prendre soin de soi
To say self-care in French, use prendre soin de soi, which means taking care of oneself. If unsure, use prendre soin de soi. Wiktionary also lists autogestion de la santé and autosoins.
Meaning: care given to oneself (noun)
Ways to say it
| French |
|---|
| prendre soin de soi |
| autogestion de la santé |
| autosoins |
prendre soin de soi is the natural way to talk about looking after your own body and mind, and it is what most people say in everyday conversation and wellbeing articles.
What does it mean word for word?
prendre soin means to take care, and de soi means of oneself.
Which one should you use?
autosoins is a noun used mainly in health and medical writing for care that patients give themselves. autogestion de la santé means managing your own health and is a more technical term.
How does it change in a sentence?
prendre soin de soi is a verb phrase. To speak about a specific person, conjugate prendre and change soi to the matching pronoun.
Did you know?
- The term autogestion used in autogestion de la santé is also used in French political and social history to describe 'self-management' or workers' cooperatives running a business without a boss.
- The word soin actually shares an ancient root with the concept of 'truth'. Its Germanic ancestors related to 'being' or 'truth', implying that 'care' is a responsibility stemming from what is real or certain.
- In French, the reflexive pronoun soi is used in prendre soin de soi to create a general rule. If a French speaker says je prends soin de moi, they are talking about their own routine, but soi refers to the universal human act of self-care.
Examples in context
- Il est important de prendre soin de soi.It is important to take care of oneself.
- Prendre soin de soi demande du temps.Taking care of oneself requires time.
Example conversation
Lucas and Manon are talking about their stressful work weeks.
- LucasJe suis vraiment épuisé par ce travail.I am really exhausted by this work.
- ManonTu devrais prendre soin de soi ce week-end.You should practice some self-care this weekend.
- LucasC'est vrai, j'ai besoin de me reposer.That's true, I need to rest.
- ManonUn bon bain et un livre feront du bien.A good bath and a book will do you good.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “self-care” translations and entries autosoins, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries autogestion, autosoins, de, la, prendre, santé, soi, soin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
