What Is The Meaning Of The French Phrase 'Tout de Suite'?

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Osbourne Ruddock Profile

In French, 'Tout de suite'  is a colloquial term used to mean 'right away' or 'immediately'.

Pronunciation and Use

'Tout de suite' is pronounced 'toot sweet' - the phrase is normally said quite quickly, and compresses into two syllables. The distinction between a "d" and "t" is usually neutralised before an "s", hence the confusion. Consequently, 'tout de suite' is often mispelled as 'toute suite.'

'Tout de suite' is widely used in France and is the equivalent of us saying 'come on', 'hurry up', or 'right now' in English.

Other Useful French Terms

Maintenant [man-ten-no(n)] = Now (also pronounced mant-no(n) depending on formality, speed of speech and region. The 'n' at the end of the word is pronounced very softly.)

Bientôt [bee-en-toe] = Soon

Translation Dictionaries and Phrasebooks

French phrasebooks can be quite helpful if you're looking to learn French as it's actually spoken; they often include a pronunciation guide, and things are less likely to get lost in translation. English-to-French and French-to-English dictionaries can also be useful, but it's important to remember that some things do not translate word-for-word.

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
The french person has it right...btw, the literal translation is something like "all at once".  Toute is "all" and suite is just like the english concept of suit, like a suit of cards--all of the same suit.  It's basically saying that you're hurrying so much that you're doing everything at once.
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Hello !
I read your answers, and now I give you mine :
I'm French, and I can tell you that "Hanna part dans un avenir immédiat" doesn't mean anything in French, but you can say "Hanna est entrain de partir".
And also, don't write it "toute suite", but "tout de suite". It sounds like "toute suite" because we prononciate it very fast.
So the right translation is immediately.

P.S : Sorry for my orthography, as I told you, I'm french
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
In fact it's "toute de suite", and is pronounced near enough to "too swee". It does not translate to "any continuation" at all.
Aisha Profile
Aisha answered
The English translation of the above French Phrase is as follows:
"any Continuation"
However if you want to say something like "Hanna is leaving in the immediate future" You can say it in French as
"Hanna part dans un avenir immédiat".

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Anonymous