Ponctuation et typographie du français formel : espaces insécables, guillemets, tirets

Unité PE-24 · campagne 15 · une lettre impeccable se reconnaît avant même d'être lue.

French typography differs from both English and Russian habits, and a formal letter signals its care — or its carelessness — through these micro-details before the corrector reads a single argument. Four rules cover almost everything a B2 copy needs.

Double signs take a space before them. The one-part signs (. ,) hug the word; the two-part signs — ; : ! ? — are preceded by an espace insécable: « Pourquoi ? », « une seule solution s'impose : la rénovation ». Typing them flush against the word, English-style, is the most visible foreign-writer tell on a French page.

Guillemets are « », with inner spaces. Quotations and cited words wear French angle quotes, spaced inside: « crise durable », never "crise durable". Straight quotes survive only in code, not in prose.

Tiret is not trait d'union. The long dash encloses an incise — « le maire — élu depuis 2020 — défend le projet » — or opens a line of dialogue. The short hyphen welds compounds: centre-ville, demi-heure, rendez-vous. Swapping one for the other changes the sentence's grammar.

Capitals: accented yes, after a colon no. Initial capitals keep their accents — À mon avis, État — the schoolyard rule that capitals drop accents is a myth the Académie explicitly rejects. And after a deux-points introducing an explanation, lowercase continues: « une seule solution s'impose : la rénovation du réseau ».

Fold these into your relecture as a zero-cost fourth glance: while sweeping accents you are already looking at every ? and : on the page. The practice drills each rule through correction tasks.

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