Learning to write in French involves not only learning the French alphabet and French accent marks on letters, but also understanding the punctuation system. At first glance, French punctuation looks very similar to English – after all, many symbols like the period and comma are used in both languages. However, there are important differences in how these French punctuation marks are used. This educational guide will explain the main punctuation marks in French and their rules. We’ll compare them to English punctuation, highlight unique French symbols (like the special French quotation marks), and include tips for beginners. By the end, you’ll know how to punctuate correctly in French – an essential skill for clear writing in the language.

1. Common French Punctuation Marks and Their Names
2. The French Spacing Rule: Extra Spaces Before Punctuation
3. Les Guillemets: Quotation Marks in French
4. Commas, Decimals, and Other Differences
5. French Accent Marks (Diacritics) and Punctuation
6. Key Takeaways for French Punctuation

1. Common French Punctuation Marks and Their Names

Most punctuation symbols you know in English also exist in French, often with similar roles. Here are the main French punctuation marks along with their French names and basic uses:

• Period ( . ) – le point: Marks the end of a sentence, just like an English period . Example: Il fait beau aujourd’hui. (It’s nice out today.) A period in French works the same as in English to indicate a full stop at the end of a statement.

• Comma ( , ) – la virgule: Functions like an English comma, separating parts of a sentence or items in a list. La virgule indicates a brief pause. One key difference is that the French never use an Oxford comma (a comma before the last “and” in a list). For example: J’ai acheté des pommes, des bananes et des oranges. (I bought apples, bananas and oranges.) – Note there is no comma before “et” (and) in French lists. Also, the comma in French has a special role in numbers (explained later).

• Question Mark ( ? ) – le point d’interrogation: Used at the end of a question, same as in English . For example: Comment ça va ? (How are you?) In French, a question mark signals a question and usually comes at the end of the sentence. An interesting detail is that in French typing, a space is placed before the question mark (more on French spacing rules below).

• Exclamation Point ( ! ) – le point d’exclamation: Used to express excitement, commands, or strong emotion , e.g. Génial ! (Great!). It works like the English exclamation point. As with the question mark, French requires a space before the “!” symbol in writing.
• Colon ( : ) – le deux-points: Introduces explanations, lists, or direct speech , similar to English usage. Example: Elle a dit : « Bonjour ». (She said: “Hello.”) Notice that the colon in French is preceded by a space. The colon can also introduce quoted speech (direct quotations are usually introduced by deux-points in French).
• Semicolon ( ; ) – le point-virgule: Functions like an English semicolon to link two related clauses . For instance: Il veut réussir ; il travaille dur. (He wants to succeed; he works hard.) In French, do not capitalize the word after a semicolon (it’s a continuous sentence). A space is placed before and after the semicolon in French text.
• Quotation Marks « » – les guillemets: French uses special angular quotation marks, called guillemets, which look like «  and  » . These are sometimes called French quotation marks or French speech marks. They enclose direct speech or quotations, serving the same purpose as “ ” in English. Example: Il a répondu : « D’accord ». (He replied: “Agreed.”) One important rule is that French quotation marks must have a space (typically a non-breaking space) on the inside: after the opening « and before the closing ». We will discuss guillemets in detail later.
• Apostrophe ( ’ ) – l’apostrophe: The apostrophe in French is used for elision, not for possession. It shows that a vowel has been dropped, usually to avoid two vowels in a row. For example, l’ami (from le ami) or j’aime (from je aime). French apostrophes are equivalent to how we say “can’t” or “I’m” in English, but French uses them with many common words (like l’école for “the school”). Remember that in French punctuation, you do not add ’s to show possession (French uses de or du instead of apostrophe+s).
• Hyphen ( – ) – le trait d’union: A hyphen in French links words that go together, much like in English. You’ll see hyphens in compound words (e.g. arc-en-ciel for “rainbow”), in numbers spelled out (e.g. vingt-et-un for 21), and in verb-subject inversions for questions (e.g. Avez-vous…?). There are no spaces around a hyphen – it directly connects the parts of the word.
• Dash ( — ) – le tiret: French uses the long dash (tiret, similar to an em dash) notably to indicate a change of speaker in dialogues. In novels or scripts, each new speaker’s line often begins with a dash instead of using quotation marks for every line. Aside from dialogue, dashes can set off parenthetical thoughts – again similar to English usage. Just remember that the French dash (tiret) is a bit longer than a hyphen (and often written using the same key on keyboards). No extra spaces are typically added around the dash when used within a sentence.
• Ellipsis ( … ) – les points de suspension: Represented by three dots, as in English. In French, an ellipsis indicates an unfinished thought or omission, the same as in English usage. For example: Je pense que… (I think that…). It always consists of three dots, and if it comes at the end of a sentence, you do not add another period after it – three dots suffice.
• Parentheses ( ( ) ) – les parenthèses: Used to insert additional information or asides, just like English parentheses . For instance: Il vient (si tu veux tout savoir) demain. (He’s coming tomorrow, if you must know.) There’s no special spacing rule; parentheses hug the content inside without extra spaces. If a whole sentence is inside parentheses, the period goes inside as well. For a partial phrase in parentheses at the end of a sentence, the period goes after the closing parenthesis (same as in English).

As you can see, the set of French punctuation symbols is familiar. But some punctuation marks in French have specific rules about spacing and usage that differ from English. Next, we’ll explore those differences – especially the famous question of why French requires spaces before certain punctuation marks.

2. The French Spacing Rule: Extra Spaces Before Punctuation

One of the first differences a beginner notices is that French text often appears to have extra spaces before certain punctuation marks. This is not a typo – it’s a standard rule of French typesetting and punctuation. French adds a space before all “two-part” punctuation marks. A “two-part” (or “double”) punctuation mark means any symbol made of more than one character or a character that has multiple parts in its shape. For example, the question mark ? has a dot and a curve, the exclamation mark ! has a line and a dot – so these count as “two-part” symbols. The colon : and semicolon ; visually have two parts. And the French quotation marks « » consist of a pair of marks. All of these require a space before (and after, when applicable) in French writing.

Here are the main cases of this spacing rule:

• Question marks and exclamation points: In French, you write Comment ça va ? with a space before the ?. Similarly, Incroyable ! has a space before !. Technically, it should be a non-breaking space so that the ? or ! doesn’t end up alone on a new line, but in plain typing people often just use a regular space (on computers, smart punctuation settings may automatically insert a non-breaking space). This rule does not typically apply in Canadian French, which follows English spacing conventions for these marks.
• Colon and semicolon: You always put a space before : and ; in French . For example, Il a dit : viens ici. (He said: Come here.) Notice the space before the colon. A semicolon example: Il pleut ; je prends un parapluie. There is a space before and after the semicolon. These marks are considered “two-part” symbols (a colon is like one dot over another, a semicolon is a comma under a dot). Again, a non-breaking space is ideal so that the punctuation stays attached to the preceding word.
• French quotation marks (guillemets): When using « … » in French, place a space after the opening « and a space before the closing » . For example: J’écoute « La Vie en rose ». The quoted text La Vie en rose is surrounded by French guillemets with spaces inside. These spaces should also be non-breaking to keep the quotes snug with the text. (If you’re typing on a computer, some word processors will handle this automatically. There are also special thin space characters used in professional typesetting.)
• Other symbols: The rule also applies to symbols like the percent sign %, the currency symbols (€ Euro, $ Dollar, etc.), and the number sign # in French. For instance, 50 % (50%) in French has a space before the percent symbol. Prices are written like 20,00 € (with a comma for the decimal and a space before the Euro sign). Even the symbols themselves might come after the number in French (notice the euro sign placed after the amount). So you’d write 75 $ for 75 dollars in French style, not $75. In general, if a symbol has “two parts” or is a currency/percentage sign, French typography puts a space in front of it.

Why this extra-space rule? It dates back to traditional French typography. Historically, characters like ; or ! were made by overprinting two characters on typewriters, so a small space helped separate them. Today, it’s simply a convention that distinguishes French style. Key takeaway: always remember to add a little space before ? ! : ; % € $ and within « » when writing French . If possible, use a non-breaking space so your punctuation mark doesn’t get orphaned on a new line. (Many typing tools will insert it if you have French settings on.)

3. Les Guillemets: Quotation Marks in French

Among the most distinctive symbols of the French language are its quotation marks. English uses “double quotes” (and sometimes ‘single quotes’ for quotes within quotes). French quotation marks use a different format: les guillemets « … ». These look like double angle brackets. For a beginner, encountering « and » in French text might be confusing, but they serve exactly the same purpose as quotation marks in English – to indicate direct speech or a cited phrase.

How to use guillemets: Use the opening guillemet « at the beginning of the quoted speech, and the closing guillemet » at the end. Make sure to include a space after the opening « and before the closing » . Here’s an example of a dialogue in French:

• Marie a dit : « Je viens tout de suite ». Pierre a répondu : « D’accord ».
• (Marie said: “I’m coming right away.” Pierre replied: “Okay.”)

In that example, notice the structure: after dit we see a colon (with a space), then the opening «, then Marie’s words, then the closing », then a period. French often introduces quoted dialogue with a colon. The guillemets go around the entire quote from Marie. Then for Pierre’s reply, again a colon and guillemets.

In extended dialogue (like in books or scripts), French often does not keep using guillemets for every line. Typically, a set of guillemets is used at the start and end of an entire conversation, and each new speaker’s line begins with a dash (tiret). For example:

• « — Tu viens ce soir ?
• — Oui, peut-être.
• — D’accord, à plus tard. »

In the above, the opening « starts the dialogue, each line of speech is preceded by a dash to show a new speaker, and the closing » comes only when the dialogue ends. This style is common in French literature and print. In less formal contexts or online, some writers may use English-style quotes (“ ”), but the standard French quote marks are always « ». If you need to put a quote inside another quote, you can use single guillemets ‹ › for the inner quote (or sometimes English quotes as a secondary level).

Guillemets are a unique French symbol that immediately tells you “this is French writing.” As a beginner, you should practice using « » whenever you write dialogue or quotes in French. Most French keyboard layouts have a way to type them, or you can insert them from a character map. They are definitely among the “symbols of the French” written language that you’ll use often.

4. Commas, Decimals, and Other Differences

Let’s return to the comma (la virgule) and some related punctuation differences between French and English:

• No Oxford Comma: As mentioned earlier, French does not use the Oxford comma in lists. In English, one might write: “rouge, blanc, et bleu” (red, white, and blue) with a comma before “and”. In French, it must be rouge, blanc et bleu – no comma before et. This is a firm rule, so it’s one less comma for you to worry about! Just list items separated by commas, and use et (or ou for “or”) without a preceding comma for the last item.
• Comma as a Decimal Point: A very important convention – in numbers, French uses a comma to denote the decimal point. For example, where English writes 3.14, in French this is 3,14. If something costs €20.50, a French text would write 20,50 €. Conversely, to separate thousands, the French either use a thin space or sometimes a period. So “1,000,000” (one million) in English might appear as 1 000 000 or 1.000.000 in French documents. An example: 87 000 000 $ means $87,000,000. It can be surprising if you’re not used to it – the comma and period swap roles in numerals. Remember: virgule in French means both “comma” and the word for the decimal point. When reading a figure like 3,14 aloud, a French speaker says trois virgule quatorze.
• Abbreviations and Periods: The period (le point) is used in abbreviations similarly to English, with some differences in which abbreviations get a dot. For instance, M. for Monsieur (Mr.), Dr without a dot for Docteur (French often omits the dot in common abbreviations like “Mme” for Madame, whereas English uses “Mrs.” with a period). As a beginner, you don’t need to memorize all these, but be aware that some French abbreviations take a point and others don’t. Also, French titles like M., Mme, Mlle (Mr., Mrs., Miss) are usually followed by a name and do include the period.
• Capitalization after certain punctuation: In English, after a question mark or exclamation, if it ends the sentence, we start a new sentence with a capital letter. In French, the same is true most of the time. However, there are cases, especially in informal writing or certain literary styles, where a question mark or exclamation mark might not signal the end of a full sentence, and the next word can start with a lowercase letter (for example, in a series of rhetorical questions or exclamations within one sentence). This is more of a stylistic nuance; as a beginner, you can treat “?!” as you would in English – usually the end of a sentence.
• Other punctuation: The French dash (—), as noted, is often used for dialogue. Unlike English, you won’t see French using double quotes for every line of speech – they rely on the dash to indicate a new speaker. French brackets “[ ]” (called crochets) are used like English brackets for annotations or editorial comments. French quotation marks we’ve covered. The apostrophe deserves reiteration: never add ’s for possession in French (e.g., “John’s book” becomes le livre de John). The apostrophe is strictly for contractions like c’est (it is) or l’enfant (the child) – which are very frequent in French.

5. French Accent Marks (Diacritics) and Punctuation

No discussion of writing in French would be complete without mentioning French accents. While accent marks are not punctuation (they’re actually part of the spelling of words), beginner learners often lump them together with other writing symbols. French uses several accent marks (diacritical marks) on vowels and one on the letter c. These include l’accent aigu (é), l’accent grave (à, è, ù), l’accent circonflexe (â, ê, î, ô, û), le tréma (ë, ï, ü, ÿ) and la cédille (ç). The French alphabet has the same 26 base letters as English, but many letters can carry these accent symbols. They are integral to the French language: French words with accents must always have them – an accent is not optional or decorative, it can entirely change the meaning and pronunciation of a word. In other words, a word without its required accent is considered mal orthographié (misspelled, or “incorrectly spelled”).

For example, consider the word ou vs. où. Ou (without accent) means “or,” while où (with accent grave) means “where.” Just a tiny grave accent on the u makes a big difference in meaning. Another example: année (year) has an é and an e’s, while annee would be a typo – the accents are part of the correct spelling. Beginners should take care to include the proper accent marks on French words. It might help to remember that these French accent marks are also called French diacritical marks – they guide pronunciation and sometimes distinguish different words.

While accent marks are not punctuation, they are symbols of the French language just as much as punctuation marks are. You will encounter them frequently, and you should learn their usage alongside punctuation. Here are a couple of quick pointers about accents (since we’re aiming for a comprehensive overview):

• Accents and capitalization: Traditionally, French sometimes left accents off capital letters (like writing Ecole instead of École). However, the modern view (and especially in educational contexts and outside France, like in Québec) is that capital letters should have their accents. So if you need to write Éducation at the start of a sentence, keep the accent on the É. It’s considered correct to include it, and leaving it off can be seen as a spelling mistake nowadays.
• Typing French accents: If you’re typing on an English keyboard, you’ll need to learn keyboard shortcuts or use special character insertions for accents (e.g., ALT codes for Windows, Option key combinations on Mac). Since this article is about punctuation, we won’t dive into the details, but suffice it to say, there are many resources to help type French accent marks easily.
• Accents vs. punctuation: Don’t confuse the role of accents with punctuation. Accents change how a letter is pronounced (and can change a word’s meaning), whereas punctuation like commas and periods structure the sentence. For instance, éléphant has an acute accent, but that doesn’t affect where you’d put a comma or period in a sentence – punctuation rules operate at the sentence level, accent marks operate at the word level.

6. Key Takeaways for French Punctuation

Writing in French with correct punctuation might feel daunting at first, but it boils down to a few clear rules. Here is a summary of key points and differences to remember:

• Similar symbols, new rules: French uses the same basic punctuation symbols as English (period, comma, question mark, etc.), but many require a space before and/or after when written. This includes ? ! : ; % € and the « » quotes. Always insert a space (ideally a non-breaking space) in those cases.
• Quotes and dialogue: Writing French quotations requires les guillemets – use « » for quoted text. For dialogue, French often uses a dash (tiret) at the beginning of lines to indicate a new speaker. Don’t use English-style quotes for primary dialogue in French.
• No Oxford comma: In French lists, do not put a comma before the conjunction (et, ou) at the end of the list. Just write A, B et C.
• Numbers format: French formatting of numbers is different – use a comma as the decimal point and a space (or dot) to separate thousands. For example, 1,5 (French) = 1.5 (English); 1 000 000 = 1,000,000. Also, write currency symbols after the number with a space (e.g., 10,00 € for €10.00).
• Accents are mandatory: Always include the correct French accent marks on letters – they are part of the spelling and not optional. Omitting an accent can turn sûr (sure) into sur (on) – a different word – or just a misspelling. Think of accents as an integral part of writing French, just like the letters of the French alphabet themselves.
• Apostrophes and possession: Use apostrophes for contractions (j’aime, l’hiver) but never for possession (say la voiture de Paul for “Paul’s car,” not Paul’s voiture). This is a common beginner mistake due to English influence.
• Practice with context: Finally, practice reading French text to see punctuation in action. French newspapers, books, or even French learning apps will expose you to these French punctuation symbols used correctly. Over time, it will become natural to put an espace insécable (non-breaking space) before a ? or to open quotes with « instead of “ once you’ve seen it enough.

By keeping these guidelines in mind, you’ll write French more confidently and correctly. Proper punctuation (and accents) make your writing clear and professional in any language. Bonne écriture – happy writing! And remember: « La ponctuation française, c’est facile ! » (“French punctuation is easy!”) – especially now that you know the rules and how they compare to English.