The salutation is also very formal and includes the recipient’s title when appropriate, as in Monsieur le Directeur. Alternately, use Monsieur, Cher Monsieur, Messieurs or Madame, Chère Madame or Mesdames.
The body of the letter should be concise, to the point and formally polite.
If you are following up on a previous letter, you might start with, “Suite à ... je vous écris pour…” or “Nous vous remercions de votre lettre du …”.
If your letter is a request for something, you can use “Je vous serais reconnaissant de ... “ or “Je vous prie de
You might end with, “Dans l’attente de votre réponse ...”, then sign off with one of these phrases, which sound much more formal than the accepted “Yours sincerely” in English but are de rigueur in a French formal letter:
Je vous prie d’agréer, Monsieur le Directeur, l’assurance de ma considération distinguée
Veuillez accepter, Messieurs (or Monsieur or Madame), mes salutations distinguées
Croyez, cher Monsieur (or chère Madame), à l’expression de mes sentiments les meilleurs
Je t’embrasse bien affectueusement
Grosses bises (very informal)
Or more simply with:
Bien amicalement
À bientôt
To include other friends or family in the letter, you might add:
Embrasse Sophie pour moi.
Paul te fait ses amitiés.
If you’re mailing your letter, here are guidelines for addressing the envelope, line by line:
1 – Recipient’s name
Begin with Monsieur, Madame or Mademoiselle followed by the recipient’s full name, as in Monsieur Jacques Untel. This is polite form for both formal and informal letters. For a married couple, use Monsieur et Madame Untel.
On a business letter envelope, you can use the person’s title instead, for example, Madame la directrice.
2 – Recipient’s title
If you’ve used the person’s name in the first line, use the second line for his or her title, for example, Directrice, Service à la clientele.
3. - Company or organization
Use the full name or accepted abbreviation, as in Hôtel Au Bon Accueil and SNCF.
4 – Number, name and type of street
Full street names can be abbreviated, e.g. av for avenue, as in 45 av de la République, or bd for boulevard, as in 15 bd de Beaumanoir. If there’s no street address, this is where you put the post box number.
5 – Postcode and town or city
The postcode comes before the name of the town, as in 75010 Paris.