What's the proper way to end a formal letter in French?
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 3:05 am
Hi everyone,
I'd be very grateful for any advice on two issues:
1. I'd been under the impression that "Veuillez agréer, Monsieur/Madame, mes salutations distinguées." was generally enough for a formal context. However, Le Monde tells me that that's actually closer to a "formule de politesse non formelle ou amicale" (http://dicocitations.lemonde.fr/formule-politesse.php), which is 100% the opposite of my goal here. I mean, I'm not writing to the Académie française or anything, but this is an important formal letter for a professional context in which I'm trying to present myself in a very positive light. Should I go ahead and go the "Veuillez recevoir, Monsieur, l'assurance de mes sentiments les meilleurs" route? What's the golden rule here?
2. Additionally, I know that the conclusion should correspond to the title block, so if it's addressed to "Monsieur le Directeur", it should then say "veuillez recevoir, Monsieur le Directeur, l'assurance de..." at the end. How does one handle a Monsieur le Directeur adjoint de ______? Should it be Monsieur le Directeur adjoint, given that that's the formal title for the position, or simply Monsieur le Directeur?
Thanks very much in advance!
I'd be very grateful for any advice on two issues:
1. I'd been under the impression that "Veuillez agréer, Monsieur/Madame, mes salutations distinguées." was generally enough for a formal context. However, Le Monde tells me that that's actually closer to a "formule de politesse non formelle ou amicale" (http://dicocitations.lemonde.fr/formule-politesse.php), which is 100% the opposite of my goal here. I mean, I'm not writing to the Académie française or anything, but this is an important formal letter for a professional context in which I'm trying to present myself in a very positive light. Should I go ahead and go the "Veuillez recevoir, Monsieur, l'assurance de mes sentiments les meilleurs" route? What's the golden rule here?
2. Additionally, I know that the conclusion should correspond to the title block, so if it's addressed to "Monsieur le Directeur", it should then say "veuillez recevoir, Monsieur le Directeur, l'assurance de..." at the end. How does one handle a Monsieur le Directeur adjoint de ______? Should it be Monsieur le Directeur adjoint, given that that's the formal title for the position, or simply Monsieur le Directeur?
Thanks very much in advance!