guillemets
The French term for speech marks is guillemets.
In French typography, the standard guillemets are the angle brackets rather than the English-style curly quotes " " or straight quotes ' '.
When do people say it?
When using guillemets in French, it is standard practice to include a non-breaking space after the opening mark and before the closing mark, such as in texte.
Did you know?
- The word guillemets is named after the 16th-century French printer Guillaume Le Bé, who is credited with popularizing these angle brackets in printing.
- In French literature, long dialogues are often introduced with a long dash called a tiret rather than using guillemets for every single turn of speech.
- In traditional French printing, the guillemets are often called 'chevrons' because of their resemblance to the shape of an arrow or a chevron.
Examples in context
- Utilise les guillemets pour la citation.Use speech marks for the quotation.
- Il ne faut pas oublier les guillemets.You must not forget the speech marks.
- Les guillemets sont essentiels dans ce texte.Speech marks are essential in this text.
Example conversation
Gabriel and Chloé are proofreading a student's essay.
- GabrielChloé, est-ce qu'il a mis les guillemets ?Chloé, did he use speech marks?
- ChloéNon, il a oublié les guillemets ici.No, he forgot the speech marks here.
- GabrielIl faut les ajouter pour la citation.They must be added for the quotation.
- ChloéTu as raison, je vais les corriger.You are right, I will correct them.
