à bientôt
/a bjɛ̃.to/
The French phrase for "see you soon" is à bientôt.
à bientôt can also simply mean "soon".
Meaning: goodbye (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the preposition à (to/at) and the adverb bientôt (soon).
Which one should you use?
Use à tout à l'heure instead of à bientôt if you know for certain you will see the person again later on the same day. For a casual way to say "see you later", you can use À plus tard.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Quebec, Canada, the expression À tantôt is a popular way to say see you soon.
How do you pronounce it?
/a bjɛ̃.to/
Did you know?
- In France, à bientôt is often shortened to à plus in casual speech, which is sometimes written as A+ in texts and emails.
- French has a specific phrase à tout de suite for when you will see someone in a matter of seconds or minutes, which is even more immediate than à tout à l'heure.
- The preposition à in this phrase evolved from two different Latin sources, ad and 'ab', which merged into one single French word.
Examples in context
- Bonne route et à bientôt !Have a safe trip and see you soon!This example shows how to wish someone a safe trip while using à bientôt.Tatoeba #8098816 by felix63, translation #13815928 by tieguy
- À bientôt !See you soon!This is a simple way to say à bientôt.Tatoeba #337862 by sysko, translation #32672 by CK
- À bientôt donc.See you soon then.This shows how to use à bientôt when adding the word "then" to the end of the phrase.Tatoeba #9126765 by manuchko, translation #8472260 by shekitten
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Nathan and Emma are leaving a cafe together.
- NathanIl est tard, je rentre.It is late, I am going home.
- EmmaD'accord, à bientôt Nathan !Okay, see you soon Nathan!
- NathanÀ bientôt Emma, bonne soirée.See you soon Emma, have a good evening.
- EmmaMerci, toi aussi !Thank you, you too!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “see you soon” translations and entries à bientôt, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bientôt, à, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
