Address a Letter to France
Postal systems between countries can differ greatly. The French mail system, called "La Poste," delivers mail throughout France and even allows you to deliver a registered letter through the Internet. A noticeable difference in France is that La Poste prefers the use of clear capital letters on envelopes. The best way to ensure that your letter is received in France in a timely manner, is to follow the French postal etiquette as closely as possible, while taking into account your own country's postal system. This article will tell you how to address a letter to France, using French postal conventions.
Steps
- Write your letter and seal it within the envelope.
- If you are using a padded envelope, or if your package is bumpy, address your envelope before placing the contents inside.
- Leave enough room for up to 6 lines of text in the middle, or middle to lower right hand side of your package. Your stamp will be placed in the upper right hand corner of your envelope.
- Leave a little over {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} (16 mm) of space at the bottom of the envelope on both the front and back sides. The post office sorting machines use this space to print bar codes.
- La Poste prefers the use of capital letters on envelopes to make the address more legible and pronounced. Many French citizens write the last name of the recipient and the country in capital letters. This is not strictly required, but preferred. If you follow this convention, you will need to reserve more space for your address.
- Use a fine-tipped pen, preferably in black ink, to write your address.
- Write the person's full name in the top line of text, near the middle of your envelope. Include their title, such as "Madame," for a woman and "Monsieur," for a man. "Mademoiselle" is often used for a young, unmarried woman. You can also use title abbreviations, such as "M." for "Monsieur," "Mme" for "Madame," and "Mlle" for "Mademoiselle." For example: Mlle Brigitte MENIVIER.
- Write the company's name on the second line, if you are writing a business letter. Exclude this step if it is a personal letter. For example: Firm France.
- Write the building's name and number on the third line, if you know it. This will also apply more often with business letters. For example, Hotel Martinique.
- Write the street number, followed by the street name, on the fourth line. Do not include any forms of punctuation after the street number or name. For example: 59 Rue Poncelet
- Write the Line postal code followed by the town name on the fifth line. Write the town name in capital letters, if you are choosing not to write the entire address in capital letters. Write the 5-letter post code as clearly as possible. For example: 65301 PARIS.
- Write the name of the country, "France," on the last and sixth line, if you are sending the letter outside of France.
- Your French address should appear as: Mlle Brigitte MENIVIER, Firm France, Hotel Martinique, 59 Rue Poncelet, 65301 PARIS, FRANCE
- Alternately, it can appear as MLLE BRIGITTE MENIVIER, FIRM FRANCE, HOTEL MARTINIQUE, 59 RUE PONCELET, 65301 PARIS, FRANCE
- A personal letter sent within the country may only require 3 lines and would appear as follows: Mlle Brigitte MENIVIER, 59 Rue Poncelet, 65301 PARIS
- Write your return address in a similar manner across the back top and center of the envelope.
- The return address can also be written in a horizontal straight line across the back top of the envelope with commas in between the lines of text.
- Place the letter or contents inside and seal the envelope if you have not already done so.
- Bring your letter to a post office, if you are unsure of the proper postage. Drop the letter in the drop box at the post office in your country.
Tips
- La Poste suggests you buy envelopes that have clearly marked boxes for hand-written addresses, in order to ensure proper spacing and legibility.
