French Business Letters - Correspondance commerciale
Closing Formula
The following closing formulas are listed in order (more or less) from most to least formal. Take one phrase from each column to make your closing formula (essentially equivalent to Sincerely). I didn't provide translations of these phrases because they are not equivalent to what is used in English business letters.
| Column A | Column B | Column C | Notes |
|
Je vous prie d'agréer, ...,
Je vous prie d'accepter, ..., Je vous prie de croire, ..., àVeuillez agréer, ..., Veuillez croire, ..., àAgréez, ...., Croyez, ..., à |
l'assurance de
l'expression de |
ma considération distinguée. | |
| mes salutations distinguées. | |||
| mes sentiments distingués. | 1 | ||
| mes sentiments respectueux. | 1 | ||
| mes sentiments dévoués. | 1 | ||
| mes sincères salutations. | |||
| mes respectueux hommages. | 2 | ||
| mes cordiales salutations. | |||
| mes sentiments les meilleurs. | 1 | ||
| mon meilleur souvenir. | 3 | ||
| Je vous adresse, ..., | (skip) | mon bon souvenir. | 3 |
| Recevez, ..., | (skip) | mon fidèle souvenir. | 3 |
Notes (These refer only to the phrases in column C)
- A man should never use "sentiments" when writing to a woman.
- This should only be used by a man writing to a woman.
- These are quite informal - use them carefully. For other informal closing formulas, see my lesson on personal correspondence.
Tips
- The exact salutation that you used to begin
your letter must be used in place of the ... in your closing formula.
- Column B is optional. Leaving it out will make the formula less formal.
Note that if you leave it out, you must drop the à in the Column A
formulas.
- The formulas given here are in the first person singular (je). If you are
writing on behalf of a company, change everything to nous and be sure
to change the verb conjugations to match.
- You can use a pre-closer right before your closing formula, in the same sentence.
More French business letter formulas Sample French business letter
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