hospitalité
/ɔs.pi.ta.li.te/feminine
The French word for hospitality is hospitalité.
hospitalité is a noun used to describe the act or service of welcoming, receiving, hosting or entertaining guests.
Meaning: act or service of welcoming, receiving, hosting, or entertaining guests (noun)
Which one should you use?
While hospitalité refers to the abstract concept or the act of being a host, the word accueil is more commonly used in everyday French to mean the welcome or the reception of a guest.
How does it change in a sentence?
hospitalité is a feminine noun. When using the definite article to say the hospitality, use l'hospitalité. In formal or plural contexts, you can express thanks for hospitality using the preposition pour or de followed by votre hospitalité.
How do you pronounce it?
/ɔs.pi.ta.li.te/. The word has 5 syllables.
Did you know?
- Because hospitalité was borrowed directly from Latin as a 'learned word', it kept the 's' sound, unlike the word hôpital where the 's' became a circumflex accent over the 'o'.
- Even though hospitalité sounds very similar to the English 'hospitality', using it to describe a friendly welcome in a casual café might sound overly poetic or grand to a native speaker.
- In French, the adjective hospitalier (hospitable) can describe both a person's warm character and the specific qualities of a physical space or environment.
Examples in context
- Merci pour ton hospitalité.Thanks for your hospitality.This sentence is useful for thanking someone using the informal 'your' (ton).Tatoeba #573050 by sacredceltic, translation #462524 by lukaszpp
- Merci de votre hospitalité.I appreciate the hospitality.This sentence is useful for expressing appreciation using the formal 'your' (votre).Tatoeba #1131287 by sysko, translation #1933618 by CK
- Merci pour votre hospitalité.Thank you for your hospitality.This sentence is useful for thanking someone using the formal 'your' (votre).Tatoeba #573048 by sacredceltic, translation #2642745 by CK
- 16 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Hugo are leaving a dinner party at a friend's house.
- LéaHugo, leur hospitalité était incroyable.Hugo, their hospitality was incredible.
- HugoOui, ils nous ont très bien reçus.Yes, they welcomed us very well.
- LéaOn devrait les remercier demain.We should thank them tomorrow.
- HugoC'est une excellente idée, Léa.That's an excellent idea, Léa.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hospitality” translations and entries hospitalité, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries hospitalité, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
