Understanding French Typography Rules

French typography follows conventions that differ significantly from English, and these differences trip up many writers, translators, and content creators. What seems like minor punctuation choices in English are strict rules in French, enforced by publishers, academic institutions, and style-conscious readers.

This guide covers the essential French typography rules that anyone working with French text needs to understand, whether you’re translating content, creating French marketing materials, or simply want to write proper French.

The Most Important Difference: Spacing Before Punctuation

The most distinctive feature of French typography is the requirement for spaces before certain punctuation marks. In English, punctuation follows text with no preceding space. In French, several punctuation marks require a space before them.

This isn’t optional styling—it’s required by French typographic convention. Text without these spaces appears incorrect to French readers and fails to meet publishing standards.

Guillemets: French Quotation Marks

While English uses curly quotation marks (“like these”), French uses guillemets (« like these »). These angle-shaped marks point outward and include spaces on the inside.

Note the non-breaking spaces inside the guillemets. These prevent the quotation marks from separating from the quoted text across line breaks. The proper format is:

• Opening guillemet («) + non-breaking space
• Quoted text
• Non-breaking space + closing guillemet (»)

For nested quotations (quotes within quotes), French traditionally uses guillemets again or switches to English-style quotation marks, depending on the style guide being followed.

Non-Breaking Spaces (Espaces Insécables)

French typography makes extensive use of non-breaking spaces to prevent awkward line breaks. A non-breaking space looks identical to a regular space but prevents the browser or word processor from breaking the line at that point.

Required Non-Breaking Spaces

• Before punctuation: Question marks, exclamation marks, colons, and semicolons should be preceded by non-breaking spaces to prevent them from appearing alone at the start of a line.
• Inside guillemets: The spaces inside « quotation marks » should be non-breaking.
• Between numbers and units: 5 km, 20 €, 15 °C
• Before percent signs: 50 %
• In dates: 14 juillet
• Between titles and names: M. Dupont, Dr Martin

Types of Non-Breaking Spaces

French typography actually uses two types of non-breaking spaces:

• Non-breaking space (espace insécable): A normal-width space that doesn’t break. Used after opening guillemets and before closing guillemets.
• Narrow non-breaking space (espace fine insécable): A thinner space used before semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks. Some style guides require this distinction.

In practical terms, most digital French text uses the regular non-breaking space (Unicode U+00A0) throughout, though professional typesetting may use the narrow variant (Unicode U+202F) where appropriate.

Dashes in French

French uses dashes similarly to English but with different spacing conventions:

Em Dash (Tiret Long)

Used for dialogue and parenthetical statements. Unlike Chicago-style English which uses no spaces, French em dashes are surrounded by spaces:

En Dash (Tiret Moyen)

Used for number ranges without spaces, just like English:

Apostrophes

French uses apostrophes extensively for contractions and elisions. The proper typographic form is the curly apostrophe (’), not the straight apostrophe ('):

Common French contractions using apostrophes include:

• l’ (le/la before vowel): l’homme, l’école
• d’ (de before vowel): d’accord, d’abord
• n’ (ne before vowel): n’est-ce pas
• c’ (ce before vowel): c’est
• qu’ (que before vowel): qu’est-ce que
• j’ (je before vowel): j’aime

Ellipsis

French uses the ellipsis character (…) rather than three periods, same as English. However, spacing conventions differ between style guides. Most French style guides place no space before an ellipsis at the end of a sentence but may use spaces in other contexts.

Numbers and Typography

French has several unique conventions for numbers:

Decimal Separator

French uses a comma as the decimal separator, not a period:

Thousands Separator

Large numbers use spaces (or narrow spaces) to separate thousands:

Currency

The euro symbol typically follows the number with a space in French:

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Non-native speakers and automated systems frequently make these French typography errors:

1. No space before punctuation: Writing “Comment allez-vous?” instead of “Comment allez-vous ?”
2. Using English quotation marks: Writing “Bonjour” instead of « Bonjour »
3. Missing spaces in guillemets: Writing «Bonjour» instead of « Bonjour »
4. Regular spaces instead of non-breaking: Allowing punctuation to break to a new line
5. Straight apostrophes: Using l'amour instead of l’amour
6. Wrong decimal separator: Using 3.14 instead of 3,14

Why These Rules Matter

French typography rules aren’t arbitrary—they serve practical purposes:

• Readability: The space before punctuation gives visual breathing room, making text easier to scan.
• Tradition: These conventions have been established for centuries in French printing and publishing.
• Professional standards: French publishers, academic institutions, and government bodies require proper typography.
• Cultural respect: Using proper French typography shows respect for the language and its conventions.

Text that ignores French typography rules immediately appears foreign or machine-generated to native readers. For professional communications, marketing materials, or published content, proper typography is essential.

Tools for French Typography

Manually inserting non-breaking spaces and guillemets is tedious and error-prone. Our French Typograph Tool automatically applies all French typography conventions to your text, including proper spacing, guillemets, apostrophes, and non-breaking spaces. It even offers an option to highlight non-breaking spaces so you can see exactly where they’ve been inserted.

Conclusion

French typography represents a sophisticated system of conventions that differs significantly from English. The spacing before punctuation, guillemets with interior spaces, extensive use of non-breaking spaces, and unique number formatting all contribute to properly typeset French text.

Whether you’re a translator, content creator, or French language learner, understanding these rules is essential for producing professional French text. While the details may seem overwhelming at first, automated tools can handle the conversion, allowing you to focus on your content while ensuring your typography meets French standards.