{"id":118153,"date":"2023-07-12T03:16:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T07:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/tu-vs-vous\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T04:30:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T08:30:50","slug":"tu-vs-vous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/tu-vs-vous\/","title":{"rendered":"Vous vs. Tu: When Should You Use Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just about every sentence you form in French<\/a> takes into account formality, respect and familiarity.\u00a0In other words, you’re constantly making that choice between\u00a0vous<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0tu<\/em><\/strong> (the formal and informal “you,” respectively).<\/p>\n

Did you know that there was a formal version of “you” in English too? The word “thou” was used to express formality, but has been replaced by the word “you.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let’s learn how to differentiate between these two versions of “you” in French and when to use them.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vous<\/em>\u00a0and Tu<\/em> Help Us Define Relationships<\/h2>\n

That’s right, we\u00a0can think\u00a0of\u00a0vous<\/em> and tu<\/em> as useful tools. They indicate your desired<\/strong> type of relationship with someone, as in the following exchange from the brilliant\u00a0farce\u00a0“Le Dindon”<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(“The Turkey”) by Georges Feydeau. Here, Pinchard has been making inappropriate advances (\u00e0 la Pep\u00e9 le Pew) on the chambermaid. He\u00a0trips\u00a0her up a bit by using\u00a0tu:<\/em><\/p>\n

Pinchard: Comment t’appelles-tu ?<\/em> (What is your name?)<\/p>\n

Clara:\u00a0Eh bien ! et toi ?\u00a0<\/em>(Well, I never! And you?)\u00a0[…]<\/p>\n

Pinchard: Ah ! Elle\u00a0me tutoie !<\/em> (Oh! She’s\u00a0using\u00a0tu<\/em> with me!) […]<\/p>\n

Clara: Tiens ! Est-ce que je vous ai permis de me tutoyer ?<\/em> (Well! Did I\u00a0say you could\u00a0use\u00a0tu<\/em> with me?)<\/p>\n

Notice how Clara switches back to\u00a0vous<\/em> in the last sentence? She’s using this lovely, vexing feature of French\u00a0to demarcate the relationship she wishes to have with Pinchard. Pinchard, on the other hand, uses the same feature to extract the meaning that he wants to hear with Ah ! Elle\u00a0me tutoie !<\/em>\u00a0(This line gets a laugh.)<\/p>\n

Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives that Indicate Formality<\/h2>\n

So we’ve just met\u00a0vous <\/em>and tu,\u00a0<\/em>our French second-person subject pronouns<\/a>.\u00a0Note that this distinction only exists in the singular; if you’re addressing more than one person you’ll always use\u00a0vous<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Vous<\/em> is also the formal object<\/strong> pronoun,<\/a> as in the above je vous<\/strong> ai permis…<\/em>\u00a0(literally, “I permitted you”).\u00a0Tu\u00a0<\/em>becomes\u00a0te<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(or t’<\/em> <\/strong>before a vowel or mute h)<\/em> when it’s an object. So je t’<\/strong>ai permis<\/em>\u00a0would be the informal way to say the same thing.<\/p>\n

The second-person possessive adjectives<\/a> also have formal and informal versions.\u00a0Tu<\/em> becomes\u00a0ton, ta, tes<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(“your” in informal masculine, feminine and plural forms respectively) and\u00a0vous<\/em> becomes\u00a0votre, vos<\/em><\/strong> (“your” in formal masculine\/feminine, plural).<\/p>\n

For example, Clara then addresses Pinchard’s wife:<\/p>\n

Clara: Voulez-vous faire taire Monsieur votre<\/strong> mari !<\/em> (Would you make your<\/strong>\u00a0husband shut up?!)<\/p>\n

When to Use the Informal Register<\/h2>\n

Here’s who\u00a0you’ll address with\u00a0tu<\/em> and its variants:<\/p>\n