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ALTHOUGH MANY NATIVE FRENCH SPEAKERS ABBREVIATE TO MONSIEUR TO MR, IT IS NOT GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT READER QUESTION: WHY DO SOME PEOPLE ABBREVIATE _MONSIEUR_ TO MR? IS IT AN ANGLICISM OR
ACCEPTED USAGE? There are indeed many native French speakers who abbreviate _Monsieur_ to Mr, when writing an email for example, but this is not actually correct usage. The correct
abbreviation in French is M, or MM in the plural. Mr, of course, is the English abbreviation for ‘mister’ – British, as opposed to US, usage prefers not to include the full stop in
abbreviations such as this where the first and last letters are used. The error is common – after all, the chain of DIY stores Mr. Bricolage is pronounced _Monsieur Bricolage_. While most
people will not bat an eyelid when seeing that store sign, things can get a bit more confusing if those using _Mr_ try to pluralise it… to _Mrs!_ The abbreviation Mr is not a completely
modern trend in French, however. It was commonly used in letters from the 18th century, but fell out of fashion before making a more recent comeback. One benefit is that it avoids confusion
where M could refer to a first name beginning with the letter ‘M’ RELATED ARTICLES LEARNING FRENCH IS EASIER WHEN YOU DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF FIVE TIPS TO MASTERING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE
WHEN YOU YOU MOVE TO FRANCE WHY AM I FINDING IT SO HARD TO BECOME FLUENT IN FRENCH
