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How does one respectfully sign off semi-formal (e.g. business) emails without going for the full blown “Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments distingués.” etc.?

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17

In business or university context, I tend to use:

Cordialement,

Moreover, if I am thankful and want to convey this stronger feeling, I use:

Bien cordialement,

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  • I would complete by saying "Bien cordialement", is generally reservated for more formal discussions. (Student, teacher...)
    – Zenklys
    Commented Aug 17, 2011 at 21:16
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    To add on Zenlys comment: when the student writes to the teacher, he can write "Bien cordialement à vous". It formal and respectful, but not too much.
    – Sylvain Peyronnet
    Commented Aug 17, 2011 at 22:20
13

I often use the adverb for cordial:

Cordialement,
<Here my email signature>

For an “almost friend but not really friend”, I use something similar to kindly:

Amicalement,
<Here my email signature>

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8

I often use:

Bien à vous

or:

Bien à toi

which is closer to Yours truly I guess.

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  • I personally use Bien à vous too when I write an email in French
    – user22
    Commented Aug 17, 2011 at 21:06
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    I find bien à toi disturbingly direct at the same time as formal. I'd reserve it to very close people, if to use it at all.
    – Nikana Reklawyks
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 18:36
  • In short e-mail exchanges with a business contact you know more personally, you can also use "Bàv" or "Bàt", which are abbreviations for "bien à vous" et "bien à toi".
    – Greg
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 16:22
6

Taking the first few mails in my inbox, we have:

Bonne journée,

Bonne fin de semaine,

Cordialement,

Quite often, nothing.

But mostly, as this is the one included in the official company signature:

Meilleures salutations,

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  • 1
    Define good for salutations !? (It sounds contrived to me.)
    – Nikana Reklawyks
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 18:39

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