How to Say Please in French (S'il Vous Plaît, Explained)
Please in French is s'il vous plaît (formal) or s'il te plaît (informal) - literally "if it pleases you." Learn the spelling, svp/stp, and polite requests.
Please in French is s’il vous plaît /seel voo PLEH/ with strangers or groups, and s’il te plaît /seel tuh PLEH/ with friends and family. It literally means “if it pleases you,” which is why the form changes with the person you’re addressing. In texts, it’s abbreviated svp or stp.
Quick answer
Please in French is s’il vous plaît /seel voo PLEH/ with strangers or groups, and s’il te plaît /seel tuh PLEH/ with friends and family. It literally means “if it pleases you,” which is why the form changes with the person you’re addressing. In texts, it’s abbreviated svp or stp.
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S’il vous plaît vs s’il te plaît: which “you”?
The choice tracks the same tu/vous logic as everything else in French social register: bonjour goes with vous, salut goes with tu, and please follows suit.
| Form | Pronunciation | When |
|---|---|---|
| s’il vous plaît | /seel voo PLEH/ | formal, strangers, plural |
| s’il te plaît | /seel tuh PLEH/ | friends, family, one person |
For the full logic behind that choice, see using tu vs vous correctly.
Spelling clinic: why it’s written that way
Decomposed: s’il = si (if) + il (it), then vous/te plaît (pleases you). The circumflex on plaît is traditional; the 1990 spelling reform permits plait without it, and both are understood - for the story behind that accent, see French accent marks explained.
Common misspellings to avoid: “si il vous plait” (should be elided: s’il), “sil vous plais” (wrong final letter). In texts, SVP handles the formal form and STP the casual one - SVP is acceptable even in semi-formal written notes, STP is strictly casual.
Making requests actually polite (the pairing system)
S’il vous plaît alone isn’t magic - it pairs with a request verb to actually sound polite:
| Register | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Casual | tu peux… ? | Tu peux me passer le sel ? |
| Neutral | je voudrais… | Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît. |
| Polite | est-ce que je peux… ? | Est-ce que je peux avoir l’addition ? |
| Formal | pourriez-vous… ? | Pourriez-vous m’aider, s’il vous plaît ? |
For the full everyday request toolkit, see common French phrases.
Where please goes in the sentence
It normally lands at the end: deux baguettes, s’il vous plaît. It also works standalone to get attention - calling a waiter with s’il vous plaît ! is standard, replacing an awkward “excuse me!” A fun regional note: in Belgium, s’il vous plaît can also mean “here you are” when handing something over.
Please + thank you + excuse me: the politeness kit
These three words - s’il vous plaît, merci, and excusez-moi - cover the vast majority of polite exchanges a traveler ever needs. See how to say thank you in French for the natural next step in the sequence.
Politeness that fits the moment
LexiFr teaches French requests at the right register, with native audio for every phrase.
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Questions about this note
What does s'il vous plaît literally mean?
"If it pleases you" - si + il + vous + plaît.
What's the difference between svp and stp?
Text abbreviations of the formal form (svp) and the informal form (stp).
How do you politely ask for something?
je voudrais… paired with s'il vous plaît; for a stronger request, pourriez-vous… ?
How do you call a waiter in France?
S'il vous plaît ! - not "garçon," which reads as dated or rude.
Is it plaît or plait?
Traditionally plaît with the circumflex; the 1990 spelling reform also permits plait - both are understood.