Let's Listen
It is important to addess adults who are not part of your family with titles in French. You use their last names after the titles, just as you do in English. Below are the most common titles used in everyday French. Read each one and listen closely to its pronunciation.
| monsieur (Mr. or sir) | |
| madame (Mrs. or ma’am) | |
| mademoiselle (Miss) |
If you do not know a person’s last name, you can simply use the title alone. Listen to the following phrases:
| Bonjour, monsieur! | |
| Bonsoir, madame! |
Let’s practice the pronunciation of monsieur, madame, and mademoiselle, especially since monsieur is pronounced very differently than it is spelling. Listen and repeat the correct pronunciation of these titles. You will see the written French word, the spelling in phonetic symbols, and a button for the audio:
| monsieur /mə sjø/ | |
| madame /ma dam/ | |
| mademoiselle /mad mwa zɛl/ |
A lot of French learners make the mistake of pronouncing the first part of monsieur like mon as in mon chapeau. Even though the word monsieur originally meant “my sir” or “my lord,” the pronunciation has changed quite a bit over the centuries.
French has abbreviations for these titles as well. Read and study them. They are:
M. (monsieur)
Mme. (madame)
Mlle. (mademoiselle)
Listen to the audio to hear what names and titles together sound like in spoken French.
| M. Dupont | |
| Mme. Laferrière | |
| M. Charpentier | |
| Mlle. Aubert |
Question
You meet a man for the first time, and you would like to say hello. How can you say hello in French politely?
Bonjour, monsieur! or Bonsoir, monsieur!
Next we will look at the first years of compulsory (required) schooling in France.
