Informal French Expression
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| Meaning | what’s new? | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation |  | [kwa d(eu) neuf] |
| IPA | [kwa də nÅ“f | |
Usage notes: Instead of asking "how are you?" all the time, change things up and ask "what’s new?" with the informal French expression quoi de neuf ?
Par exemple…
| – Salut Pauline ! Quoi de neuf ? – Je viens d’acheter une voiture. Et toi ? | – Hi Pauline! What’s new? – I just bought a car. How about you? | |
| – Bonjour Fréde, quoi de neuf ? – Bof, je vais au travail. Et toi, ça va ? | – Hello Fréde, what’s new? – Ugh, I’m on my way to work. How are you? | |
| – Tiens, Étienne, quoi de neuf chez toi ? – Rien de nouveau. | – Hey, Étienne, what’s new with you? – Nothing. |
Variations
- Koi29 (texting abbreviation)
- Quoi de neuf chez toi ?
- Quoi de neuf de ton côté ?
- Quoi de neuf (Ã Paris, au travail, avec le
bébé …) ? - Quoi de neuf, Å“uf ?
- Quoi de nouveau ?
Reponses
If you don’t have any news to share, you have a variety of responses to choose from.
- Rien de nouveau – literally, "Nothing’s new"
- Rien d’exceptionnel – "Nothing out of the ordinary"
- Rien de sp̩cial, (la routine habituelle) Р"Nothing special, (the usual routine)"
- Rien du tout – "Nothing at all"
- Bah, rien ! – "Ah, nothing!"
- Pas grand-chose – "Nothing much"
- (Rien) que du vieux – "Only old stuff"
- (Rien) tout est vieux – "Everything is old"
- Qu̩bec: Rien de neuf, juste du vieux Р"Nothing new, just old"
Return Questions
In return, you can ask et toi ? ("and you?"), possibly followed by one of the above variations, or else something like
- Ça va ? – "How’s it going?"
- Qu’est-ce que tu racontes de beau ? – "What nice thing do you have to say?"
- Tu racontes quoi ? – "What do you have to say?"
In the News
Quoi de neuf can also be used as a headline; for example,
- Quoi de neuf cette année ?
- Quoi de neuf en Europe ?
- Quoi de neuf en recherche ?
- Quoi de neuf pour la retraite ?
etc.
Quoi de neuf, docteur ?
This is the French equivalent of Bugs Bunny’s classic line “What’s up, doc?” as well as the title of the French-dubbed version of the American TV series Growing Pains.
Related features
- Expressions with neuf
- Greetings
- How are you? Fine.
- Listening: De l’importance de dire « bonjour »
- News vocabulary
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I love using this phrase in my French classes