French Grammar Basics When to Use Tu and Vous

French Grammar Basics When to Use Tu and Vous Sign up successful French grammar dictates that “vous” be used in two basic situations. In one situation, you are still speaking to only one person, but that person is your social superior. It could be your boss at work, a teacher or professor, or a friends older relative. Depending on the level of formality used in a family, it could also be used by a child speaking to his or her parents or grandparents, although many families do not require this. In any other situation that requires formality, or when in doubt, use “vous.” In the second basic situation, the speaker is talking to more than one person. It doesnt matter if you are talking to two people or a thousand, to women, to men, or to both (and yes there are languages that care about this, too!). The formality of the situation also becomes less important in this case, since the speaker will use “vous” in any case. In some regional spoken dialects of modern English, people will say “yall” (short for “you all”) when speaking to more than one person. For those English-speakers who include “yall” in their speech, this is a reasonably closer English equivalent to vous than the simple “you.” So when you are speaking and are trying to figure out which one to use, ask yourself three basic questions: Is it a formal situation? Are you speaking to more than one person? (Use “vous!”) Or are you speaking to one person in a more relaxed, familiar situation? (Use “tu!”) And keep at it with your study of French language and grammar! Learning French takes persistence, but time and effort will help you master it. Carol Beth L. teaches  French lessons in San Francisco, CA. She has her Masters in French language education from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been teaching students since 2009.  Learn more about Carol Beth here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Gareth Williams