Joyeuses fêtes !

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Crack1 on December 31, 2009 at 11:49pm

Frank
I believe the following means something like 'see you in 2010'.

Rendez-vous en 2010 !

Please tell me if I am wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on January 1, 2010 at 12:25am

Yep! See you in 2010!

Oh wait... It's already year 2010 in my timezone...

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on January 1, 2010 at 10:46am

And if I translate the following ' Happy New year to each and everybody' OR Greetings to each and everybody' , I hope you will agree with me.

Excellentes fêtes à tous et à toutes !

I looked in vain in the dictionaries to find a proper translation for the words 'tous et à toutes'.

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Permalink Reply by Marc Vonhalmen on January 2, 2010 at 1:33am

One uses "à tous et à toutes" just to emphasize the fact that one is wishing a happy New Year to both men and women. Just as you would say "Bonjour à tous et à toutes"... or actually "Bonjour à toutes et à tous" if you're a real gentleman (Ladies first). Frank, where's your gallantry? ;-)
(just kidding)

Anyways, it has exactly the same meaning as "Excellentes fêtes à tous !".

Et à ce propos : excellente année 2010 à toutes et à tous de ma part également ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Frank on January 2, 2010 at 10:24pm

For some reason, "tous et toutes" is more frequent than "toutes et tous", even if you don't neglect gallantry :)

It more depends on the audience. If there's a blatant majority of women, "toutes et tous" is probably wiser.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on January 3, 2010 at 12:04pm

I thank both of you for the replies.

In English we say 'Ladies and Gentlemen'.
We don't say 'Gentlemen and Ladies' simply because 'Ladies first'.
So naturally we respect ladies.

Most of the time I listen to the French TV; it is TV5.
They say 'Bonjour à tous'.
So 'Bonjour à tous' includes mail, female, email, etc.
However, I am not good at grabbing each and every word when a native Frenchman speaks.
They speak very fast and as you know I have a smattering of French.
I always struggle to understand what they say and keep one of my dictionaries at hand.
Do they say 'Bonjour à tous' OR 'Bonjour tous et toutes' ?
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For me the English word 'gallantry' is a formal or rather old fashion one.
We could say gallant soldiers, for example.
However, I am not a native English speaker like Pam.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on January 3, 2010 at 1:39pm

Do they say 'Bonjour à tous' OR 'Bonjour tous et toutes' ?

Either Bonjour à tous or Bonjour à tous et à toutes

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