Please, thank you and sorry

S’il vous plaît means literally if it pleases you, and the abbreviation SVP appears on signs all over France.

Please, thank you and sorry are the words that keep everyday life smooth, and French has more than one of each. As with greetings, the choice follows tu and vous, and some forms are more formal than others. This unit covers asking for something, thanking someone and answering thanks, and the difference between pardon, excusez-moi and désolé, three words that English speakers often lump together as sorry.

Please

S’il vous plaît is the polite please, used with vous: Un café, s’il vous plaît. Literally it means if it pleases you, and the si shortens to s’ before il, as you saw in the script course. With friends and family it becomes s’il te plaît. In writing both are often abbreviated: SVP and STP. To soften a request further, French uses the conditional je voudrais (I would like) rather than je veux (I want): Je voudrais un billet pour Lyon, s’il vous plaît. Je veux sounds blunt in a shop, much as I want does in English. Pourriez-vous… ? (Could you…?) is the polite way to ask a favour: Pourriez-vous répéter, s’il vous plaît ?

Thank you and you are welcome

Merci is thank you, and it works with anyone. Merci beaucoup is thank you very much, and merci bien is a quick, friendly thanks. Merci mille fois (a thousand thanks) is warm and emphatic. To answer, de rien (it is nothing) is the everyday reply. Je vous en prie, or je t’en prie with a friend, is more polite and also very common, and avec plaisir (with pleasure) is friendly. Pas de quoi is a relaxed version of de rien. Note that Merci on its own, said when someone offers you something, can mean no thank you; to accept, say Oui, merci or Volontiers.

Pardon, excusez-moi, désolé

Pardon is short and very common. It is what you say when you bump into someone or need to get past in a crowded train, and Pardon ? with a rising tone means sorry, what did you say? Excusez-moi (excuse-moi with tu) is used to get someone’s attention before a question, Excusez-moi, Madame, où est la gare ?, and also to apologise for a small fault. Désolé, written désolée by a woman, means sorry in the sense of regret: Je suis désolé, je suis en retard (I am sorry, I am late). It is the word for real apologies and for sympathy. The usual answer to an apology is Ce n’est pas grave (it is not serious, no problem), often shortened in speech to C’est pas grave.