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How do you address to a female person in a formal way when writing a letter in French language? I would like to use a word that would correspond to "Ms" in English - a title that doesn't suppose if you are married or not. Is "Mme Boutton" the right way, or does this mean that I am implying she is married?

GileBrt
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    We do not have the equivalent, it's a choice between Madame & Mademoiselle. The question has been asked before here: Comment s'adresser à une femme dont l'état civil est inconnu ? it's in French but, if you ask, I'm sure it can be translated. – None Apr 17 '17 at 18:48
  • Thank you for your answer, I missed this question because it is asked in French. I am not that good with French, but as far as I understood they are saying that I can't go wrong with "Madame", right? – GileBrt Apr 17 '17 at 19:01
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    Yes; here's a translation of the highest-rated answer as of now: "If you suspect that she might be married, or at the age of marriage (as carefully evaluated as possible), Madame, and if you suspect the opposite, Mademoiselle. If there is no room for error, Madame is more formal and will always be okay." Translation of 2nd-highest: "According to the new standard (2012 memorandum), the term mademoiselle should no longer be used in administrative documents." The other answers are largely in agreement: Madame is the safe choice. – Luke Sawczak Apr 17 '17 at 19:02
  • Merci beaucoup! :) – GileBrt Apr 18 '17 at 00:10
  • @LukeSawczak You should write this as an answer so I can mark it as the best answer. I don't wanna mark the question as a duplicate, because there are for sure people with weaker French skills here (like myself), who would appreciate the answer in English. – GileBrt Apr 18 '17 at 00:17
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    Hmm... sounds good, but just to check: @Laure, as a senior member, is it preferable that this be closed and I edit translations into those other answers as I've seen done in some questions, or that I make an answer here with a reference to that question thread? – Luke Sawczak Apr 18 '17 at 00:49
  • @LukeSawczak What is usually done is that answers are edited with a translation... I know Stackexchange does not like duplicates. By the way "senior member" does not mean anything on SE... SE uses moderation and we're moderators. So called moderators have few special privileges. – None Apr 18 '17 at 05:59
  • @LukeSawczak I've copy pasted your translations in the original posts. Feel free to re-edit... – None Apr 18 '17 at 07:02
  • @Laure Thanks; I've now re-edited them with a quick "Translated April 17, 2017" note and deleted my answer below. – Luke Sawczak Apr 18 '17 at 13:15
  • Duplicate, yes, the answers here are basically false. The equivalent of Ms is madame. In ALL cases. French officially did away with mademoiselle several years ago precisely in order to get rid of this offensive speculation about a woman's marital status. –  May 09 '17 at 18:45

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