How to use capital letters in French
If you are learning French, you may have noticed that capital letters seem to appear in different places from where you would expect them in English.
If you’re reading French, you’ll likely notice that une majuscule (a capital letter or upper case letter) is used a lot less frequently than it is in English, and many words that would be capitalised in English use une minuscule (lower case) in French.
Here’s how to work out when to use a capital;
Days and months
Unlike in English, the French do not capitalise days and months. For example, you would write: lundi (Monday), mardi (Tuesday), janvier (January) and décembre (December).
Example: Je pars lundi 17 septembre. – I am leaving Monday, September 17th.
Nationalities
Nationalities are usually lowercase. In English, you write a French person, an American, and a British tourist, with nationalities capitalised.
In French, however, a nationality is normally written in lowercase when it is being used as an adjective: une touriste américaine (an American tourist), une personne française (a French person)
But there is an important exception – when the nationality is being used as a noun to describe a person, it is capitalised.
For example: un Français/une Française (someone French), les Américains (Americans), les Allemands (Germans)
So you would write – il est français (he is French), and c’est un Français (he is a Frenchman).
The first français is an adjective and stays lowercase. The second is a noun and gets a capital letter.
Languages
English also capitalises languages: French, English, Spanish, German, while French does not.
Example: Il parle français et anglais – He speaks French and English
The same rule applies to adjectives and describing languages.
Example: Un cours d’anglais. – An English lesson.
Job titles
French generally keeps job titles and functions in lower case: le préfet (the prefect), le curé (the parish priest), l’avocat (the lawyer).
There is an important exception with le Président (the President). When this is used on its own to refer to the President of the French Republic, it is capitalised. Example: Le Président est venu hier à la réunion des ministres. (The President attended yesterday’s meeting of ministers.)
But when the full title is used, it is normally lowercase: Le président de la République est venu hier à la réunion des ministres. (The President of the Republic attended yesterday’s meeting of ministers.)
Other presidents – for example le président du conseil régional (the president of the regional council) do not get a capital.
Other official titles and functions are generally written in lowercase when they are followed by the person’s role or institution: le ministre de l’Environnement (the Environment Minister), l’archevêque de Lyon (the Archbishop of Lyon).
Why do ‘environment’ and ‘republic’ get a capital? Read on . . .
Geography
Geographical adjectives do not necessarily get a capital letter in French. You would write la France basque (Basque France) and l’Italie méridionale (southern Italy).
The same principle applies to geographical features. A generic word such as lac (lake), mer (sea), montagne (mountain) or golfe (gulf) is usually lower case, while the identifying proper name is capitalised. For example: la mer Méditerranée, le golfe du Lion, le pic du Midi.
Here only the identifying proper name is capitalised.
Similar rules apply to monuments and other named places: la tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower), le pont des Arts (the Pont des Arts).
In other words, the generic description remains lower case while the proper name gets the capital.
There is one category where French does use capital letters consistently: planets, stars and zodiac signs. You would write la Lune (the moon), la Terre (Earth), la planète Jupiter (the planet Jupiter), le Soleil (the sun) and le signe du Verseau (Aquarius zodiac sign).
Religion and ideology
Religious groups and followers of political or philosophical movements are generally written with lower-case letters: les musulmans (Muslims), les chrétiens (Christians), les communistes (communists), les capitalistes (capitalists).
There can also be a distinction depending on whether a word refers to an institution or a physical building. For example, l’Église (the Church) takes a capital letter when referring to the Church as an institution or body of believers, while l’église (the church) is lowercase when referring to a church building.
Example: L’église du village va être réparée. – The village church is going to be repaired.
But: L’Église se rassemble autour du pape. – The Church is gathering around the Pope.
Names such as Dieu (God), Jésus (Jesus), Allah (Allah) and Bouddha (Buddha) are capitalised. However, gods are generally written in lower case when used in the generic sense: les dieux de l’Antiquité (the gods of Antiquity).
Institutions and organisations
The names of government bodies, institutions and organisations do not always follow the same capitalisation patterns in French and English.
French often uses a lower-case generic term followed by a capitalised identifying name: le ministère de la Culture (the Ministry of Culture), la mairie de Paris (Paris town hall), la cour d’appel de Versailles (the Versailles Court of Appeal).
Some unique institutions have more extensive capitalisation, such as l’Académie française (the French Academy) and la Bibliothèque nationale de France (the National Library of France).
A useful rule is that generic names of organisations and institutions are normally lower case when they are not referring to one specific body.
For example: le conseil général (the departmental council), le ministère (the ministry), le lycée (the high school), le musée (the museum).
But when a generic institutional term is followed by a proper name or a specific identifying name, that name can take a capital letter.
For example: le ministère de la Culture (the Ministry of Culture), le Département d’économie de Sciences Po (the Department of Economics at Sciences Po).
There are also some exceptions. For example, Secrétariat (Secretariat) and Département (Department) can take a capital letter when they form part of an official name, as in le Secrétariat à la jeunesse du Québec (the Quebec Secretariat for Youth) or le Département d’économie de Sciences Po (the Department of Economics at Sciences Po).
Accents
One final rule that often surprises English speakers is that French capital letters can, and should, have accents.
So you should write – École (school), À Paris (in Paris), États-Unis (United States) – rather than dropping the accent simply because the letter is capitalised.
A capital É is therefore just as legitimate as a lower-case é.
Read more French grammar tips
French Grammar Tip: How to pronounce the Gs
French grammar tips: French grammar tips: Car, parce que, puisque – all the ways to say ‘because’
French grammar tips: When to use ‘réaliser’ vs. ‘se rendre compte’
French grammar tips: How to say either and neither in French
French grammar tips: Avoir versus être
French grammar tips: When to use ‘grand’ and ‘gros’
French grammar tips: The difference between c’est and il est
