Thanks so much Lucky. Or merci.

never use adieu, adieu means to god litterally, so it means you wont see the person again, and sometimes it's when you break with boyfriend/girlfriend, or you dont want to see someone again, or when you suicide.

Literally translated:

Adieu: To God.

Au revoir: Until seen again.

Take the time to learn au revoir. The only time I've ever used adieu (and I've spoken French for 25 years) is when one of my teachers was dying of liver cancer and we went to see him in the hospital.

Oh My Gosh! This is getting morbid...however, I had no idea there was much of a difference, so thanks for asking Riesi and thanks everyone else for clearing it up! Can't wait to check out Alain. Going to Italy in May and trying to cram Italian and I've been ignoring the French but we're adding a few days in our favorite city of Paris, so I need to brush up on the rudimentary phrases at least to be polite!

Riesi,

In my adult night school my French teacher said that adieu is old fashioned and not used any more. Of course I failed the course, so I could be wrong..... kidding........

Maybe if you skip trying to say the "re" in revoir you will get closer.

Bea

merci' beaucoup Luckyluc.

Chere Madame Bea,

Please forgive the length of this post, and my poor attempt in using Shakespeare���s language, Moliere is more my cup of tea.

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Your French teacher is absolutely right using Adieu is very old fashion. So are Alex and Musketeer when they wrote that Adieu is almost never use, in vernacular speaking. On the stage, in the movies, or as we say in French pour faire de l���esprit (to be witty) Adieu is still understood and used. But in regular daily life it is not at all used. The usage of a specific word have to be understood in it context.

Language is an abstract concept; it is not a fashion show! I am old fashion and I am rather proud of that. You might even find theses days some people thinking of G*d as an old fashion concept.

Even thought English is the clearest of language (that is why, in my opinion, is it so powerful) French have more nuances that are easily misunderstood by foreigners.

It is very a propos that this question was asked this week. This is the only week during which I find myself using Adieu a few times. When the graduates students leave university and enter the working world, I put some time aside to wishes them farewell. With most of them, we finished the conversation with Au revoir. For the exceptionally good one, the ones that have the greatest hopes I finished with Au revoir but my heart is recommending them to Him so I think Adieu. Hope this help.

So you don't say the "re" in au revoir? That's something I've been wondering about....

canuck yes you say the re in au revoir, au voir doesn't mean anything, it doesn't exist. voir means to see.