help my french!

[Cycle To]

Another tip - always use Monsieur/Madame/Mademoiselle as appropriate.

I've found they are much more helpful and friendly if you add this to greetings, farewells, requests and just about every other sentence. I couldn't understand why they were a bit sniffy with me even when I always used please and thankyou and thought I was being polite. It turns out that being polite in French is about using Madame/Monsieur too.

 

[yello]

It turns out that being polite in French is about using Madame/Monsieur too.

Not just polite, it's darned near habitual!

Plus also it's often used in place of 'bonjour' and/or as some kind of acknowledgement. Walk into a shop or cafe and the other clients/consumers will say 'monsieur'.... nothing else, just 'monsieur'! Same goes for waiting rooms, bus stops etc. It still catches me out and I don't find it natural at all to do myself.

I suspect it's done more in less populated or rural areas, and is probably dying out.