# Trying to distinguish between 'bon' and 'eh bien' and their usage in French

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 7, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595 "2022-03-07T03:37:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/1 "2022-03-07T03:37:31Z")

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I’m tring to figure out which expressions the native Frech typically use to express surprise, satisfaction, disappointment and disconcertment.  
I hope someone can tell me when under which circumstances ‘eh bien’ and ‘bon’ are appropriate.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/2 "2022-03-07T03:49:02Z")

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[This spoken-French-usage website says:](https://www.commeunefrancaise.com/blog/essentials-of-spoken-french-filler-words)

> [@](#):
>
> _Bon (= “Good” / “Well”_ , with a [nasal vowel “on”](https://www.commeunefrancaise.com/blog/french-pronunciation-vowel-sounds-and-accents)) can be used as a regular adjective (as in _“un bon gâteau” = a good cake_ )… or as a filler word. Just like _“Well.”_ There’s often a meaning of _“Well, that’s enough, let’s end this conversation.”_
> 
> _Bon, on y va ? = Are we finally going to go?_  
> _Ah bon ? = Oh, really?_  
> _Ah bon. = Oh, OK._
> 
> _Eh bien_ is a very short filler expression that means : _“Well…”_
> 
> It’s rarely used, actually. But its variations are very popular. Everyday French conversation often uses “ _Bah_ ” / “ _Ben_ ” (pronounced “ _bin_ ” with nasal vowel “ _in_ ”).
> 
> These common filler words are informal, degraded pronunciations for _“eh bien.”_
> 
> For example:  
> _Bah… oui. = Well, yeah, obviously._  
> _Ben non. = Well, no._

So you might say that “bon” is like English “fine” and “eh bien” is like English “well…”

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/3 "2022-03-07T04:06:51Z")

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Thanks Kimstu. So better not use ‘eh bien’ so much. I’ll switch to bah/ben. I do hear that very often. Back to my original question, though,  
If your were to organise ‘bon’ and ‘ben’ in the following which words would you use? 1.surprise Well, this is a surprise 2.satisfaction(Well, well! How about that!) 3.disappointment(Fine! I guess I’ll have to do it!) and 4. disconcertment.(Fine! Suit yourelf!)

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/4 "2022-03-07T04:14:59Z")

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Eh, I think that’s too subtle for my non-native-speaker French comprehension. Paging @Pardel-Lux or @FrenchDunadan and/or other francophone Dopers!

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/5 "2022-03-07T04:38:31Z")

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Thanks Kimstu. To me ‘ben’ has a cynical ring to it. Perhaps ‘ben’ is more suited to 3. and 4. No sure.

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/6 "2022-03-07T14:07:52Z")

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To keep it simple, though language never is: _bon_ is _good_ (or, as you already wrote: _fine_), _eh bien_ is _ah, well…_. Picture saying _bon_ raising your thumb 👍, but _eh bien_ shrugging with the palm of your hands turned upwards.

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/7 "2022-03-07T14:11:53Z")

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Thanks Parle-Lux.

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/8 "2022-03-07T14:13:50Z")

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When I had the role of detective Pierre Duval in the 7th grade play, I recall saying “Mon Dieu!” and “Sacre bleu” to express surprise and disconcertment.\*

Times may have changed though.

\*I really wanted to say “Merde!” or at least “La vache!”, but the spoilsport director wouldn’t go for it.

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/9 "2022-03-07T14:15:07Z")

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I like the way you wrote my name in this thread 😆

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/10 "2022-03-07T15:21:21Z")

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I just saw that Pardel-Lux. Parle-Lux sounds good too!

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**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/11 "2022-03-08T18:37:52Z")

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> [@Octagon](#):
>
> Thanks Kimstu. So better not use ‘eh bien’ so much. I’ll switch to bah/ben. I do hear that very often. Back to my original question, though,  
> If your were to organise ‘bon’ and ‘ben’ in the following which words would you use? 1.surprise Well, this is a surprise 2.satisfaction(Well, well! How about that!) 3.disappointment(Fine! I guess I’ll have to do it!) and 4. disconcertment.(Fine! Suit yourelf!)

for surprise: Et bien ! Ben çà alors !  
for satisfaction: Bon ! Bien !  
for disappointment: bon/ben followed by “Tant pis”  
for disconcertment : bon followed by “fais comme tu veux”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/12 "2022-03-08T23:12:48Z")

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Thanks FrenchDunadan. Surprisingly few uses of ‘Ben’ in that list. I would have expected more.

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/13 "2022-03-09T08:03:21Z")

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> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> When I had the role of detective Pierre Duval in the 7th grade play, I recall saying “Mon Dieu!” and “Sacre bleu” to express surprise and disconcertment.\*

You should have tried “Zut alors!” and “Saperlipopette!”

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**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-distinguish-between-bon-and-eh-bien-and-their-usage-in-french/960595/14 "2022-03-09T14:12:25Z")

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“Palsambleu!”  
“de part ma chandelle verte!”