Periods, and commas, and colons! Oh My!

"Ah ! La ponctuation ! Comme cela exaspère ! Ou… Au contraire, comme elle sied bien à la compréhension de ce qui pourrait être illisible et totalement inaccessible à la logique humaine et surtout follement essoufflant sans cette petite virgule… Fort à propos !"

Punctuation can seem dull, but just try reading long texts without it. Or, try sounding like a professional without using it – good luck.

You may have seen this little exercise before –

– Add the appropriate punctuation to the following phrase:

Woman without her man is nothing

Try it! What does your sentence look like? What does it mean? …

You didn't do it, did you?

Go on. I'll wait.

…

                            …

                                                            …

Okay. Usually, the punctuation of this sentence breaks down along gender lines. Men tend to punctuate it like this:

Woman without her man, is nothing.

or

Woman, without her man, is nothing.

Women tend to punctuate it like this:

Woman, without her, man is nothing.

 

What did I tell you? Punctuation is important after all. It's the key to who wins the battle of the sexes.

Punctuation is equally important in French, but (and here's the kicker) it doesn't follow all the same rules in English. Why should it? Where would be the fun in that?

Fortunately, I just recently discovered a straightforward, clearly organized website all about French punctuation – in French no less! Check it out or bookmark it for the next time you have to write an essay in French class or a business letter to a French colleaugue. Are you writing a little marketing phrase in French for an American business? Why not get the punctuation right?

La Ponctuation

The really great thing about this site for anglophones? It points out the differences between French and English punctuation. So thoughtful of the authors!

 

(There are some differences between European French punctuation and Canadian French punctuation. I'm less certain about other varieties of French. This website refers to European French. If you know anything about any other francophone countries and how their punctuation differs from that of France, let me know!)