I started noticing that in French, there’s always a space before exclamation marks and question marks. I used to think it was a typo, but then I saw it again and again until I realized that there’s a difference between French and English in punctuation. So I looked it up and decided to make a post about it, since I couldn’t find any inclusive posts about this subject. So here goes!
Names of Punctuation Marks in French:
Full stop/period (.) = le point
Colon (:) = les deux-points
Semi-colon (;) = le point-virgule
Exclamation mark (!) = le point d’exclamation
Question mark (?)= le point d’interrogation
Quotation marks (“ ”)= les guillemets (« »)
Hyphen (-) = le trait d’union
Dash/M-dash (—) = le tiret
Ellipsis (…) = les points de suspension
Round brackets ( ) = les parenthèses
Square brackets [ ] = les crochets
I. One-part punctuation marks:
These are: the period (.) and the comma (,)
◘ Just like in English: there is no space before the period or the comma, but there is a space after them. So, nothing new here!
◘ When it comes to numerals, the period and comma are opposites in the two languages:
2.5 (two point five) = 2,5 (deux virgule cinq)
2,500 (two thousand five hundred) = 2.500 (deux mille cinq cents)
◘ The serial comma (or Oxford comma; the one that precedes the “and” in a list) is not used in French (as opposed to being optional in English). So you say: J'ai acheté un livre, deux stylos et du papier but not J'ai acheté un livre, deux stylos, et du papier.
II. Two-part punctuation marks:
These include : ; « » ! ? % $ #
◘ In French, a space is required both before and after all two- (or more) part punctuation marks and symbols.
◘ Quotation marks (“ ”) don’t exist in French! Instead, les guillemets (« ») are used. Note that they are not just two angle brackets typed together like << >>, and to type them (using the international keyboard on Windows) use ctrl+alt+[ and ctrl+alt+]
◘ Another big difference between English and French is that guillemets are usually used only at the beginning and end of an entire conversation. Unlike in English, where any non-speech is found outside of the quotation marks, in French guillemets do not end when an incidental clause (he said, she smiled, etc.) is added. To indicate that a new person is speaking, a tiret (dash) is added.
In English, a conversation can be written like this:
“Hi Jean!” Pierre says. “How are you?”
“Oh, hi Pierre!” shouts Jeanne.
“Did you have a nice weekend?”
“Yes, thanks,” she responds. “But—”
“Wait, I have to tell you something important.”
But in French, it’s written like this:
« Salut Jeanne ! dit Pierre. Comment vas-tu ?
— Ah, salut Pierre ! crie Jeanne.
— As-tu passé un bon weekend ?
— Oui, merci, répond-elle. Mais…
— Attends, je dois te dire quelque chose d'important ».
That’s about it! More information on this subject can be found here:
French Punctutation (La Ponctuation)
Wordreference Forums Discussion on French Punctuation
Punctuation Rules for Canadian French
Names of punctuation symbols in French
NOTE: Apparently, there are a few differences in punctuation rules between Canadian French and French French (or European French), check the links above.
Oh! And if you find any mistakes or something missing, please let me know :)
