The 16 French Capitalization Rules You Need to Know

Do you know the most important French capitalization rules? French shares an alphabet and certain basic grammar and punctuation rules with a number of languages, including English. But certain things, like capitalization, can be very different.

French capitalization rules aren’t necessarily the same as they are in English. As a general rule, there’s less capitalization in French than there is in English, for one thing. And in certain cases, French capitalization can be a bit more free-form.

Learning all of the rules of French capitalization and the reasoning behind them can make you fall into a rabbit hole. Luckily, there are certain rules that you’ll come across often and these are the ones most of us will need to know. In fact, you may know several of them already or instinctively, depending on the other languages you’re familiar with.

Let’s look at these must-know French capitalization rules.

16 essential French capitalization rules

When it comes to the French most of us will read and write, these are the most important French capitalization rules to know:

1.Always capitalize proper names. 

There is one exception: if a preposition (usually de, d’, du, de la, or de l’) is included in the name, this is kept lowercase.

Examples:

Louise Michel

Napoléon Bonaparte

Cyrano de Bergerac

Madame d’Aulnoy

Robin des Bois

2.Capitalize a person’s title (honorific) if there’s no article in front of it and it’s followed by their last name.

If you’re using an honorific to refer to someone politely but are not using their last name, keep the honorific lowercase (this is the equivalent of using ma’am and sir in English).

For instance:

Bonjour Monsieur Dubois. (Hello Monsieur Dubois.)

Pardon, monsieur. (Excuse me, sir.)

Also, as a general rule, you’ll use an article with a title if you’re not directly addressing the person in question.

For example:

Bonjour Docteur Dupont. (Hello, Dr. Dupont.)

Je vais prendre rendez-vous chez le docteur Dupont. (I’m going to make an appointment with Dr. Dupont.)

Here are some additional examples:

J’ai vu Madame Florent au marché ce matin. (I saw Madame Florent at the market this morning.)

Bonjour Monsieur Courbet. (Hello Monsieur Courbet.)

Excusez-moi monsieur, est-ce qu’il y a un arrêt de bus par ici ? (Excuse me, sir, is there a bus stop near here?)

Mon enseignant préféré est le professeur Duchamp. (My favorite teacher is Professor Duchamp.)

Il a pu rencontrer le président Macron ! (He got to meet President Macron!)

3.Always capitalize the letter of the word that starts a sentence.

Examples:

Il était une fois une princesse qui voulait devenir sorcière. (Once upon a time there was a princess who wanted to become a witch.)

Quel est ton mot préféré en français ? (What is your favorite word in French?)

4.Always capitalize the greeting /opening word of a letter or email.

Examples:

Cher Thomas, (Dear Thomas,)

Bonjour Yvonne, (Hello/Hi Yvonne)

5.Do not capitalize je, unless it’s at the beginning of a sentence.

Je means “I”, but unlike the word “I”, je doesn’t have to be capitalized in French.

Here’s an example:

J’aime les chats mais je n’aime pas leurs griffes !  (I love cats but I don’t love their claws!)

6.Always capitalize a street's name, except for small words that might be in the middle of it.

Note that words like rue (street), avenue, boulevard, etc. don’t need to be capitalized.

Examples:

avenue Foche

rue des Peupliers

rue du Chat-qui-Pêche

7.Always capitalize the name of a country, continent, region, city, or specific geographic or man-made location. 

But note that unless it’s at the start of a sentence, you usually will not capitalize the article used with a country/place name. And as in general, don't capitalize small words like de.

Examples:

la France

les Etats-Unis

Dunkerque

le Mont Blanc

la Seine

Notre-Dame

8.Capitalize a nationality or other type of geographical or ethnic group name when it’s used as a noun but not when it’s used as an adjective.

For example:

C’est une chanteuse américaine. (She’s an American singer.)

Beaucoup d’Américains rêvent de visiter la France. (Lots of Americans dream of visiting France.)

9.Never capitalize a language.

Although countries and other specific places are usually capitalized in French, languages are not.

Examples:

 Je parle français. (I speak French.) 

Beaucoup de gens trouvent que l’italien est une très belle langue. (Lots of people think that Italian is a very beautiful language.)

10.Religions and the nouns and adjectives referring to them aren’t capitalized. (With three possible exceptions.)

Religions and the nouns and adjectives referring to them aren’t capitalized in French - but in many French grammar guides and the like, you’ll often see three exceptions mentioned:  l’Islam, Hindou, and Bouddhiste.

In current French usage, however, I rarely see these words capitalized. You can check this yourself by doing an online search for each of these words.

Interestingly, le dictionnaire Larousse lists bouddhiste and hindou only in lowercase letters. Its entry for islam explains that the word is capitalized when referring not to the religion on its own but rather to the people or culture associated with it.

You may also see other religions capitalized in certain cases. It may be due to the cultural context, or maybe to show respect. For instance, an article on a Paris tourism website has a page entitled: Le temple Sikh de Bobigny, le plus important lieu de culte en France. Typically, following the rules of French capitalization, the word sikh should be lowercase.

Examples:

C’est un chef-d'œuvre de l’art chrétien. (It’s a masterpiece of Christian art.)

Il y a plusieurs temples bouddhistes à Paris. (There are several Buddhist temples in Paris.)

Hanoukka est une fête juive. (Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday.)

11.Never capitalize seasons, months, or days of the week.

Examples:

Elle est née le mardi 24 octobre. (She was born on Tuesday, October 24.)

Il fait froid aujourd’hui. Je vais porter mon manteau d’hiver. (It’s cold today. I’m going to wear my winter coat.)

12.In general, don’t capitalize the name of a movement, philosophy, or principle.

For instance:

l’impresssionisme (Impressionism)

la démocratie (democracy)

le surréalisme (Surrealism)

There are a few exceptions to this rule. For instance, if the founders of the belief/philosophy specifically chose to capitalize its name, or if capitalization clarifies that it's not referring to a general idea.

These exceptions include:

l’Art nouveau (Art Nouveau)

La Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave)

13.Always capitalize the name of a newspaper or magazine, TV station, website, shop, restaurant, etc. (unless the name is intentionally written with a lowercase letter).

Examples:

Le Monde

Charlie Hebdo

M6

YouTube

Auchan

Chez Julien

14.Always capitalize the first word (or the first word and its article) in the title of a film, book, story, TV show, etc.

The other words will usually be kept lower-case, unless they’re proper names or other types of words that would normally be capitalized.

Sometimes other words in a title will also be capitalized if they refer to characters or concepts of equal importance. For example: Le Lion, la Sorcière blanche et l'Armoire magique (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). Note that this particular example shows another, more complex French title capitalization rule: If a capitalized word is paired with an adjective, the adjective is usually kept lowercase.

Here are some examples:

La Gloire de mon père

La Belle et la Bête

Kiffe-kiffe demain

Notre-Dame de Paris

Le Rouge et le Noir

But if there’s any French capitalization rule on this list that’s less important than the others, this is it.

The French are usually sticklers for proper grammar and spelling. But for some reason, when it comes to title capitalization, things often get a bit loosy-goosey. So, in one totally reputable source, you might see the title Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, while in another, equally reputable source, you’d see the same title capitalized Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, and if you ask a French person their favorite film, they might write it: Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. 

Some of these variations might be due to a website, periodical, or book’s formatting rules, but I often find that French people are just a lot more relaxed about title capitalization in general. When it’s your turn to capitalize a title, to be on the safe side, try to stick to the official rule, though.

If you want to know more about how to capitalize titles in French, this comment thread on the Criterion website has some interesting examples. But again, remember that not every French person - even someone like a professional journalist, writer, or film critic - is guaranteed to always know and respect these rules.

15.Acronyms are usually written in all caps. 

French is full of acronyms (words formed by the beginning letters of a group of words), and in general these are kept in all capital letters (except for the article that might go with them). BUT note that the words the acronyms are derived from usually aren’t all capitalized. Usually, only the first word begins with a capital letter.

For example:

un CV -  Curriculum vitae (CV, resume)

la SNCF - La Société nationale des chemins de fer français (the French national railroad company)

16.French last names (and sometimes first/middle names) are usually written in all capital letters in contracts, birth certificates, and other important documents. 

You’ll also sometimes see last names written in all capital letters when people send mail, although not always.

Example:

Je soussigné Monsieur Michel DUPONT atteste héberger à mon domicile Madame Claire HEBERT. (I, the undersigned, Monsieur Michel Dupont, confirm that I am housing Madame Claire HEBERT at my place of residence.)

Note that in many French official documents, the last name is listed first, so it would be equally as common to see: Monsieur DUPONT Michel, and Madame HEBERT Claire.

Where can I learn more about French capitalization rules?

Our list includes the most important French capitalization rules, but as with most things language-related, you could get a lot more complex and specific if you’re into that sort of thing.

The French Wikipedia entry on French capitalization rules is an absolutely mind-blowing list that includes highly specific examples and highly grammatical explanations. Grammar fans and perfectionists should definitely give it a read!

But most of us will learn French grammar rules by reading, listening to, and speaking French. Try to observe details in things like French books, news articles, emails, and titles. Even a conversational French learning app like the French Together app can be a helpful way to practice French capitalization, since you can read lines from the dialogues in each lesson - not to mention easily look at entire transcripts.

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For English-speakers, French capitalization rules can seem intuitive in some ways and mind-blowing in others. But the more you practice French, the more you’ll get used to them. Bonne continuation, les amis ! (Happy continued learning, friends!)