Please in French: s’il vous plaît or s’il te plaît?

Please in French is s’il vous plaît, or s’il te plaît when you are speaking to someone you call tu [5][6]. This page gives the polite words in one place: please, sorry, excuse me and asking for the bill. For the answers that go with them, see yes and no in French. For more situations, see French for travel and hello in French.

What is please in French?

Please in French is s’il vous plaît. It is the form to use with someone you are not familiar with or consider your superior. With someone close, you use s’il te plaît [5][6].

The Académie française says the choice of pronoun marks how familiar or respectful you are: tutoiement marks great closeness, and vouvoiement signals a person you are not familiar with or consider your superior [5]. When you are unsure, the formal form is the safer starting point. That is a general observation, not a dictionary finding.

The Académie’s fifth edition (1798) describes s’il vous plaît, in some of its uses, as simply a term of civility [7]. It comes from the verb plaire, “to please”, so the phrase works as a polite “if you please”. One small spelling point: the circumflex on the i of plaît is the traditional spelling, and the new spelling also allows s’il vous plait and s’il te plait without it [10].

How do you say yes please in French?

You say oui, s’il te plaît. Larousse’s French-English entry translates the exchange “tu en veux ? — oui, s’il te plaît” as “do you want some? — (yes) please” [6]. With someone you call vous, the same phrase takes vous: oui, s’il vous plaît.

The yes and no words have their own page: yes and no in French covers oui, si and non merci in detail.

How do you say sorry in French?

You say pardon or désolé. The Académie française says pardon is used in polite formulas to present an apology and to ask for something to be repeated, and as an interjection to apologize, as in “Oh ! pardon !” [2].

Désolé carries more weight. The Académie’s entry for désoler gives “Je suis désolé de ce qui vous arrive” for something that causes real affliction. It also gives “Je suis désolé de vous avoir fait attendre” for a simple inconvenience, and marks “Désolé, je n’ai pas le temps de m’occuper de vous” as familiar [3].

So the same word covers an apology for lateness and sympathy for bad news. The sentence around it does the rest of the work. Both words are short, and neither needs an extra phrase to be polite.

How do you say excuse me in French?

You say excusez-moi. The 1935 edition of the Académie française’s dictionary describes it as a term of civility, used ordinarily when you contradict someone or want to be excused from a request [4]. Its examples are “Vous resterez avec nous ? Excusez-moi, je ne puis.” and “Vous dites que j’ai fait telle chose ; excusez-moi, je ne l’ai point faite.” [4].

That entry also gives vous m’excuserez as another way to say the same thing [4].

How do you say check please in French?

You say L’addition, s’il vous plaît. This is how to say check please in French, and it is the Académie française’s own example: its entry for addition defines it as the note showing the total to pay in a restaurant or a hotel, with “Demander, régler l’addition” and “L’addition, s’il vous plaît !” [1].

The Language Portal of Canada’s writing guide says that facture is the word used in almost all cases, except in a restaurant, where addition is preferable [9]. Put it together with the first words of the page. A short, polite sequence: ask for l’addition, s’il vous plaît, then say merci once it arrives. For what else to say at a table, see food in French.

Common mistakes

• Choosing the form by the size of the favour. The form depends on who you are speaking to. Tu marks great closeness, and vous signals someone you are not familiar with or consider your superior [5].
• Using désolé only for bad news. The Académie’s entry also uses it for a simple inconvenience, such as keeping someone waiting [3].
• Assuming facture is always the word for the bill. The Language Portal of Canada says addition is preferable in a restaurant [9].
• Taking bienvenue as the only reply to merci. The Language Portal of Canada lists three others and notes that many consider bienvenue a calque of English [8].
• Trusting a polite-words page from a blog, including this one. Dictionary entries and usage notes change between editions. Compare each page’s edition or date with the date at the top of this page.

See also: thank you in French.

Sources