Good French phrases for writing? (1 Viewer)

[Sugar]

Bonjour a tous!

I was wondering if anyone knew sophisticated ways of opening and closing a letter. I've been using, par exemple, "Chere Maman, Comment vas-tu?" and it's so bland. :S

And any phrases that I can shove in my writing that would sound good?

Thanks in advance.

 

[lourai*87]

Context? I have a whole sheet on that that i can dig up later i suppose.

If youre say overseas and writing home to mum "Tu me manques beaucoup!" (I miss you lots). That could go at the end actually. Ill get back to you.

 

[frenchie]

Salut Sugar,

If you are writing to a friend/family you could start with the following:
I'm thinking here of a more personal letter...
openings -
cher/chère
Merci de ta dernière lettre (thankyou for your last letter) Tes nouvelles m'ont fait plaisir. (I was glad to hear of your news)

endings -
En attendant ta réponse (I look forward to hearing from you)
Très amicalement
Bien amicalement , (Nice way of ending a letter) or
Je t'embrasse (For someone you are very close to, lit.)

If the letter is more formal then there are a myriad of salutations * apprendre! If you specify the type of letter I could help some more

 

[Kazuya]

"J'espère que tu vas bien", though it's pretty much the same as comment vas-tu...

Or something like "Ca fait longtemps depuis que je t'ai écrit - désolé" (Been a long time since I wrote you...sorry), then you can provide a reason for that... sounds a bit more natural, as if you're really writing to your mum, rather than opening with that whole 'hi how are you' stuff all the time.

With phrases if you use those more advanced things like relative pronouns, subjunctive, reflexive, conditional, pluperfect etc. just remember to make it relevant to the question, eg. try not to make something too complex just for the sake of it.

Anyway for closing i often used to write "écris-moi vites...je m'ennuie a' mourir" (i'm bored to death), but it only works eg. if you're writing from summer camp The easiest thing is to end with a question and then bye/write back quickly/etc.

 

[Sugar]

Thankyou lourai*87, frenchie and Kazuya! I'm writing those phrases down.

Context? I have a whole sheet on that that i can dig up later i suppose.

If youre say overseas and writing home to mum "Tu me manques beaucoup!" (I miss you lots). That could go at the end actually. Ill get back to you.

My intention was personal letter, but if you know any phrases for professional situations (like applying for a job), please let me know.

Thankyou guys!!

 

[haack_m]

don't forget a nice simple one,


Bonjour tout le monde (hello everyone), its formal but not too formal

 

[jesza]

Bonjour a tous

I have the same problem

Although mines a speech

I cant seem to make it more interesting

This is what I keep using

Bonjour tout le monde

Je suis tres contente de vous parler aujourd'hui, mais malheuresment le sujet n'est pas tres positif.... (go on to talk about bullying or becoming more environmentally friendly)

NEED HELP

Merci

 

[ElGronko]

je mange caca.

 

[Lileane]

Well...that's just charming.

 

[lourai*87]

N'inquiétes pas...il est pessimiste

 

[MarsBarz]

je mange caca.

Wrong.
Je mange du caca. Knobhead!

 

[lalaurenisme]

Writing to a teenage girl, use "Coucou Sandrine!" All my letters from France contain that header!

Also, for informal letters, writing phrases like "Ca va? Moi, j'ai la pêche. (Everything's peachy)" is good. Amicalement is a good signing off for all letters.

 

[courtney123]

When you approach the letter do so with care. Take the index finger on you writing hand and place it under the 'flip top' of the envelope. Be sure not to contract a paper cut from this action. You then just have to pull the letter out and read it.... ok??

 

[courtney123]

lalaurenisme you are the worst french writer ever!! when you said "Ca va? Moi, j'ai la pêche. (Everything's peachy)" it actually translates to "how are you? Me, I have the peach." meaning you have a little vag in Australian colloquial language!!!!!!!!!!

 

[marchetta]

"J’écris une lettre que je n’enverrai jamais"

 

[marchetta]

lalaurenisme you are the worst french writer ever!! when you said "Ca va? Moi, j'ai la pêche. (Everything's peachy)" it actually translates to "how are you? Me, I have the peach." meaning you have a little vag in Australian colloquial language!!!!!!!!!!

Good point. An expression like that can be misinterpreted by an examiner.