Breakdown of Pour moi, l'honneur de parler au public est important.
Questions & Answers about Pour moi, l'honneur de parler au public est important.
In French, after a preposition (like pour, avec, sans, chez, sur, sous, etc.), you must use the stressed pronoun (also called the disjunctive pronoun), not the subject pronoun.
- Subject pronouns: je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles
- Stressed pronouns: moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles
Since pour is a preposition, you must say pour moi, never pour je.
Literally: for me, the honor of speaking to the public is important.
Yes, that version is perfectly correct:
- Pour moi, l’honneur de parler au public est important.
- L’honneur de parler au public est important pour moi.
Both mean the same thing. The difference is only in emphasis and rhythm:
- Starting with Pour moi puts extra emphasis on your personal point of view:
“For me, the honor of speaking to the public is important.” - Ending with pour moi sounds a bit more neutral and is structurally closer to English:
“The honor of speaking to the public is important to me.”
Both are natural; choosing one or the other is mostly stylistic.
French uses articles much more consistently than English, especially with abstract nouns (like honor, love, freedom).
- l’honneur = the honor (general, or a specific type of honor in context)
- un honneur = an honor (one instance among others)
- honneur without any article is almost never correct in normal sentences.
In this sentence, you’re talking about honor in general as a concept (the honor involved in speaking to the public), so French naturally uses the definite article:
- l’honneur de parler au public = the honor of speaking to the public (as a general notion)
If you said un honneur de parler au public, it would sound off; you’d usually need something like c’est un honneur de… (see below for that structure).
The apostrophe comes from elision:
- The normal masculine singular article is le.
Before a word starting with a vowel or a mute h, le becomes l’:
- le arbre → l’arbre
- le honneur → l’honneur
Honneur begins with a mute h (h muet), so you must say l’honneur, not le honneur.
Pronunciation:
- l’honneur is pronounced roughly like: loh-nœr
- There is no pronounced “h”; it’s as if the word started with a vowel sound.
- l’ is linked directly to honneur: [lɔ.nœʀ] (in careful IPA).
So: written l’honneur, pronounced as if it were one continuous word.
Honneur is a masculine noun in French:
- un honneur, le honneur → l’honneur
Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- Masculine singular: important
- Feminine singular: importante
- Masculine plural: importants
- Feminine plural: importantes
Since l’honneur is masculine singular, the adjective must be important:
- l’honneur … est important ✅
- l’honneur … est importante ❌ (would be correct only with a feminine noun, like la chose est importante)
In French, when a noun is followed by a verb in the infinitive, the default preposition is usually de:
- l’envie de manger – the desire to eat
- la possibilité de voyager – the possibility to travel
- l’honneur de parler – the honor to speak
So the standard pattern is:
noun + de + infinitive
Using à instead of de after a noun is much rarer and limited to specific expressions (for example le goût à faire quelque chose in some older or literary styles).
Here, only l’honneur de parler sounds normal.
You can’t drop the preposition either:
l’honneur parler is ungrammatical. French needs that de to link the noun and the infinitive.
They are close in meaning but not identical:
parler au public
- Literally: to speak to the public.
- Focuses on the people you are addressing (the audience / listeners).
- Built with parler à quelqu’un (to speak to someone) → parler au public (to speak to the public).
parler en public
- Literally: to speak in public.
- Focuses on the situation (speaking where other people can hear you, in front of an audience) rather than on whom you’re talking to.
- Often used to talk about public speaking in general (giving speeches, talking in front of a group).
So:
- l’honneur de parler au public – the honor of addressing the public/audience.
- l’honneur de parler en public – the honor of speaking in public (public speaking situation in general).
Both can be correct, but they do not emphasize exactly the same aspect.
Au is a contraction of:
- à + le = au
French almost always contracts these forms in speech and writing:
- à + le → au
- à + les → aux
So:
- parler à le public ❌ (not used)
- parler au public ✅
Literally: to speak to the public.
Yes, and many native speakers would actually find that version more idiomatic:
- Pour moi, c’est un honneur de parler au public.
Differences:
Pour moi, l’honneur de parler au public est important.
- Grammatically fine, slightly more formal or abstract.
- Sounds like you’re evaluating how important that particular kind of honor is.
Pour moi, c’est un honneur de parler au public.
- Very natural and common.
- Sounds more like everyday speech: For me, it’s an honor to speak to the public.
Both are correct; the c’est un honneur de… pattern is extremely frequent when people talk about honors, privileges, etc.
Pour moi here is a fronted phrase that sets the perspective (“as far as I’m concerned”). In French, such introductory elements are normally followed by a comma:
- Pour moi, l’honneur de parler au public est important.
- À mon avis, ce projet est nécessaire.
- En général, il arrive à l’heure.
The comma:
- Marks a small pause in speech.
- Separates the introductory phrase from the main clause for clarity.
You could occasionally see it written without a comma in very informal writing, but standard punctuation requires the comma, and it usually makes the sentence easier to read.