10 Ways of Wishing Merry Christmas in French & Audio Pronunciation

It’s Christmas time and you’d like to wish a merry Christmas to your French friends. That’s a great idea!

Here are several ways to wish someone a merry Christmas in French as well as examples of French Season’s Greetings. I’ve recorded everything for you, just press play where you see 🎧 or the audio player.

Let’s start by the most common way to say merry Christmas in French.

1 – How To Say Merry Christmas in French

The most common way of wishing merry Christmas in French is to say “joyeux Noël !”. And it’s enough, you don’t have to add anything to it. Just like you could say “Merry Christmas in English and leave it at that.

Or you could also make more complex sentences. So you could say:

1. Je vous souhaite un joyeux Noël – I wish you a merry Christmas (talking to several people or one person you are being formal to – see tu vs vous in French)
2. Je te souhaite un joyeux Noël – I wish you a merry Christmas (talking to one person you are being informal to).

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2 – How To Say Happy Holidays in French

Another popular greeting in this period of the year is to wish someone happy holidays. Happy holidays in French would be “joyeuses fêtes”. You could add “de fin d’année” to stipulate it’s the ‘end of year’ holidays, but it’s not necessary.

So you could say:

1. Joyeuses fêtes – Happy Holidays
2. Joyeuses fêtes de fin d’année – Happy Holidays
3. Je vous souhaite de joyeuses fêtes – Je te souhaite de joyeuses fêtes – happy holidays.

You could also say “bonnes fêtes”, “excellentes fêtes”…

3 – How to Say Season’s Greetings in French

To say Season’s Greetings in French we say “meilleurs voeux”. This can be used alone, or applied to a particular event.

1. Meilleurs voeux – Season’s Greetings
2. Meilleurs voeux pour les fêtes – Greetings for the Holidays
3. Meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle année – Greetings for the new year

Now let’s get creative: here are ten Season’s Greetings you could send to your French friends. Please press play on the audio player to hear my recordings of these French Season’s greetings.

1. Meilleurs voeux pour un joyeux Noël plein de joie et une nouvelle année remplie de bonheur.
   Best wishes for a merry Christmas full of joy and a new year full of happiness.
2. Joyeux Noël à toi et à tes proches !
   Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
3. Que la paix et la joie de Noël vivent en vos coeurs pendant toute l’année.
   May the peace and happiness of Christmas live in your hearts all year long.
4. Passez de très heureuses fêtes mes chers amis !
   I hope you enjoy a great holiday season my dear friends!
5. Je te souhaite d’excellentes fêtes de Noël au sein de ta famille. J’espère que tu auras plein de cadeaux et que tu profiteras bien du repas, du champagne, et de tes proches !
   I’m wishing you an excellent Christmas time with your family. I hope you’ll receive plenty of gifts and that you’ll enjoy the Christmas meal, Champagne and your loved ones!
6. Que la magie de Noël vous apporte joie et bonheur.
   May the magic of Christmas bring you joy and happiness
7. Profitez de la magie spéciale des Fêtes.
   Enjoy the special magic of the Holidays.
8. Pour Noël, nous vous souhaitons beaucoup de cadeaux sous le sapin…
   et beaucoup d’amour dans votre coeur.
   For Christmas, we wish you many presents under the Christmas tree… and lots of love in your heart.
9. En ces fêtes de fin d’année, nous vous souhaitons de tout cœur, que vos vœux deviennent réalité.
   During this holiday season, we wish with all our heart that your wish may come true.
10. (Olivier, Leyla et moi) nous vous souhaitons un excellent Noël et de très bonnes fêtes de fin d’année.
    (Olivier, Leyla and I) we wish you a merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I’ve written many articles about Christmas, including a French Christmas Dialogue with audio and English translation.

Finally, let me extend my Season’s greetings to you in this video.

Joyeuses fêtes de fin d’année à tous !