Making business phone calls: Giving your name and contact details

🇫🇷 French receptionists answer with the company name followed by bonjour. When you call, open with your own bonjour before anything else, because skipping it sounds abrupt.

💬 Je voudrais plus an action is the polite way to ask for anything, for example Je voudrais laisser un message "I'd like to leave a message". French says you speak "to" someone, using à, never "with".

💬 Absent doesn't mean he's missing or skipping work. It's the normal way to say someone isn't at their desk right now. For a woman it becomes Elle est absente, and the final t is then pronounced.

💬 Literally this is "it's on behalf of whom?" You answer with de plus your name, for example De Paul Martin.

💬 To say where you're calling from, use de la société plus the name. Swap in de l'agence "from the agency" or du cabinet "from the firm" as needed.

🇫🇷 On a business call, French callers give their full name and company right after bonjour, before saying why they're calling.

💬 Spoken French often asks a question just by raising your voice at the end, with no change in word order. Vous pouvez répéter ? works on its own, or you can add what you missed, as in votre nom "your name".

💬 Nom alone usually means your surname. Your first name is prénom, and a French caller may ask for both separately.

🇫🇷 Asking someone to repeat their name is completely normal on French business calls. People often spell names using first names as references, like D comme Daniel "D as in Daniel".