Capitalization of French nouns

By Business Language Translators

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There are several differences between French and English capitalisation of nouns to watch out for, all of which involve words which take a capital in English but not in French:

Days of the week:

• Monday - lundi

Months:

• January - janvier

Seasons:

• Autumn – l’automne

Some geographical words:

1) Street, Avenue etc.:

• Moliere Street – rue Moliere
• Victor Hugo Avenue – avenue Victor Hugo

2) Certain geographical features such as seas, oceans, mountains etc. (although the proper name of any of these features is capitalised, as any proper names are):

• Mediterranean Sea – la mer Méditerranée
• Mont Blanc – le mont Blanc

Titles which precede a proper noun:

• Professor Renault - Le professeur Renault
• President Chirac - Le président Chirac

Languages:

• French – le français

Nationalities and regions if used as adjectives:

• The American people – Le peuple américain
• Parisian life – la vie parisienne

But not if they are used as nouns:

• An American - Un Américain

Note: the name of countries, as proper names, are capitalised in French as in English:

• America – l‘Amérique

Most Religions:

The names of most religions, whether as proper names or adjectives, as well as the name of their adherents, are not capitalised in French apart from a few exceptions:

The Religion as a Noun:

• Christianity – le christianisme
• Buddhism – le bouddhisme
• Judaism – le judaïsme
• Hinduism – le hindouisme

The Religion as an Adjective:

• Christian – chrétien
• Jew – juif
• Hindu – hindou
• Buddhist – bouddhiste
• Muslim – musulman

Name of Adherents:

• a Christian – un chrétien
• a Muslim – un musulman
• a Jew – un juif

The exceptions are:

The Religion as a Noun:

• Islam - l’Islam

Name of Adherents:

• a Hindu - un Hindou
• a Buddhist - un Bouddhiste

Accents on capitals?

Traditionally, only Canadian French accents its capital letters, but the distinction has become more relaxed in recent years.

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