In Dutch, we address almost everyone as ‘you’. Everyone is equal, so we rarely use ‘you’ anymore. In French you can’t get away with such familiar behavior – although that is changing. When you use ‘vous’ in French and when ‘tu’, there are unfortunately no clear-cut rules. Fortunately, there are guidelines:
You use ‘Tu’ for:
– family
– friends
– colleagues
– someone you want to offend (like your boss)
You use ‘Vous’ for:
– people you don’t know
– people who are clearly older than you
– people who are higher in the hierarchy (your manager, the president)
Funny exception: you address God as ‘tu’.
It is important that you do not propose tutoring too quickly in a conversation. If you are ‘lower in rank’ (for example because you are younger), you leave it to the other to propose to switch to ‘tu’.
