Business French: what to say at work, tu or vous

Business French is the French you use at work: the vocabulary, the polite formulas and the choice between tu and vous. This page gives the email openings and closings, the phone and meeting phrases and the tu or vous rule that Québec’s language office publishes, then the diplomas that certify French for work. If you need the polite basics first, read please and sorry in French. For how the exams compare, see French exams.

What is business French?

Le français des affaires, the certification body of the Paris Île-de-France chamber of commerce, describes its Diplôme de français des affaires as proof of the ability to use French “in everyday professional communication” [6]. The tasks it lists include filling in a form, commenting on a chart, writing a memo or minutes, meeting a client and taking part in a negotiation [6].

What changes is the register and a set of fixed formulas, which the sections below cover.

How do you open and close a French work email?

Open with an appel, the greeting line. The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) says the openings used most often are Madame, Monsieur and Bonjour, each followed by a comma [1]. Use Madame, Monsieur, when you write to a company and do not know who will read it [1]. A first name after Bonjour is for people you know well, such as colleagues and friends [1].

The openings follow the OQLF’s order. The pairings of closings with situations are our examples, not the OQLF’s.

The OQLF orders the openings from most official to most familiar: Madame, then Bonjour, Madame., then Bonjour, Céline., then Chère Céline, [1]. Its list of short closings includes Meilleures salutations,, Salutations distinguées,, Bonne journée, and Au plaisir de vous voir, [2]. It places Cordialement, among the closings with a more personal character [2]. To say thanks in an email, merci with Merci de votre collaboration. is on the OQLF list [2].

What do you say on a French work phone call?

When you must make a caller wait, warn them, apologize and, if needed, explain why [3]. The OQLF lists these formulas [3]:

• Ne quittez pas. (not Gardez la ligne)
• Restez en ligne. (not Restez sur la ligne)
• Un instant, je vous prie.
• Pouvez-vous patienter un instant?

When you come back, a courtesy phrase is expected: Merci d’avoir patienté. [3]. If the wait may be long, offer to call back: Souhaitez-vous attendre ou préférez-vous que je vous rappelle? [3]. To greet the person first, Bonjour is the natural start.

What business in French words do you need for meetings?

Some meeting words are borrowed from English. The OQLF has a table of forms it discourages and the French term it proposes [5]:

So a meeting has an ordre du jour, you add a point to it, and someone writes the compte rendu afterwards [5]. The same page lists appuyer une proposition for “seconder une proposition” [5].

Should you say tu or vous at work?

Start with vous. The OQLF says vous is generally used with one person as a sign of politeness and where there is a hierarchy, and that people usually say vous to someone they meet for the first time and to their supervisors [4]. It adds that spontaneous tu is also common in workplaces, where it strengthens the feeling of equality and belonging to the group [4].

So the sensible rule is the OQLF’s own: even if the first contact is friendly, it is more prudent to use vous until the subject is raised, because moving from vous to tu marks a change in the relationship [4]. Usually the older person, the one higher in the hierarchy or the host decides [4]. The OQLF gives ways to ask:

• Voulez-vous qu’on se tutoie?
• Ça vous dérangerait si on se tutoyait?

How do you study business French online?

Choose the tasks first, then the course. The Diplôme de français des affaires tests written and spoken work tasks, and its page lists them level by level [6]. At A2, for example, the writing task is an email replying to a proposal, and the speaking tasks are answering a client’s questions and presenting your training and experience [6]. At B2 the tasks include writing a reply to a complaint, defending options in a negotiation and presenting an activity report [6]. For options to study with, see French courses online, and for practice writing the emails above, French writing practice.

What business French certificates exist?

Le français des affaires, part of the Paris Île-de-France chamber of commerce, offers the TEF and the DFP [7]. The TEF is a general French test, created in 1998, and its certification is valid for two years from the date of the test [7][8]. The Diplôme de français professionnel (DFP), created in 1958, shows an ability to use French at work in four fields: business, international relations, tourism-hotels-restaurants and health [7]. The business one is the Diplôme de français des affaires.

The exam is taken on a computer, followed by an oral interview with an examiner [6]. The diploma is valid for life, and the page contrasts this with the TEF [6]. The B1, B2 and C1 diplomas carry the European ALTE label [6]. Check the official page for the registration steps and the list of approved centres [6][7].

Common mistakes

• Using tu first. The OQLF advises vous until the question is raised [4].
• Skipping the opening line. The OQLF calls the appel essential, because it is the reader’s first contact with you [1].
• Using an exclamation mark after Bonjour. The OQLF advises against it in professional correspondence [1].
• Writing “dear” in every email. Cher or chère is for people you know very well [1].
• Saying “Gardez la ligne”. The OQLF lists Ne quittez pas instead [3].
• Treating the TEF as a business certificate. It is a general French test; the business diploma is the DFP Affaires [7][8].
• Trusting any list of phrases, including ours, without checking. The official pages are updated. Compare each page’s own date with ours (2 November 2026).

Sources