Questions & Answers about Pardon Madame, la dame est ici ?
What is the difference between Madame and la dame?
Madame is used to speak directly to a woman, like "Ma'am" or "Mrs." in English. La dame means "the lady" and is used when you are talking about a woman, rather than talking to her. Here, you are saying "Excuse me, Ma'am (Madame), is the lady (la dame) here?"
Why don't we say Pardon, la Madame?
Why is this structured like a regular sentence instead of a question?
In everyday spoken French, the most common way to ask a simple question is to keep the normal word order (subject + verb: la dame est) and just raise the pitch of your voice at the end. You don't always need to add question phrases like est-ce que.