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Questions & Answers about Bonsoir, Monsieur !
When exactly should I switch from saying bonjour to bonsoir?
Bonjour literally means 'good day,' while bonsoir means 'good evening.' There isn't a strict official time to switch, but most people start saying bonsoir around 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM, when the work day is ending or it starts getting dark.
Why doesn't Monsieur sound the way it is spelled?
Monsieur is a famous pronunciation exception in French. Instead of sounding like it is spelled, the whole word is pronounced roughly like 'muh-syuh.' It helps to know it originally came from two words meaning 'my lord' (mon + sieur), but the spoken word changed over the centuries while the spelling stayed the same.
Why is there an extra space before the exclamation mark?
In French writing, you always put a space before 'two-part' punctuation marks. This includes the exclamation mark (!), question mark (?), colon (:), and semicolon (;). This is a strict rule in French that is different from English.
Should Monsieur always be capitalized?
When you are addressing someone directly using their title, like saying 'Good evening, sir' here, you capitalize Monsieur. If you are just talking about 'a gentleman' in the middle of a sentence, you use lowercase: un monsieur.