The following table shows how plurals are formed for various compound nouns:

Noun + noun: Usually, both nouns take the plural ending: des oiseauxmouches, des locations-ventes. There are some exception but they can be quite logical: des timbres-poste (= des timbres pour la poste), des annéeslumière, des gardes-chasse (de la chasse)

Noun + preposition + noun: Only the first noun takes the plural ending: des arcs-en-ciel. Here again, there are some exceptions: des tête-à-tête, des pot-au-feu.

Adjective + noun: Both nouns take the plural ending: des basses-cours. Exception: the adjective grand + feminine noun takes the plural but does not take the feminine 'e': des grands-mères.

Adjective demi + noun : doesn't change: des demi-journées. Also they are always separated by a hyphen.

Adjective + adjective: Both adjectives take the plural ending: des sourdsmuets.

Verb + noun: 1. Only the noun takes the plural ending: des tire-bouchons; des tourne-disques.

2. Neither the verb nor the noun take the plural ending: des abat-jour

Invariable word + noun: Only the noun takes the plural ending: des avantscènes; des non-lieux.

Verb + verb: No plural agreement: des laissez-passer.

Foreign words: The last noun takes the plural ending: Des snack-bars, des pull-overs, les week-ends

No plural agreement: des post-scriptum

The formal forms of address are not capitalised apart from Madame, Monsieur, Messieurs, Mademoiselle. These are written in lower-case in the following circumstances:

- In a letter when you write about a person that is known to the addressee.
E.g.: J'ai eu l'occasion de rencontrer votre cousin, monsieur Durant.
- In a dialogue. E.g.: Voyez-vous, monsieur, je pense que& - Merci, madame.
- When an article, a possessive or a demonstrative is placed before Monsieur and others.
E.g.: J'en ai parlé à ce monsieur et il est d'accord.

Section Two - Punctuation

1. Full stops: Full stops are not used at the end of headings, titles, subtitles, addresses, dates, no. of pages. E.g.: Le 20 mars 1984 - Page 11.

Please note that etc is followed by one full stop and not & (etc.)

2. Speech marks: The French quotation marks must always be used: « and ». " and " are English and should not be used in French text. On the other hand, ' and ' can be used when a quote or a speech is within another quote or speech.

Unlike English, French does not always have to have closing and re-opening speech marks around a phrase, like 'he said' when it is embedded within dialogue.

« Je veux plus de travail ! », cria Chloé. ("Give me more work!", shouted Chloe.)

« Et il s'est exclamé 'Quelqu'un veut du thé ?' comme il aime à le faire. ». ("Would anyone like some tea?" asked George.)

« Je m'ennuie. » dit Michelle, « Puis-je rentrer chez moi ? » ("I'm bored - can I go home now?", Michala said.)

3. The apostrophe: The apostrophe is used for elision purposes, especially with an article followed by a vowel. E.g.: L'anglais, l'imprimante.

4. Colons and semi-colons: Colons and semi-colons are preceded by a space (preferably non breakable) and the word following them is not capitalised. The word following ellipsis is usually capitalised.

5. Brackets: The brackets are as follows: ( and ). The following rules apply:

- If the text in brackets is a complete sentence (subject + verb at least), there is a full stop BEFORE the closing bracket. E.g.: Nettoyez l'imprimante.

(Utilisez de préférence un chiffon doux.)

- If the text in brackets is a part of another main sentence, there is not full stop before the closing bracket. E.g.: Utilisez un chiffon (doux et non pelucheux) pour nettoyez l'imprimante.

The square brackets are used when there are already brackets.

6. Capitalisation: The capitalisation rules are similar to English in the use of capitals at the beginning of sentences and for proper names, but French doesn't use capitals as often as English. Please note:

- In headings, usually only the first word has a capital letter and the rest of the words in the title are lower case.

- Names of days/seasons/months are always in lower case, e.g. lundi, mardi/printemps, été/janvier, février.

- Languages (anglais, italien, espagnol, etc.) are never capitalised in French. Capitals are only used when it refers to the people. E.g.: les Français, les Espagnols.

- Product names are also normally in lower case, apart from the first word of a sentence or phrase.

- The noun following a comma, a colon or a semi-colon is never capitalised.

The noun following an exclamation mark or an interrogation mark is usually capitalised.

Bulleted lists:

The rules are as follows:

- If the bulleted items are full sentences (subject + verb), each starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

- If the bulleted items are phrases or just words, they are not capitalised and all end with a semi- colon apart from the last item that ends with a full stop.

Space in punctuation: French always has a space before and after the following punctuation marks: : ; ! ? (preferably a non-breakable space).

Section Three - Measurements and Abbreviations

1. Measurement: Metric system is used except for computer monitors (inches), inner diameter of pipes/tubes, nautical miles and size of computer disks.

Numbers use a comma to denote decimals and a non-breakable space as the thousands separator (not a dot!). E.g.: 4,5 cm - 4 500 - 50 000.

10h30 / midi / 16h30 / minuit (always use the 24-hour clock)
20 février 2004 - 20/02/2004 - 20 février. Please note: 1er janvier 2000

There should always be a space before a % symbol

There should be a space before °C (preferably a non-breakable space).
E.g.: 30 °C.

2. Currency: 230 £ / 230 livres sterling / 45 ¬ / 45 euros / 98 milliards de dollars / 98 $ / 5 EUR / 5 USD.

The international 3-letter code e.g. GBP for £, should appear in place of the symbol - they should not be used at the same time.

3. Abbreviations:

N/a: s/o
No. (nos.): N°, Nos
e.g.: c.-à-d. or par.ex
WxLxHxD: l x L x H x P
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th: 1er / 2e / 3e / 4e
Mr. / Mrs. / Messrs. / Miss: M. (Monsieur) / Mme (Madame) / Mlle (Mademoiselle) / MM. (Messieurs) / Mmes (Mesdames) / Mlles (Mesdemoiselles)
Dear Sir / Madam: Cher Monsieur, Chère Madame

m (for metre): m
cm (for centimetre): cm
lb (for pound weight): s/o
g (for gram): g
km (for kilometre): km
yr (for year): a
k (for 1000): K (but km for kilometer)

EMEA (Europe, Middle-East & Asia): EMOA

Days of the week (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun): lund, mar, mer, jeu, vend, sam, dim

Months: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec: Janv,

Fév, Mars, Avril, Mai, Juin, Juil, Août, Sept, Oct, Nov, Déc

Seasons are not normally abbreviated in French.

UE = EU - CEE (Communauté Economique Européenne) = EEC - c.a./c.c. (courant alternatif/courant continu) = AC/DC - PAO (Publication assistée par ordinateur) = DTP - Heure T.U.: UT - réf.: = reference - TVA = VAT - Mo = MB and Go = GB - P-S = post-scriptum - SVP = please - PDG = CEO - p. = pg. (p. 127 et 128) - MHz = megahertz - ppm = page/minute - bps = bit(s)/second - fig. = figure (illustration) - Tél. or Tél. = telephone - TTC = all tax included

Section Four - Hyphenation

Hyphens are used in:

- Verb pronouns: e.g. prends-le-lui
- Compounds nouns: arc-en-ciel
- Numbers: dix-sept, quatre-vingt
- To hyphenate: Here are the rules for split over lines (Words are hyphenated by syllable.):

1. Forbidden hyphenations:

- Never split a number.
- Never separate a number from its following nouns.
- Never split initials or acronyms.
- Do not split « l' ».
- Never split just before a silent final vowel. Do not do as follows: impriman-te, grec-que.
- Never split the syllables ch, kh, ph, ps.
- Make sure the letter or the group of letter that you split is pronounceable. Do not do: tr-anquilité or cl-arifier.
- Never split a group of letters that forms a "unique" vowel (au, eau, oi, eu an, on, in, ein, un, etc.)

2. Other Divisions

Situation	Rule	Example
A consonant between two vowels.	Split after one of the two vowels.	Lu-mineux ou lumi-neux
Two vowels in a row.	Split after the first vowel unless it is a "unique" vowel.	Alé-atoire Oléi-forme, oléoduc
Two consonants together surrounded by two vowels.	Split between the consonants but never split ch, ph, kh ou ps. Always split separating both consonants: - If it is only one sound. - If the second consonant is R or L and the first other than R or L.	Car-reau, al-lumette, mas-sivement, mul-tiple, her-boriste, mi-gnon, ra-chat, sa-ble, pro-pre
Three consonants in a row.	Split after: - The second consonant as a general rule ; - The first consonant not to separate (ch, ph, kh ou ps) or if the 3rd consonant is R or L.	Obs-tiné, compter mar-cher, morphine com-blement, es-tragon, in-trinsèque
Four consonants in a row.	Split after the second.	Ins-tructions
Exceptions	The origin of the word may justify some exceptions.	In-stable, re-structurer, atmo-sphère

Words joined together using hyphens are quite commons especially with compound nouns and verb pronouns.

The prefixes extra, super, multi, semi, ultra are used to form compound nouns.

Word	Rule
Extra	There is no specific rule but the major trend is not to use any hyphen or space. E.g.: Papier jet d'encre « extra blanc » HP
Multi	Words formed with multi are written with one word and without any hyphen. The then compound adjective agrees with the noun it goes with. E.g.: Des connexions multilignes - Lecteur optique multifonction HP 9,1 Go
Semi	This prefix can be used with nouns or adjectives. It remains invariable and the noun or adjective that follows can be plural. There is always an hyphen. E.g.: Papier laser semi-glacé HP
Super	Never use a hyphen for compound nouns with super. E.g.: microprocesseur MIPS superscalaire
Ultra	The compounds nouns with ultra are never written with a hyphen. E.g.: ultraviolet

The dash is usually translated with colons but text in brackets or a semi colon can as well be used.
E.g.: HP Deskjet 5500 printer - Driver installation and configuration Imprimante HP Deskjet 5500 : installation et configuration du pilote

Section Five - Miscellaneous Peculiarities

Written Swiss French is exactly the same as written 'French French'. There are some local words (they can be different in each 'canton') that are used in everyday language, but never in texts which are to be published. An example: we sometimes say 'services' (CH) for 'couverts' (FR), which is the generic term for forks, knifes and spoons.

Usually, the ending "burg" is "bourg" in French.
Lyon/Lyons
Marseille/Marseilles

In addresses, there is no county or district as the postcode says it all:
8, rue de la Faisandrie
80100 Amiens& and that is all!

Usually surnames are given before the first name (and lists of names are classified according to surnames)
Surnames are sometimes written all in upper case in French.

French uses italics as a stylistic form but not the same way as English does.

Section Six - Geographic Distribution

Language Distribution in Switzerland:

French
French is spoken in the western part of the country, the "Suisse Romande."
Four cantons are French-speaking: Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel and Vaud. Three cantons are bilingual: in Bern, Fribourg and Valais both French and German are spoken.

German
German is by far the most widely spoken language in Switzerland: 17 of the 26 cantons are monolingual in German.

Italian
Italian is spoken in Ticino and 4 southern valleys of Grisons.

Rhaeto-Rumantsch (Rumantsch)
Rumantsch is spoken only in the trilingual canton of Graubünden. The other two languages spoken there are German and Italian. Rumantsch, like Italian and French, is a language with Latin roots. It is spoken by just 0.5% of the total Swiss population.

The many foreigners resident in Switzerland have brought with them their own languages, which taken as a whole now outnumber both Rumantsch and Italian. The 2000 census showed that speakers of Serbian/Croatian were the largest foreign language group, with 1.4% of the population. English was the main language for 1%.

Sources:

-"Switzerland is yours" website: http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/contexts/german.html

"Schweiz in Sicht" website:
http://www.schweiz-insicht.ch/eng/index.html?siteSect=601&sid=4039995&rubricId=14010

Section Seven - Character Set

[ ] = Alt key codes