French phrases for the Riviera: what I actually use

I did not learn French for this coast. I learned it because after a few trips to Nice, I got tired of pointing at things. The French Riviera is easy to visit in English — reception desks, museum tickets, most restaurant staff in the tourist centres all switch languages without blinking. But French is the only official language here, in Nice, in Cannes, and yes, in Monaco too, and there is a real difference in how a day goes depending on whether you open with “hello” or “bonjour.”

Why French, everywhere, including Monaco

Monaco is a sovereign state, not a French department, but its official language has always been French, and it shares the same daily vocabulary as its neighbour. Nice itself only became French in 1860, under the Treaty of Turin, after belonging to the states of the House of Savoy; Menton and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin followed in 1861. That relatively recent history left behind Nissart, the local Occitan dialect, which still shows up in place names, market chatter, and a few dishes on the menu. None of that changes the practical answer: whether you are buying socca on the Cours Saleya, taking a taxi from Nice Côte d’Azur airport, or asking for directions in the back streets of Vieux-Nice, you are functioning in French. A handful of well-chosen phrases does more for a trip here than hours on a language app, because you use the same dozen or so exchanges over and over.

The phrases that actually get used

I am not going to give you a phrasebook. Most of what I carry fits on an index card, and I use maybe fifteen expressions on repeat for a week on the coast.

Greetings and politeness. Bonjour (hello, before evening), bonsoir (good evening), au revoir (goodbye), s’il vous plaît (please), merci (thank you), excusez-moi (excuse me). Walking into a bakery, a shop or a taxi without a bonjour first reads as abrupt here, more than it would in many other countries — it is the single habit that changes how staff treat you, in Nice, in the villages, and at the Nice airport taxi rank alike.

Ordering food. Je voudrais… (I would like), l’addition, s’il vous plaît (the bill, please), c’est pour emporter (it’s to take away, useful for socca from a Vieux-Nice stall). If you want to sound like you know the Nice food scene, ask for une socca at a Cours Saleya stand, or un pan bagnat — a stuffed sandwich, not a salad — rather than pointing.

Reading a Niçois menu. A few words save real confusion. Petits farcis are stuffed vegetables (courgette, tomato, onion), not a starter salad. Tourte de blettes is a savoury-and-sometimes-sweet chard tart, an actual Niçois specialty, not a mistranslation. And salade niçoise has a real, debated recipe — tuna, olives, anchovies, no cooked vegetables in the traditional version — so knowing the name at least tells you what you are getting into when a menu lists it differently from what you expected.

Finding your way in Vieux-Nice. Où est…? (where is…?), c’est loin? (is it far?), à droite / à gauche (right / left), tout droit (straight ahead). The old town is a genuine maze of narrow lanes, and locals giving directions will usually speak French first regardless of how touristy the street looks — asking back in French, even badly, gets you a slower, clearer answer.

Numbers and money. Knowing your numbers up to about a hundred, plus combien ça coûte? (how much does it cost?), matters at market stalls where prices are sometimes only spoken, not written, especially for produce sold by weight.

Where English works fine, and where it doesn’t

I want to be honest about this rather than romantic. In Nice, on the Promenade, in Monaco around the Casino, and in the big hotels of Cannes, English is the working default and nobody expects French from a visitor. The same goes for most organised excursions and museum ticket desks. What changes is everything one step off that track: a small grocery in Vieux-Nice, a family-run restaurant away from the tourist strip, a bus driver, an older market vendor, a village shop in Èze or up in the hills behind Menton. There, a bonjour and a merci in French, even with an accent that is clearly not local, changes the tone of the whole interaction. It is not about fluency. Locals here deal with a huge volume of foreign visitors every summer, and what they respond to is the small courtesy of trying, not the grammar.

It also matters for avoiding friction. A few of the more common tourist missteps on this coast start with a language gap — a misunderstood price, a menu read wrong, a wrong turn taken with confidence. None of that requires real French to fix, just enough vocabulary to ask a clarifying question instead of guessing.

A short table, because I still forget half of this myself

Situation	French	Rough pronunciation
Greeting before evening	Bonjour	bohn-zhoor
Greeting after dark	Bonsoir	bohn-swahr
Thank you	Merci	mair-see
Please	S’il vous plaît	seel voo pleh
I would like…	Je voudrais…	zhuh voo-dreh
The bill, please	L’addition, s’il vous plaît	lah-dee-syon seel voo pleh
Where is…?	Où est…?	oo eh
How much is it?	Combien ça coûte?	kom-byan sah koot
To take away	À emporter	ah ahm-por-teh
Excuse me	Excusez-moi	ex-koo-zay mwah

I keep coming back to the same conclusion after every trip: the payoff on this coast is not in mastering French, it is in the first three words of every exchange. If you want a broader sense of the coast beyond the phrasebook, our first-time visitor guide to Nice and the museums and attractions guide cover the rest of what to expect, including tipping habits, which follow their own local logic separate from language.

If you’d rather have a guide handle the talking for a day, a full day tour across the French Riviera from Nice or a private half-day tour along the coast takes that pressure off, and a boat trip with swimming and snorkelling from Nice is one of the few Riviera experiences where you barely need a word of French at all.

French phrases for the Riviera: common questions

Do I need to speak French to visit Nice and the Riviera?

No. English works in hotels, most restaurants in tourist areas, and on organised tours. A short list of French phrases still improves daily interactions, especially away from the main sights.

Is French spoken in Monaco too?

Yes. Monaco is a sovereign state, not part of France, but French is its official language and the vocabulary used day to day matches what you’ll hear in Nice and along the rest of the coast.

What does “Nissart” mean and will I hear it?

Nissart is the historic Niçois dialect, related to Occitan, from the centuries before Nice became French in 1860. You’ll see it on some street signs and in dish names more than hear it spoken as a daily language today.

What is the single most useful French word on this coast?

Bonjour. Opening any interaction with it, from a bakery to a taxi at Nice airport, changes the tone of the whole exchange more than any other phrase.

Is it rude to speak English first in a shop or restaurant?

It’s not considered rude, but it’s noticed. Staff generally respond more warmly to a French greeting first, even a simple one, before switching to English if needed.

What should I know before ordering at a market like Cours Saleya?

Prices for produce are sometimes only spoken aloud, not displayed, so knowing numbers and “combien ça coûte?” helps avoid confusion, particularly with items sold by weight.

Are petits farcis and tourte de blettes hard to find on menus?

They’re genuine Niçois specialties rather than obscure dishes, but knowing the names helps you recognise them on a menu instead of mistaking them for something else, since they don’t translate literally.

Does speaking French help avoid common tourist mistakes here?

It helps with the ones caused by misunderstanding, such as a misread price or a wrong direction. It won’t prevent every issue, but a few clarifying questions in French go a long way.