Forms of address

Only those forms of address in frequent use are included here ; titles of members of the nobility or of church dignitaries are not covered ; for the use of military ranks as titles ⇒ Military ranks and titles.

Speaking to someone

Where English puts the surname after the title, French normally uses the title alone (note that when speaking to someone, French does not use a capital letter for monsieur, madame and mademoiselle, unlike English Mr etc., nor for titles such as docteur).

good morning, Mr Johnson

= bonjour, monsieur

good evening, Mrs Jones

= bonsoir, madame

goodbye, Miss Smith

= au revoir, mademoiselle

The French monsieur and madame tend to be used more often than the English Mr X or Mrs Y. Also, in English, people often say simply Good morning or Excuse me ; in the equivalent situation in French, they might say Bonjour, monsieur or Pardon, madame. However, the French are slower than the British, and much slower than the Americans, to use someone’s first name, so hi there, Peter! to a colleague may well be simply bonjour!, or bonjour, monsieur ; bonjour, cher ami ; bonjour, mon vieux etc., depending on the degree of familiarity that exists.

In both languages, other titles are also used, e.g. :

hallo, Dr. Brown or hallo, Doctor

= bonjour, docteur

In some cases where titles are not used in English, they are used in French, e.g. bonjour, Monsieur le directeur or bonjour, Madame la directrice to a head teacher, or bonjour, maître to a lawyer of either sex. Other titles, such as professeur (in the sense of professor), are used much less than their English equivalents in direct address. Where in English one might say Good morning, Professor, in French one would probably say Bonjour, monsieur or Bonjour, madame.

Titles of important positions are used in direct forms of address, preceded by Monsieur le or Madame le or Madame la, as in :

yes, Chair

= oui, Monsieur le président or (to a woman) oui, Madame la présidente

yes, Minister

= oui, Monsieur le ministre or (to a woman) oui, Madame le ministre

Note the use of Madame le when the noun in question, like ministre here, or professeur and other titles, has no feminine form, or no acceptable feminine. A woman Member of Parliament is addressed as Madame le député, a woman Senator Madame le sénateur, a woman judge Madame le juge and a woman mayor Madame le maire. Women often prefer the masculine word even when a feminine form does exist, as in Madame l’ambassadeur to a woman ambassador, Madame l’ambassadrice being reserved for the wife of an ambassador.

Speaking about someone

Mr Smith is here

= monsieur Smith est là

Mrs Jones phoned

= madame Jones a téléphoné

Miss Black has arrived

= mademoiselle Black est arrivée

Ms Brown has left

= madame Brown or (as appropriate) mademoiselle Brown est partie

(French has no equivalent of Ms.)

When the title accompanies someone’s name, the definite article must be used in French :

Dr Blake has arrived

= le docteur Blake est arrivé

Professor Jones spoke

= le professeur Jones a parlé

This is true of all titles :

Prince Charles

= le prince Charles

Princess Marie

= la princesse Marie

Note that with royal etc. titles, only 1er is spoken as an ordinal number (premier) in French ; unlike English, all the others are spoken as cardinal numbers (deux, trois, and so on).

King Richard I

= le roi Richard 1er (say Richard premier)

Queen Elizabeth II

= la reine Elizabeth II (say Elizabeth deux)

Pope John XXIII

= le pape Jean XXIII (say Jean vingt-trois)

Big English-French dictionary. 2003.