An Overview of Capitalization in French
Many words that are capitalized in English are not capitalized in French. The main categories of words that are different in French are:
a) The pronoun je, e.g.:
- Elle pense que je suis beau.
b) Days of the week, e.g.:
c) Months of the year, e.g.:
- Mon frère est né en novembre.
d) Names of languages, e.g.:
- Laurie apprend le français.
e) Adjectives referring to nationalities, e.g.:
- Ma cousine est française.
f) Names of religions, e.g.:
- Il est chrétien.
- Le hindouisme.
There are cases where French does use a capital letter. The main instances are:
a) At the beginning of a sentence, e.g.:
- Elle travaille. Je me repose.
b) When referring to the speaker of a language (or a noun describing one's nationality), e.g.:
- Les Espagnols adorent la plage.
c) Holidays, e.g.:
d) Proper names, e.g.:
- Terry, Luc, Marie, Richard, Sarah, la France, etc.
Questions about Capitalization
Q: Should I write français or Français?
It depends. When you are referring to a language that is spoken, do not use a capital letter, for example, je parle le français; elle étudie l'anglais. However, if you are referring to a person then a capital is necessary, e.g.: on dit que les Français adorent le pain; je connais un Anglais d'Angleterre. The tricky part is that if you use an adjective referring to a person, it does NOT take a capital letter. For example, mon professeur est français, ma voisine est anglaise. As such, if the word is preceded by être it should probably begin with a lower case letter.
Q: Why is it Paul arrive vendredi and NOT Paularrive Vendredi?
Names of the week are not capitalized in French.
Q: Why is it Joseph pense que je suis gentil and NOT Joseph pense que Je suis gentil?
The word je is only capitalized at the beginning of sentence.
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