It’s the holiday season, so in this post we’ll be talking all about French New Year’s festivities. We’ll look at how we refer to this holiday, we’ll see how the French tend to celebrate, we’ll explore the typical foods and drinks we enjoy together, and of course we’ll learn how to say Happy New Year in French!

The New Year in France is just one part of a whole festive season. We covered many of our other expressions in our related post on how to wish happy holidays in French. For now, let’s get started on our post about how we celebrate the New Year in France!

What is New Year’s Eve called in French?

First of all, let’s get our names straight. We’re talking about a two-day stretch of time here, starting on the 31st of December (which you call New Year’s Eve), culminating at midnight (Happy New Year!), and extending to the 1st of January (New Year’s Day).

In French, we refer to the day of December 31st as le Saint-Sylvestre. This name harks back to a time when every day of the year was attributed to a saint, and this was Saint Sylvester’s Day. (In English cultures, it seems you’re only aware of Saint Valentine’s Day and Saint Patrick’s Day.) To this day, it remains common in France to make plans for le Saint-Sylvestre. Alternatively, we can just refer to the date as le 31 décembre.

• Qu’est-ce que vous faîtes pour le Saint-Sylvestre? / Nous joignons les amis chez Coline. – What are you doing for New Year’s? We’re joining friends at Coline’s place.

New Year’s Day is known as le jour de l’an, which translates directly into English as the day of the year. Of course we can also just refer to the day as le premier janvier, though this is about as uncommon as calling it the first of January in English.

• Je passe le Saint-Sylvestre avec ma copine, mais je vais toujours visiter mes parents au jour de l’an. – I’m spending New Year’s Eve with my girlfriend, but I always go to visit my parents on New Year’s Day.

But what about a better translation for New Year’s Eve in French? Well, we indeed just call it la veille du jour de l’an sometimes, which translates simply as the day before new year’s day. In this case we’re talking about the day, not the approach to midnight.

• Je dois toujours travailler la veille du jour de l’an, mais mon patron nous laisse partir tôt. – I always have to work on New Year’s Eve, but my boss lets us leave early.

The new year in French translates directly as le nouvel an. If you’re making plans for where to be at midnight on the 31st, you can use le nouvel an.

• Vous serez où pour le nouvel an ? / Nous serons chez Coline. Elle fait une petite soirée. – Where will you be for the new year? / We’ll be at Coline’s. She’s throwing a little get together.

In general terms, we can say au nouvel an just as you do in English for talking about an indeterminate stretch of time in the new year.

• Le proprio nous a promis qu’il aille repeindre notre appart au nouvel an. – The landlord promised us that he’d repaint our apartment in the new year.

But we still haven’t been explicit on that crucial moment of this holiday, which we celebrate at exactly midnight. French is just like English here, in that we just say the time too: minuit.

• Pour le repas du nouvel an nous étions six autour de la table en début de soirée, mais on était au moins douze à minuit. – For the new year’s dinner at the start of the evening there were six of us at the table, but we were at least twelve people at midnight.

How do you say Happy New Year! in French?

To wish someone Happy New Year! in French, we just say Bonne année!.

This is what you’ll say at midnight to the people you’re celebrating with, and this is what you’ll say when see a friend again for the first time in January. It’s also what you’ll tell people in last week or so of December if you don’t think you’ll see each other again before January. At this time of year, it’s the main choice of farewell between customers and clients in shops!

Even before midnight, bonne année is the initial greeting friends tell each other when they gather on New Year’s Eve. And what happens when the clock strikes twelve? Yes, there may be a countdown to midnight, but it’s in these first moments of the new year that the gathered friends and family all make the rounds to wish each other Bonne année!. Whoever you’re celebrating with, this is the moment to give bisous (the simultaneous kisses on each cheek) to each and every person in your party. Since it’s a momentous occasion, it’s even the norm that men give each other the bisous to mark the new year.

After reading the previous section, you might be wondering why we say bonne année in French rather than bon nouvel an. This comes down to the subtle difference between the two words for year in French: an vs année. Un an is really a unit of time, referring to one year. It’s the word we use to describe our age, or a specific year like l’an 2000.

Une année, on the other hand, is more of a conceptual perspective of the year. It doesn’t refer to a specific stretch of 365 days, but rather to the time period that roughly coincides with our planet orbiting the sun. We use année to talk about what we’re doing this year or what happened that year.

If your friend is having a few people over for New Year’s Eve and you want to wish them a nice gathering that evening, perhaps you could say bon nouvel an. Nobody really says that though. When we want to wish someone the best for the coming year, we wish them une bonne année!

Finally, the English expression for Happy New Year is generally understood in France too. It’s rarely said out loud, but even in France, Happy New Year often features prominently as part of the festive décor.

How is New Year’s celebrated in France?

New Year’s Eve in France isn’t that different from a lot of the Western world. People gather with friends and family for the approach to midnight, often at house parties. Many bars and nightclubs throw New Year’s events, although some also choose to close entirely so their staff can celebrate with their friends instead. Many cities and towns also organize official events in central squares. Expect upbeat music and dancing.

Midnight may then be the start of the real party for the rest of the night, since now is the time to celebrate le nouvel an together! Official city events might have fireworks (though nowhere near as readily as on Bastille Day), while nightclubs will probably get the dance floor going even more. Bars can’t stay open as late as nightclubs, but they definitely remain festive post-midnight! And of course house parties could go either way depending on the inclinations of the hosts and the guests, but don’t expect to call it a night anytime soon.

If you’re attending a gathering with a handful of other people who you’ll be meeting for the first time, check out our other beginner posts for basic introductions, how to say nice to meet you, and various options for hello and goodbye.

New Year’s Day in France is a national holiday. Obviously, this gives people plenty of flexibility on just how much they want to celebrate on the 31st! But are there other New Year’s traditions in France for January 1st? In fact, since the party night is frequently shared among friends, New Year’s Day is traditionally for family. It’s a day to pay your parents or grandparents a visit, or to give them a call if they don’t live close by. New Year’s Day in France is an opportune moment of reflection to wish loved ones all the best for the year ahead.

What’s the traditional food and drink for New Year’s in France?

You may just be thinking of Champagne, and you’re partially correct in this detail. Yes, it’s common enough for French people to mark the new year with a round of sparkling wine. But believe it or not, this is much less common than in the US and Canada, for example, where it’s almost obligatory.

Instead, just expect some assortment of alcoholic beverages to be part of the festivities as the evening progresses. Red wine is definitely more common than Champagne, while cider, punch, spiced rum, and local craft beer are also clear favorites. A non-alcoholic apple cider called Champomy is a staple for the kids. For a fun assortment of toasts, check out our post on how to say cheers in French!

And what’s the traditional New Year’s food in France? It’s foie gras! This is a rich goose-liver pâté that’s extremely popular throughout the holiday season. Many French people eat more foie gras in the last week or two of December than they do in the entire rest of the year!

Other than foie gras, a couple of other dishes stand out as popular options: raclette and tartiflette. These certainly aren’t reserved for New Year’s, but they’re common enough since they’re both cold-weather comfort foods.

Raclette is a melted cheese meal prepared on a special grill in the middle of the table, with cured meats, potatoes, and other vegetables grilled up at the same time. It’s a great option among friends for the communal aspect of its preparation and the patience it involves to melt each perfect bite of cheese.

Tartiflette is a cheesy casserole dish. It’s composed of sliced potatoes prepared with onions and ham and steeped in white wine, that are then baked with a specific type of cheese called Reblochon. The Reblochon melts through the potato-onion mix, and also creates a crunchy golden crust on top of the tartiflette. It’s a very rich meal, and can be enjoyed just as well as leftovers the next day!

Conclusion: French New Year’s

In today’s festive post we looked at how we celebrate the new year in France. We started with definitions, noting that New Year’s Eve in French is known as le Saint-Sylvestre, and that the new year is translated as le nouvel an.

Then came our exclamation of Happy New Year! in French, which we always say as Bonne année!. We learned that at midnight, we all give each other the friendly kisses on both cheeks called les bisous.

We saw that while we definitely enjoy our alcoholic beverages throughout the night of the 31st, Champagne isn’t as ubiquitous as in the US and Canada. Foie gras, on the other hand, is extremely common over the holiday period, while tartiflette and raclette are also both very popular meal options.

Of course this doesn’t cover everything, but if you’re celebrating the French New Year then you’re bound to encounter many of the traditions we’ve laid out here.

Nous vous souhaitons donc un bon nouvel an, et surtout une bonne année! – So we wish you a good New Year’s Eve evening, and especially a Happy New Year!