French Phrases: How to write a letter or e-mail in French: closing formulae
Continuing our section on writing a letter in French, we look
at some common forumlae for closing a letter in French.
Closures: informal
Closures to informal letters are less formulaic than formal or business letters, so there are a
variety of possibilities. Here are some common ones:
| Je t'embrasse | - | Big hugs | | Amicalement | - | Best wishes (used between friends) | | Affectueusement... | - | Love from... | | (Grosses) bises | - | =(big) hugs | | Gros bisous | - | Love (and kisses) | | Bisouxx | - | Kisses (humorous variant used in e-mail and text messages) |
 Suggest a change / proposez une modificationClosures: formal
Traditionally, French business correspondence ends with one of various silly
long-winded formulae, although particularly in the case of e-mail correspondence, these
are starting to go out the window. A common favourite for closing a semi-formal
business e-mail is cordialement.
| Veuillez recevoir, Monsieur/Madame, nos salutations distinguées. | - | =Yours sincerely | | Je vous prie d'agréer, Monsieur/Madame, l'expression de mes sentiments respectueux. | - | =Yours sincerely, when writing to a superior | | Veuillez agréer, Monsieur/Madame, l'assurance de notre parfaite considération. | - | =Yours sincerely, when writing to somebody of a lower grade | | Je vous prie de croire, Monsieur/Madame, à l'assurance de mes salutations distinguées | - | =Yours faithfully/sincerely, used especially when writing to a person in an important position | | Cordialement | - | Regards |
Suggest a change / proposez une modificationSee also the general section on writing a business letter in French.
Notes:
- As you would expect, je vous prie would be replaced by nous vous prions
by somebody writing on behalf of a company.
- When addressing a person with a title such as Madame le Proviseur, it's usually to
repeat the whole expression in the closing formula instead of simply Monsieur/Madame.
- It's common to tack the closing formula on to an expression such as Dans l'attente de vous lire
(Dans l'attente de vous lire, je vous prie....).
By the way, there's no shame in not remembering these formulae: many French speakers end up looking them up
in a book and/or using numerous variants (and arguing about which is "correct").
One convention is that agréer
is used when you have a "filler" word like expression, assurance;
recevoir or accepter
is used when salutations directly follows.
Next: phrases for business letters/e-mails
On the next page, we look at useful phrases and vocabulary for writing a
business letter in French.
Page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright (c) Javamex UK 2014. All rights reserved. |
