or detail.
Examples in context
- En l'an 2000, le système de santé français avait été choisi par l'OMS comme le plus performant en termes de dispensation et d'organisation des soins de santé.In the year 2000, the French health system had been selected by the WHO as the best performing in terms of dispensing and organizing healthcare.This sentence shows how soins de santé can be used when discussing the performance and organization of a national health system.Tatoeba #412643 by Scott, translation #425059 by Scott
- J'ai besoin de soins de santé professionnels.I need professional healthcare.
- Le pays investit beaucoup dans les soins de santé.The country invests a lot in healthcare.
- Nous devons améliorer les soins de santé pour tous.We must improve healthcare for everyone.
Example conversation
Chloé and Nathan are discussing a news article about social policies.
- ChloéEst-ce que tu as lu cet article sur les soins de santé ?Did you read this article about healthcare?
- NathanOui, c'est un sujet très important pour nous.Yes, it is a very important subject for us.
- ChloéNathan, penses-tu que le budget est suffisant ?Nathan, do you think the budget is sufficient?
- NathanJe ne suis pas certain, c'est un problème complexe.I am not sure, it is a complex problem.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry soins de santé, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, santé, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
