Florent Lefortier answered
Merci means “thank you,” so you could respond with de rien, which means “you’re welcome.”
De Rien
Well, I say de rien means “you’re welcome,” but the literal translation is “of nothing,” so you’re basically telling the person who thanked you to think nothing of it.
You can’t translate “You’re welcome” word-for-word into French or you’d end up with “you’re welcome” in the visiting sense, like “you’re always welcome here” which is tu es toujours le/la bienvenu(e) ici.
Similar Words And Phrases
If you’re visiting France, you’ll probably find the following words and phrases as useful as de rien:
De Rien
Well, I say de rien means “you’re welcome,” but the literal translation is “of nothing,” so you’re basically telling the person who thanked you to think nothing of it.
You can’t translate “You’re welcome” word-for-word into French or you’d end up with “you’re welcome” in the visiting sense, like “you’re always welcome here” which is tu es toujours le/la bienvenu(e) ici.
Similar Words And Phrases
If you’re visiting France, you’ll probably find the following words and phrases as useful as de rien:
- S’il tu/vous plaît – “Please.” If you’re talking to a friend or family member, you’d use tu, but you’d want vous if you were talking to someone higher up in the food chain than you (a teacher; an elderly, distant relative; the President) or if you were talking to a stranger. Vous is also what you’d use to address more than one person.
- Merci – “Thank you”
- À bientôt – “See you soon”
- Où est… – “Where is…”
- Je suis désolé(e) – “I’m sorry”
