Titles

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Titres

While not as diverse as they used to be, a few honorifics are commonly used in French and are as important as any other polite vocabulary. Here are the French titles you need, along with their abbreviations.

General titles

Title	Abbrev.	Plural		English
Monsieur	M.	Messieurs		Mister, Mr., sir
Madame	Mme	Mesdames		Madam, Mrs., ma’am
Mademoiselle	Mlle	Mesdemoiselles		Miss

General titles are used when talking to and about a person and may or may not be followed by the person’s last name. However, titles are only capitalized when followed by a name – learn more.

Bonjour Madame Terbois.		Hello Mrs. Terbois.
J’ai parlé à Monsieur Gueldry hier.		I spoke to Mr. Gueldry yesterday.
Au revoir, monsieur.		Good-bye, sir.

 Related apheresis: messieurs dames – used to address a group of people when entering a room, e.g., Bonjour messieurs dames – "Hello everyone, Hello ladies and gentleman."

Professional titles

Docteur	Dr		Doctor
Maître	Me		~Mr./Ms (for lawyers, professors, etc)
Professeur	Pr		Professor

Religious titles

Frère	F.		Brother
Mère	M.		Mother
Père	P.		Father
Révérend Père	R.P.		Reverend
Saint	St		Saint (male)
Sainte	Ste		Saint (female)
Sœur	Sr		Sister

Rare, old-fashioned or obsolete titles

Title	Abbrev.		English
Monseigneur	Mgr		Your Eminence, Your Grace
Veuve	Vve		widow
Votre Majesté	V.M.		Your Majesty
Sa Majesté	S.M.		His / Her Majesty

 Related lessons

• Capitalization
• Definite articles
• Greetings
• Making nouns feminine
• Politeness
   

 En español

• Los títulos
   

 In italiano

• I titoli
   

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