You’re standing in a bakery in Lyon. You want a croissant. No, wait, maybe a pain au chocolat. The baker is staring at you, waiting for a decision. You need that one little word to bridge the gap between your choices. If you’re wondering how do you say or in French, the short, blunt answer is ou.
It’s pronounced exactly like the "oo" in "soup" or "boot."
Simple, right? Usually. But French has a way of taking a two-letter word and making it slightly more complex the moment you start writing it down or using it in a specific logical sequence. If you mess up the spelling, you aren't saying "or" anymore; you're asking "where." If you’re trying to distinguish between "either/or," the structure shifts again.
The Basics: Using Ou Without Overthinking It
Most of the time, ou functions exactly like its English counterpart. It connects two alternatives. You can use it for nouns, verbs, or entire phrases.
"Tu veux du café ou du thé?" (Do you want coffee or tea?)
"On part à pied ou en voiture?" (Are we leaving on foot or by car?)
It’s a linguistic workhorse. Honestly, in 90% of your daily interactions, this is the only version you’ll need. You don't need to change the ending based on gender. You don't need to worry about pluralization. It stays ou.
But here is where people trip up.
In French, there is another word that sounds identical: où. Notice that tiny little grave accent over the 'u'. That accent is the difference between choice and location. While ou means "or," où means "where."
If you’re texting a French friend and you write "Où tu veux aller au ciné?", you just asked "Where do you want to go to the cinema?" If you meant to ask "Do you want to go or go to the cinema?" (which is a bit clunky anyway), the lack of an accent changes the entire grammatical soul of the sentence.
Interestingly, according to the Académie Française—the official gatekeepers of the French language—this accent is purely a visual marker. It doesn't change the pronunciation one bit. It exists solely to help the reader distinguish between the conjunction and the adverb.
When Or Becomes Either/Or
Sometimes "or" isn't enough. You might want to emphasize that there are only two choices, or you might want to sound a bit more formal. This is where we get into the ou... ou... construction.
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In English, we say "either this or that." In French, you basically just double up.
"C’est ou l’un ou l’autre." (It’s either one or the other.)
It feels repetitive to an English speaker's ear, but it's perfectly natural in French. You’ll hear this a lot in debates or when someone is trying to be very firm about a decision. It adds a layer of exclusivity to the choice.
There is also a slightly more "literary" version: soit... soit....
You’ll see this in newspapers like Le Monde or hear it in a professional meeting.
"Soit nous acceptons les conditions, soit nous annulons le projet." (Either we accept the conditions, or we cancel the project.)
It’s more elegant. Kinda fancy. If you use soit instead of ou in a casual conversation with friends at a bar, you might sound a little stiff, like you've spent too much time reading 19th-century philosophy.
The Logician's Or: Exclusive vs. Inclusive
We don't think about this much in English, but "or" can be sneaky.
If a waiter asks if you want "salad or fries," they usually mean you can’t have both. That’s an exclusive or. But if a job posting says "applicants must speak French or Spanish," it usually means having both is fine too.
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French handles this the same way English does—mostly through context. However, if a French person really wants to be clear that you can have both, they might use ou bien.
"Tu peux prendre le bus, ou bien le métro."
It adds a slight pause. A bit of weight. It suggests that both are viable, distinct options. It’s a nuance that helps avoid the "wait, can I do both?" follow-up question.
Common Mistakes That Make You Sound Like a Tourist
The biggest giveaway that someone is using a translator app is the misuse of ou in negative sentences.
In English, we say "I don't have a car or a bike."
In French, the negative "neither/nor" takes over. You wouldn't typically use ou here. Instead, you use ni... ni....
"Je n'ai ni voiture ni vélo."
If you say "Je n'ai pas une voiture ou un vélo," a French person will understand you, but it sounds clunky. It’s like wearing socks with sandals—functional, but everyone knows something is off.
Another weird one? The "Or" that isn't an "Or."
In English, we sometimes use "or" to mean "otherwise."
"Hurry up, or we'll be late!"
In French, while you can use ou, it’s much more common to use sinon.
"Dépêche-toi, sinon on va être en retard !"
Using sinon (literally "if not") makes you sound much more like a native speaker. It shows you understand the logic behind the warning rather than just doing a word-for-word swap from your primary language.
Gold, The Other "Or"
Let’s talk about a classic trap for beginners.
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In French, the word for the metal gold is or.
Yes, it is spelled exactly like the English word for choice.
"Une bague en or" (A gold ring).
And just to make things even more confusing for students, or is also a "logical connector" in formal writing. It’s often translated as "now" or "yet" in an argumentative sense.
"Il pensait être seul. Or, quelqu'un l'observait." (He thought he was alone. Yet, someone was watching him.)
So, if you see or at the start of a sentence in a French book, don't assume they are talking about jewelry or giving you a choice. They are setting up a pivot in the narrative.
Why Phonetics Matter Here
The pronunciation of ou is vital because it's so close to u.
To say ou (or), your tongue is back, and your lips are in a tight circle. Think "loop."
To say u (as in tu or sur), your lips are in that same circle, but your tongue is pushed forward against your bottom teeth.
If you get these mixed up, you might say "over" (sur) when you mean "sour" (sourd) or vice versa. The distinction between the "oo" sound and the "ee-yoo" French u is one of the hardest things for English speakers to master, but since ou is such a common word, it's the perfect place to practice.
Practical Steps for Mastering "Or" in French
If you want to move beyond just knowing the word and actually using it naturally, try these steps:
- Watch the Accents: When writing, always double-check if you are offering a choice (ou) or asking about a place (où). A quick trick: if you can replace it with "or else," it doesn't get an accent.
- Practice the "Ni... Ni..." Shift: Next time you want to say you don't like two things, force yourself to use ni instead of ou. "Je n'aime ni le froid ni la pluie" sounds infinitely better than "Je n'aime pas le froid ou la pluie."
- Use Sinon for Consequences: Instead of using ou to explain what will happen if someone doesn't do something, use sinon. It’s a small change that yields huge dividends in sounding "fluent."
- Listen for "Soit": Watch a French news broadcast or listen to a political podcast. Count how many times they use soit... soit... instead of ou... ou.... It will help you calibrate your "formality meter."
French is a language of precision. While ou is a simple word, the way it interacts with accents, negatives, and formal alternatives shows just how much depth is hidden in two little letters. Stick to the unaccented version for your choices, save the accent for your locations, and you’ll be navigate any French menu—or conversation—without a hitch.