What does soit… soit mean in French?

It means either… or, and it presents two alternatives of which one will hold. Soit goes in front of each option: soit le train, soit l'avion, either the train or the plane. It works with nouns, phrases, or whole clauses, as long as both halves have the same shape.

Is there a difference between soit… soit and ou?

Ou is the neutral or and simply lists possibilities. Soit… soit frames them as a genuine choice between two closed options, so it sounds more deliberate: on peut payer soit en espèces, soit par carte spells out that those are the only two ways. In casual speech, ou bien… ou bien does the same job.

Why is soit sometimes soient?

Only when it is still working as the verb être, as in the mathematical soient deux nombres, let there be two numbers. In the either… or structure soit has become a fixed connector, so soient is always wrong there.

What does a single soit mean in the middle of a sentence?

It means that is or namely, restating what came before in different terms: il a payé 90 euros, soit 30 euros par nuit, he paid 90 euros, that is 30 euros a night. You will see it constantly in figures, receipts, and news reports.

How do I say neither… nor if soit… soit is either… or?

Use ni… ni with a ne before the verb: je ne bois ni café ni thé, I drink neither coffee nor tea. The structure mirrors soit… soit exactly, except that ni is a negative word and therefore pulls ne into the sentence.

French grammar · Intermediate

Soit… Soit in French: How to Say Either… Or

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Soit… soit is the French way of saying either… or when you want to lay out two clear alternatives. It never changes form, it goes in front of each option rather than between them, and the same little word soit also means namely and so be it in other contexts.

Soit tu prends le train, soit tu viens en voiture.

Either you take the train, or you come by car.

What it is

Soit is a frozen subjunctive of être, literally let it be. Doubled up as soit… soit, it presents two options and says that one of them will be the case. English marks this with either… or, where either comes first and or comes second; French repeats the same word twice, which is why the structure looks stranger than it is.

Soit tu m'appelles, soit tu m'écris. — Either you call me or you write to me.

How to spot it

Look for the word twice in the same sentence, each time immediately before one of the alternatives. If soit appears only once, it is doing one of its other jobs and does not mean either.

Nous partirons soit lundi, soit mardi. — We'll leave either Monday or Tuesday.
C'est soit lui, soit son frère. — It's either him or his brother.
Elle prendra soit du poisson, soit de la viande. — She'll have either fish or meat.
Cela fera 45 euros, soit 15 euros par personne. — That'll be 45 euros, that is, 15 euros each. (single soit)

A comma before the second soit is the normal written punctuation, and it matches the pause you hear in speech.

Soit Soit Either or Quick Reference

Ways of offering alternatives in French

Structure	Meaning	Example
soit… soit	either… or (two clear options)	soit maintenant, soit jamais — either now or never
ou	or (neutral, no emphasis)	du thé ou du café — tea or coffee
ou bien… ou bien	either… or (spoken, insistent)	ou bien tu viens, ou bien tu restes — either you come or you stay
ou… ou	either… or (slightly literary)	ou lui ou moi — either him or me
ni… ni	neither… nor	ni lui ni moi — neither him nor me
soit (alone)	namely, that is	deux jours, soit 48 heures — two days, that is 48 hours
soit (interjection)	fine, so be it	Soit, faisons comme tu veux. — Fine, let's do it your way.

Common Soit Soit Either or Examples in French

Soit… soit across the kinds of choices it usually frames:

Choosing Between Two Actions

Soit tu viens avec nous, soit tu restes ici.: Either you come with us or you stay here.
Soit on mange maintenant, soit on attend les autres.: Either we eat now or we wait for the others.
Soit il accepte, soit il démissionne.: Either he accepts or he resigns.
Soit tu réponds, soit je pose la question à quelqu'un d'autre.: Either you answer or I ask someone else.

With two full clauses, each soit sits at the very front of its clause, before the subject.

Choosing Between Two Things

Je prendrai soit une salade, soit une soupe.: I'll have either a salad or a soup.
Il nous faut soit une voiture, soit un vélo.: We need either a car or a bike.
Écrivez soit au crayon, soit au stylo noir.: Write either in pencil or in black pen.
On peut payer soit en espèces, soit par carte.: You can pay either in cash or by card.

The two options have to be the same kind of thing grammatically: two nouns, two prepositional phrases, two clauses.

Times and Places

Le colis arrivera soit aujourd'hui, soit demain.: The parcel will arrive either today or tomorrow.
On se retrouve soit chez moi, soit au café.: We'll meet either at my place or at the café.
Il travaille soit le matin, soit le soir.: He works either mornings or evenings.
Elle vient soit en juin, soit en septembre.: She's coming either in June or in September.

Notice au café rather than à le café: the usual contractions still apply inside each option.

Soit Que + Subjunctive

Soit qu'il pleuve, soit qu'il fasse beau, nous partirons.: Whether it rains or shines, we'll leave.
Soit qu'elle accepte, soit qu'elle refuse, je respecterai sa décision.: Whether she accepts or refuses, I'll respect her decision.
Soit qu'il soit en retard, soit qu'il ait oublié, il n'est pas là.: Either he's late or he's forgotten; either way he isn't here.

Soit que belongs to careful written French and always takes the subjunctive. In speech, people say ou il pleut, ou il fait beau.

How Soit… Soit Works

Four habits cover almost everything you need in order to use the structure without thinking about it.

Soit Is Invariable

Although soit began life as a subjunctive of être, it has stopped behaving like a verb. It never becomes soient, it never agrees with anything, and it takes no ending, no matter how many people or things are involved.

Soit mes parents, soit mes cousins viendront nous chercher.

Either my parents or my cousins will come and pick us up.

Always soit, never soient.

It Goes Before Each Option, Not Between Them

English puts either in front and or in the middle. French puts the same word in front of both halves, so the second half is introduced by soit and not by ou. Adding ou is the single most common learner error here.

Soit le bus, soit le tram vous y emmène.

Either the bus or the tram will take you there.

soit A, soit B — never soit A ou B.

The Two Halves Have to Match

Whatever follows the first soit sets the pattern for the second. If the first option is a noun, so is the second; if the first is a whole clause with its own verb, the second needs one too. A mismatch is what makes a sentence with soit feel off balance.

Soit tu téléphones, soit tu envoies un message.

Either you phone or you send a message.

Same grammatical shape on both sides.

The Verb Usually Stays Singular

When soit… soit joins two singular subjects, the verb normally stays singular, because only one of the two options will actually happen. This is the opposite of what et does, where two singular subjects give a plural verb.

Soit Paul, soit Marie prendra la voiture.

Either Paul or Marie will take the car.

Only one of them acts, so one verb ending.

Common Mistakes with Soit Soit Either or

Incorrect: Soit tu viens ou tu restes. — Either you come or you stay.

Correct: Soit tu viens, soit tu restes. — Either you come or you stay.

English switches from either to or halfway through, and learners copy that. French repeats soit in front of the second option instead.

Incorrect: Soient mes frères, soient mes sœurs viendront. — Either my brothers or my sisters will come.

Correct: Soit mes frères, soit mes sœurs viendront. — Either my brothers or my sisters will come.

Soit looks like a verb form, so people try to make it agree. In this structure it is a frozen connector and never takes an ending.

Incorrect: Je ne veux soit l'un, soit l'autre. — I want neither one nor the other.

Correct: Je ne veux ni l'un ni l'autre. — I want neither one nor the other.

Soit… soit cannot live inside a negation. Once the sentence is negative, the alternatives are joined by ni… ni.

Incorrect: Tu peux prendre soit. — You can take either.

Correct: Tu peux prendre l'un ou l'autre. — You can take either one.

English either doubles as a pronoun; soit never does. When either stands alone, French says l'un ou l'autre or n'importe lequel.

Soit on Its Own

A single soit, without a partner, is a completely different word from soit… soit, and you will meet all three of these uses in ordinary reading.

Soit meaning namely or that is

After a figure or a summary, soit introduces the same information restated in other terms. English uses that is, i.e., or or.

Trois candidats, soit deux femmes et un homme.: Three candidates, that is two women and one man.
Cela fera 60 euros, soit 20 euros par personne.: That'll be 60 euros, i.e. 20 euros each.
Il a attendu deux heures, soit tout l'après-midi.: He waited two hours, which is to say all afternoon.

This soit is extremely common in reports, invoices, and news writing, where it does the work of a colon.

Soit as a grudging yes

Used alone as a reply, soit concedes a point. It sounds formal and slightly reluctant, like very well or so be it.

Soit, tu as raison sur ce point.: Very well, you're right on that point.
Soit ! Faisons comme tu veux.: Fine! Let's do it your way.
Ainsi soit-il.: So be it. (also the French amen)

Ainsi soit-il preserves the old subjunctive with inversion, which is why it sounds biblical.

Soit in maths and logic

At the head of a problem, soit means let there be and sets up the objects you are going to reason about. Here it can take a plural, because it is still a real verb.

Soit un triangle ABC.: Let ABC be a triangle.
Soient deux nombres entiers x et y.: Let x and y be two whole numbers.

This is the only context where you will correctly see soient with a plural. In soit… soit it never happens.

Soit Soit Either or FAQs

What does soit… soit mean in French?: It means either… or, and it presents two alternatives of which one will hold. Soit goes in front of each option: soit le train, soit l'avion, either the train or the plane. It works with nouns, phrases, or whole clauses, as long as both halves have the same shape.
Is there a difference between soit… soit and ou?: Ou is the neutral or and simply lists possibilities. Soit… soit frames them as a genuine choice between two closed options, so it sounds more deliberate: on peut payer soit en espèces, soit par carte spells out that those are the only two ways. In casual speech, ou bien… ou bien does the same job.
Why is soit sometimes soient?: Only when it is still working as the verb être, as in the mathematical soient deux nombres, let there be two numbers. In the either… or structure soit has become a fixed connector, so soient is always wrong there.
What does a single soit mean in the middle of a sentence?: It means that is or namely, restating what came before in different terms: il a payé 90 euros, soit 30 euros par nuit, he paid 90 euros, that is 30 euros a night. You will see it constantly in figures, receipts, and news reports.
How do I say neither… nor if soit… soit is either… or?: Use ni… ni with a ne before the verb: je ne bois ni café ni thé, I drink neither coffee nor tea. The structure mirrors soit… soit exactly, except that ni is a negative word and therefore pulls ne into the sentence.