Lesson 14.14A1

Exam Writing: An Informal Letter

Informal French letters and messages follow a loose but recognizable shape — a warm opening, casual closing formulas — that's worth having ready-made for A1 writing tasks. Formal correspondence, with its much stricter formulas, comes later.

Grammar Comparison

Cher/Chère — the informal letter opening, gendered to the reader

French

Cher Thomas, / Chère Sarah,

English

Dear Thomas, / Dear Sarah,

Cher (to a man) and Chère (to a woman) both mean 'dear' and open an informal letter, agreeing in gender with the person addressed — this is one of the few times you'll gender-agree a word based on the person you're writing to rather than a grammatical noun. English 'Dear' never changes form no matter who you're writing to, so remembering to pick Cher or Chère to match your reader is a small but easy-to-forget extra step. Salut also works as a more casual opener, exactly like starting an English note with 'Hi' instead of 'Dear'.

Closing formulas: warmth, not formality

French

Je t'embrasse, / Amicalement, / Bisous,

English

Love, / Best, / Hugs and kisses,

Informal letters close with warm, personal formulas rather than the stiff business-letter closings French is famous for: Je t'embrasse ('I hug/kiss you') and Bisous ('kisses') are affectionate, used with close friends and family, roughly matching how an English note might close with 'Love,' or 'xoxo'; Amicalement ('in friendship') is a slightly more neutral but still informal option, closer to English 'Best,' or 'Take care,'.

Vocabulary

French	Pronunciation	English
Cher / Chère...	shair	Dear... (masc./fem.)
Salut !	sah-LU	Hi! (casual opener)
merci de ta lettre	mair-SEE duh tah LET-ruh	thanks for your letter
comment vas-tu ?	koh-mahn vah-TOO	how are you?
je t'embrasse	zhuh tahn-BRAHS	hugs/kisses (closing)
à bientôt	ah bee-an-TOH	see you soon
amicalement	ah-mee-kahl-MAHN	in friendship (closing)
bisous	bee-ZOO	kisses (casual closing)

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