Professional French kept something English let go of: the formule de politesse, the fixed closing formula that ends almost every message. English business writing moved to "Thanks" and "Best" decades ago. French did not, and an email that stops after the last sentence of content reads, to a French colleague, as though it was cut off mid-thought.
What is the structure of a French professional email?
Five parts, in a fixed order: greeting, purpose, body, closing formula, signature. The purpose sentence and the closing formula are the two that learners skip, and both are noticed.
The skeleton, with the pieces that actually vary:
- Greeting: Bonjour Madame Bertrand, or Bonjour, with a colleague. Madame, Monsieur, when you do not know the recipient
- Purpose: one sentence saying why you are writing: Je me permets de vous contacter au sujet de... I am contacting you regarding...
- Body: short paragraphs, one idea each
- Closing formula: Cordialement, on its own line
- Signature: first name, surname, role
A complete short example:
Bonjour Madame Bertrand,
Je me permets de vous contacter au sujet du devis envoyé le 12 mars. Nous souhaiterions ajuster le périmètre avant validation.
Seriez-vous disponible pour un échange en début de semaine prochaine ?
Cordialement, Yann Darmon
Note Je me permets de, literally "I allow myself to". It has no natural English equivalent and it is everywhere in French professional writing. It softens the approach, and its absence is one of the clearest signals that a message was written by an English speaker translating in their head.
Which closing formula should you use?
Cordialement covers almost everything. Reach for the longer formulas only in formal letters, and never invent a hybrid.
| Closing | Register | Use it with |
|---|---|---|
| Cordialement | Neutral, standard | Colleagues, clients, anyone, every day |
| Bien cordialement | Slightly warmer | People you work with often |
| Bien à vous | Warm, still professional | Contacts you have a good relationship with |
| Respectueusement | Formal, deferential | Hierarchy, institutions, rare in email |
| Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées | Very formal | Letters, administrations, job applications |
That last one is real, it is long, and it must be reproduced exactly. It is also a common trap: learners meet it in a textbook, assume formality is always safer, and end a two-line message to a teammate with a sentence built for a letter to a ministry. The effect is closer to comic than respectful.
Which English habits do not transfer?
Three, and each one marks the writer immediately.
- Starting with "I hope this email finds you well." There is no natural French equivalent, and J'espère que cet email vous trouve bien is a literal translation that reads as foreign. French goes straight to the purpose sentence
- Using the first name alone as a greeting. Claire, on its own line is an English convention. French needs Bonjour in front of it
- Ending with Merci alone. It works between close colleagues, but on a first contact it can feel abrupt. Je vous remercie par avance is the standard pre-thanks, and En vous remerciant is its shorter cousin
Two more phrases worth memorising, because they cover most of what a professional email has to do:
- Pourriez-vous me confirmer... Could you confirm for me... The polite request
- Restant à votre disposition, Remaining at your disposal, placed just before the closing formula when you expect a reply
Conclusion
Email is where most professionals are judged in French, because it is written, it is kept, and it is forwarded to people who never heard you speak. Getting the shape right takes about a week of deliberate practice and a few corrections on your real messages. That is something we do directly in lessons: bring an email you need to send, and we will fix the register before you press send. The first lesson at frenchwithyann.com is free, and business French is the part I know best, from seven years of writing these emails myself before I taught them.
Common questions
Is Cordialement too cold?
No, it is the standard neutral close, the equivalent of Best regards. It is what most French professionals use with people they work with regularly and is never a wrong choice.
Do I still need Madame, Monsieur if I know the person?
Use their name once you know it: Bonjour Madame Bertrand, or simply Bonjour Claire with a colleague. Madame, Monsieur is for when you do not know who will read it.
Can I just write Bonjour with nothing after it?
With colleagues, yes, it is now completely normal. For a first contact with a client or an administration, add the title, because a bare Bonjour can read as casual.