Register & audience

Who you write to sets the register: Register (le registre) is how formal or informal your French is — and it's set by who reads it (le destinataire) and the text type you choose. Two registers matter for Paper 1: informal, built on tu (a friend, a classmate — Salut !, Bises), and formal, built on vous (a company, a teacher, an official — Madame, Monsieur / Cordialement). Choosing the right register and holding it consistently is what earns Criterion C.

le registre

the register — how formal or informal the language is

le destinataire

the audience / addressee — the reader you write to

informel (tu)

informal register, using tu — for friends and peers

formel (vous)

formal register, using vous — for officials, teachers, companies

la formule d'appel

the greeting (Salut ! vs Madame, Monsieur / Cher Monsieur)

la formule de politesse

the sign-off (Bises / À bientôt vs Cordialement / Je vous prie d'agréer…)

Ask: who is reading this?: Before writing, ask who the reader is. A friend → tu; a company, teacher or stranger → vous. Decide once, at the planning stage, and every greeting, verb and sign-off follows from it. Get this right and Criterion C is half-won.

Reader → register → markers: Match the reader to a register, and the register to its markers — the greeting (la formule d'appel), the pronoun and the sign-off (la formule de politesse) that signal it. The table below maps the most common readers you'll meet in Paper 1.

Three readers, three registers: Ami → informel (tu, Salut !, Bises) · Entreprise ou professeur → formel (vous, Madame/Monsieur, Cordialement) · Lecteurs d'un blog → semi-formel. Lock the reader to its markers and you won't drift mid-answer. (Note: in French, vous is also the polite way to address ONE person, not only a plural — that's exactly what makes it the formal pronoun.)

Choose once, hold throughout: The skill is not just choosing the register but holding it from first word to last. The four moves: identify the reader, choose tu or vous, match the greeting, sign-off and vocabulary, and keep it consistent throughout.

Consistency is the marked thing: Criterion C rewards a register that's consistent, not just chosen. The classic slip is opening with vous and drifting into tu by the third paragraph. Re-read your verb endings and possessives at the end to catch any drift (votre/vos, not ton/tes).

The same request, two registers: On Paper 1 the rubric is always: « Réalisez une des tâches suivantes. Utilisez, en fonction des propositions, le type de texte le plus approprié. Écrivez entre 450 et 600 mots. » Here's one request written twice — once informal (tu) to a friend, once formal (vous) to a centre director — so you can see the greeting, verb, possessive and sign-off shift while the message stays the same. Tap Voir la traduction to see the English, or 🔊 to hear the French.

Four markers move together: Notice the greeting, verb, possessive and sign-off all change together — Salut → Madame, Monsieur · tu peux → pourriez-vous · ton → votre · Bises → Cordialement. They're a set: switch all four or none. The formal version also earns Criterion C by matching the conventions of a formal letter/email — a proper formule d'appel and formule de politesse. Mixing tu and vous is the fastest way to lose that mark.

Consistent register vs costly slips: Register marks are usually lost to mixing tu and vous, being too casual for a formal reader, or a greeting and sign-off that clash with the register. Here's the contrast.

Re-read your verb endings: The mixing error hides in verb endings and possessives — you greet with Madame, Monsieur but write tu peux and ton later. At the end, scan every verb and possessive against your chosen register (vous → vous pouvez, votre/vos). One consistent register protects Criterion C.