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Cheers in French: Santé, À la Tienne, Tchin-Tchin and the Eye-Contact Rule

How to say cheers in French. Santé is the universal default; à la tienne and à votre santé are the warmer variants; tchin-tchin is the onomatopoeic casual version. The eye-contact rule, the seven years' bad sex superstition, and the cultural etiquette of clinking glasses in France.

By Michael McGettrick10 Jun 202642 min read

Cheers in French

The default answer is santé - literally "health", a shortened form of à votre santé meaning "to your health". It works at any French-speaking table, formal or informal, and is the word to default to in any uncertain situation. The warmer variants are à la tienne (informal) and à votre santé (formal); the casual onomatopoeic version is tchin-tchin. But the cultural weight on a French toast sits underneath the words: the eye-contact rule, the obligation to clink with every individual, and the small refusal to put the glass down before you have actually drunk from it. This article covers the four words, the rules that come with them, and the register differences across casual, formal and ceremonial contexts.

The four words

Santé - "health". The universal, neutral default. Works at any table, with anyone, in any register from a family Sunday lunch to a business dinner. It is a shortened form of à votre santé with the à votre dropped; the meaning is literally "(to your) health". When in doubt, this is the word. Pronunciation: sahn-TAY, two syllables, nasal "an", clean French T.

À la tienne / à la vôtre - "to yours". À la tienne is the informal form, used with anyone you would address as tu; à la vôtre is the formal or plural form, used with vous. Warmer than bare santé because it is reciprocal and directed at the other person rather than at the abstract idea of health. Useful when you want the toast to mean something specifically to the person opposite you; you raise the glass, look at them, and the words make the gesture personal.

À votre santé / à ta santé - "to your health" (full form). More formal than santé alone. Used in speeches, in business toasts, when raising a glass to a specific person, often followed by their name: à votre santé, Marie. The fuller construction marks the toast as deliberate rather than casual; it is the register you reach for at a wedding, at a leaving dinner, or when the host raises the first glass of the evening.

Tchin-tchin - onomatopoeic, casual, often paired with santé (santé! tchin-tchin!). The etymology is fun: it was borrowed from the Chinese 请请 (qǐng qǐng, "please please") by French sailors in 19th-century treaty ports, and the doubled form imitates the sound of two glasses meeting. It is now thoroughly French in usage and sits in the same slot as English "clink" or "chin-chin". Fine among friends, fine at a relaxed dinner, slightly out of place in a speech.

The eye-contact rule

The rule that no phrasebook will tell you, and the one that matters more than the word you choose: when you clink glasses, you make eye contact with each person whose glass you touch. Not a casual glance. Deliberate, held for the second of the clink, with the small acknowledging smile that says you are toasting them, not the room.

This is the part British and American visitors most consistently miss. The English-speaking instinct is to raise the glass at chest height, smile at the collective, and call "cheers" to everyone at once. In France that reads as absent. The toast is directed at people, and the eye contact is the proof that you have actually directed it. Do the rounds, look each person in the eye as your glass touches theirs, and you have done the thing the table is waiting for you to do.

The seven-years superstition

The folk enforcement of the eye-contact rule is the sept ans de mauvais sexe superstition: failing to make eye contact while clinking is said to bring seven years of bad sex. The origin is unclear. The most cited theory is medieval: at a noble's table where poisoning was a live worry, eye contact during the clink was a way to confirm that nobody had dropped something into the cup. Another theory traces it to a 19th-century invention with no real historical depth. Either way, the rule is enforced now.

You will see French speakers from teenagers at a birthday dinner to grandparents at a Sunday lunch lightly enforce it. Somebody will catch your eye, hold the clink for a beat, and the small smile will tell you it matters. It is folklore, yes, and most French people will laugh if you ask them whether they actually believe it. They will also reflexively keep doing it. Take the rule seriously even if the superstition is decorative; the rule itself is genuine, the observation of it is universal, and skipping the eye contact is the foreign-visitor tell that most reliably lands.

The clinking rule: when and with whom

At a French table with five or more people, the toast is not a single collective gesture. You clink with every individual. Five people means four separate clink-and-eye-contact exchanges; six people means five; eight means seven. You reach your glass across the table, around the bottle, past the bread basket, to each person in turn, look them in the eye, say santé, and then move to the next.

This can take thirty seconds. Nobody finds it strange. The English shortcut of holding your glass up to the room and calling cheers is read, at a French table, as a foreign or slightly rude gesture, the verbal equivalent of waving at a crowd rather than greeting the people in it. Do the rounds. The slowness is the point: each person is being individually toasted, and the table is acknowledging itself as a collection of people rather than a single audience.

Don't put the glass down before drinking

Small rule, easy to miss, French people register it: once you have clinked, you drink at least a sip before placing the glass back on the table. Clinking and then setting the glass down without drinking is read as having broken the toast, as if the gesture has been performed for show but the substance has been skipped.

The fix is trivial. Clink, look, sip, then put the glass down. Even a token sip counts. The rule is small enough that nobody will mention it if you slip, but the moment when you stop slipping is the moment you stop signalling that this is the first French table you have sat at.

At weddings, dinners, business: register differences

The toast register tracks the formality of the occasion:

  • Casual dinner among friends: santé! or tchin-tchin!, often both together. The clinking rounds still apply but the tone is relaxed, the eye contact is warm rather than ceremonial.
  • Formal dinner with a host: à votre santé, sometimes with a name attached - à votre santé, Marie. The host typically raises the first glass; guests follow.
  • Speeches and toasts: the full sentence opener is je lève mon verre à ("I raise my glass to"), followed by the person or occasion being honoured. Je lève mon verre à notre hôte (to our host), à votre réussite (to your success), aux mariés (to the newlyweds).
  • Wedding speeches: à la santé des mariés (to the health of the newlyweds) is the standard formula, with the table reciprocating à la santé des mariés before the clinking rounds begin.

Regional variations

The vocabulary is broadly stable across the Francophone world; the etiquette is essentially identical in metropolitan-French regions.

  • Quebec: santé is universal; à votre santé is common in formal contexts. The eye-contact rule and the clinking rounds apply.
  • Belgium: santé works as the default; some communities, particularly near the Flemish-speaking regions, also use prosit as a Germanic borrowing. Clinking etiquette as in France.
  • Switzerland (French-speaking): santé is universal. Slightly more formal commercial register in some contexts, but the table etiquette is identical to France.

The eye-contact and individual-clinking rules apply in every French-speaking region. They are not a Parisian affectation; they are how a French-speaking table works.

What NOT to do

A short list of the moves that mark a non-native speaker more reliably than the choice of word:

  • Don't translate "cheers" as a goodbye. English speakers sometimes use "cheers" to mean "thanks" or "bye"; santé is only for raising glasses. Never for thanks (that is merci), never for goodbye (that is au revoir or salut).
  • Don't skip the eye contact. The single most consistent foreign-visitor tell.
  • Don't set your glass down without drinking. Clink, sip, then put it down.
  • Don't clink with water glasses in a formal context. Some French speakers consider it superstitiously bad luck; pragmatically, water-only diners often opt for the smile-and-raise gesture instead of the clink. If the table is mixed wine-and-water, follow the table's lead.
  • Don't toast the room collectively. Do the rounds.

Frequently asked

How do you say cheers in French?

Santé is the universal default. It works at any table, with anyone, formal or informal, and is a shortened form of à votre santé meaning to your health. À la tienne (informal) and à la vôtre (formal) are the warmer reciprocal variants directed at the other person; tchin-tchin is the casual onomatopoeic version. For most situations santé is the safe choice, and pairing it with deliberate eye contact as you clink is the part that matters more than the word.

What is the difference between santé and tchin-tchin?

Santé is the neutral default and works in any register from a family dinner to a business toast. Tchin-tchin is casual, onomatopoeic, and sits in the same slot as English clink or chin-chin; it was borrowed from the Chinese qǐng qǐng (please please) by French sailors in 19th-century treaty ports and is now thoroughly French in usage. Tchin-tchin is fine among friends or at a relaxed dinner; it would read as oddly informal in a speech or a business toast. Pair them - santé! tchin-tchin! - and you have covered both registers at once.

Do you have to make eye contact when toasting in French?

Yes, and not just a casual glance. The rule is deliberate eye contact with each person whose glass you touch, held for the moment of the clink. The folk enforcement is the superstition that failing to make eye contact brings seven years of bad sex, and you will see French speakers from teenagers to grandparents lightly enforce it at every dinner table. It is folklore but the rule itself is real, observed and noticed. Skipping the eye contact reads as not paying attention to the person you are toasting.

Why do French people clink glasses with everyone individually?

Because at a French table the toast is directed at each person, not at the room. The English shortcut of holding the glass up and calling cheers to the collective is read as a slightly absent gesture; the French expectation is that you reach your glass to each individual in turn, make eye contact, and say santé. At a table of five or six this means five or six separate clink-and-eye-contact exchanges before anyone drinks, and it can take thirty seconds. Nobody at the table finds this slow or strange. It is how the moment is acknowledged.