Hyphens and Dashes - Le Tiret et le trait d'union
Using French punctuation for links, lists, dialogues, and more
Hyphens and m-dashes are important in both English and French, but they are considerably more common in the latter. This lesson explains when, why, and how to use hyphens and m-dashes in French.
| I. | Trait d'union - Hyphen | No space before or after | ||
| A. | Rapport : Indicate a link between words or parts of words. | |||
| 1. | Compound words | grand-mère, couvre-lit, quatre-vingts | ||
| 2. | Hyphenated names | Jean-Luc, Marie-Lise | ||
| 3. | Imperative + pronoun | aide-moi, fais-le, allez-y | ||
| 4. | Inversion | veux-tu, pouvez-vous, a-t-il | ||
| 5. | Prefixes | non-fumeur, quasi-collision | ||
| 6. | Set expressions | c'est-à-dire, vis-à-vis | ||
| 7. | Suffixes | celui-ci, cet homme-là | ||
| B. |
Césure : Link the parts of a word
that breaks at the end of a line
such as Je veux aller à la bou- tique. |
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| II. | Tiret — M-dash | Space before and after | ||
| A. | Éléments d'une liste : | |||
| — deux bananes — une pomme — un kilo de fraises |
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| B. | Incise : Emphasize a comment (aside, interjection, etc) | |||
| Quand j'étais à la banque — quelle horreur ! — je l'ai vu. | ||||
| Paul — mon meilleur ami — va arriver demain. | ||||
| C. | Dialogue : Indicate each change of speaker | |||
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— J'ai vu Michel aujourd'hui. — Ah bon ? — Oui, il était avec sa fille. |
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French Punctuation Symbols and Punctuation Marks |
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