A2 · The finishing touches
Marks and quotations
No capital on Monday, March, French or German.
In front of ?, !, : and ; French puts a space: Ça va ?, Attention ! In front of a full stop and a comma it puts none. Quotation marks are angles with a space inside: « Bonjour », dit-il.
The decimal point is a comma and the thousands are separated by a thin space: 3,5 and 12 000. English does both the other way round, so a French 1,5 is one and a half and not fifteen hundred.
And here is the one that gives an English text away instantly: French writes no capital on the days of the week, the months, the languages or the adjectives of nationality. lundi, janvier, français, allemand. English capitalises every one of them. Only the inhabitant keeps a capital — un Français is a Frenchman, le français is the language, and il est français is the adjective.
Capital letters carry their accents: À bientôt, École. Leaving them off is a habit from the typewriter and not a standard.
Die Form
| Are you all right? | Ça va ? |
| Look out! | Attention ! |
| "Hello" | « Bonjour » |
| 3.5 kilos | 3,5 kilos |
| Monday 3 March | lundi 3 mars |
| See you soon | À bientôt |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
A space stands before a question mark, an exclamation mark, a colon and a semicolon.
Tu viens ce soir ?Are you coming this evening?
Quotations are angles with a space inside.
Il a dit : « Je reviens demain. »He said: "I will come back tomorrow."
Days, months and languages take no capital.
Le cours de français a lieu le mardi.The French class is on Tuesdays.
The decimal separator is a comma.
Le paquet pèse 2,4 kilos.The parcel weighs 2.4 kilos.
Woran man es erkennt
- ?
- !
- «
- »
Beispielsätze
Vous avez l’heure, s’il vous plaît ?Do you have the time, please?
Il m’a demandé : « Où vas-tu ? »He asked me: "Where are you going?"
Nous partons le samedi 12 avril.We are leaving on Saturday 12 April.
Elle parle français, allemand et italien.She speaks French, German and Italian.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
Capitals on days, months and languages are the clearest sign of an English hand. Lundi and Français in the middle of a sentence are wrong — unless the inhabitant is meant, because un Français is a Frenchman while le français is the language and il est français is the adjective. The rule is short: only the person keeps the capital.
Languages and months are written small.
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