Unraveling the Mystery of Capitalizing French Titles

First of all, you wouldnt put lumià ¨re (light) in all caps, as we did in the subhead above, just to make a point. There are, indeed, rules to follow, and you shouldnt capitalize French titles willy-nilly. English speakers should understand that the capitalization of titles and names in French and English exhibit several differences, all of which involve words that are capitalized in English but not in French. This means there is, by and large, less capitalization in French than there is in English.   In English, the first word of a proper title and all subsequent words, except short articles, conjunctions and prepositions, are capitalized. The rules are more complicated in French, and the table below examines three schools of thought regarding French capitalization of titles and names*.   Standard Capitalization In French, capitalization depends on the position and the grammatical function of the words in the title. The first word is always capitalized. If the first word is an article or other  determiner, the first noun and any adjectives that precede it are capitalized, like this: Trois Contes Un Cur simple Le Petit Robert Le Nouveau Petit Robert Le Bon Usage Le Progrs de la civilisation au XXe sicle If the title consists of two words or phrases of equal value, they are considered co-titles and each one is capitalized according to the above rules, as in: Guerre et Paix Julie ou La Nouvelle Hà ©loà ¯se This system  is used in Le Petit Robert, Le Quid, and throughout the Dictionnaire de citations franà §aises. Le Bon Usage, considered the bible of French grammar,  briefly discusses an inconsistency in the capitalization of titles. It does not mention the system above, but it does list the systems in 2. and 3. below. Important-Noun  Capitalization In this system, the first word and any important nouns are capitalized, like this: Trois Contes Un Cur simple Le petit Robert Le nouveau petit Robert Le bon Usage Le Progrs de la Civilisation au XXe sicle Le Bon Usage  states that system 2. is more common than 3. and uses it in its own bibliography. Sentence Capitalization In this system, only the first word of the title is capitalized (except proper nouns, which are always capitalized). Trois contes Un cur simple Le petit Robert Le nouveau petit Robert Le bon usage Le progrs de la civilisation au XXe sicle A number of websites use this system, crediting it either to the MLA Handbook  or to normes ISO  (norms of the International Organization for Standardization).  It is difficult to find any official online documentation for either of these sources. If you look at the spines of a few dozen French books, you will see capitalization is split about 50-50 between Important Noun Capitalization and Sentence Capitalization.   In the end, what will probably work best is to  decide which system works best for you, and stick with it consistently.   Proper nouns, as we mentioned above, are not affected by these capitalization systems; they always follow their own rules of capitalization. *Capitalization of Surnames French surnames (family names)  are often capitalized in their entirety, especially in bibliographies and administrative documents, like this: Gustave FLAUBERT Camara LAYE Jean de LA FONTAINE Antoine de SAINT-EXUPÉRY