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Les majuscules
The use of capital letters (les majuscules) is much less common in French than in English. Take a look at this summary of words that are capitalized in English but not in French.*
I. Calendar Words
Days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized in French.
Par exemple…
| Nous allons partir lundi. | We’re going to leave on Monday. | |
| Le cours a commencé en septembre. | The class started in September. |
II. Geographical Names
Geographical words used with proper names are not capitalized in French.
| Il habite 3, rue Gambetta. | He lives at 3 Gambetta Street. | |
| Je veux me baigner dans l’océan Atlantique. | I want to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. |
III. Languages
In French, languages are never capitalized.**
| Elle parle français, espagnol et grec. | She speaks French, Spanish, and Greek. | |
| La grammaire arabe est impossible ! | Arabic grammar is impossible! |
** See variable capitalization for the corresponding nationalities.
IV. Religions
Whether used as nouns or adjectives, most words related to the names of religions are not capitalized in French (exceptions in bold).
| le bouddhisme | Buddhism | ||
| un Bouddhiste | une Bouddhiste | a Buddhist | |
| un temple bouddhiste | Buddhist temple | ||
| le christianisme | Christianity | ||
| un chrétien | une chrétienne | a Christian | |
| une église chrétienne | Christian church | ||
| l’hindouisme | Hinduism | ||
| un Hindou | une Hindoue | a Hindu | |
| un temple hindou | Hindu temple | ||
| l’Islam | Islam | ||
| un musulman | une musulmane | a Muslim | |
| une mosquée musulmane | Muslim mosque | ||
| le judaïsme | Judaism | ||
| un juif | une juive | a Jew | |
| un temple juif | Jewish temple | ||
V. Subject Pronoun je / I
The first person singular subject pronoun is always capitalized in English. Not so in French.
| Non, je n’ai pas d’argent. | No, I don’t have any money. | |
| Je sais que je peux le faire. | I know I can do it. |
* Of course, when any of these words is at the beginning of a sentence, it is capitalized.
Page 2: Variable capitalization
Page 3: Capitalization of titles
Related lessons
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