Do you know the difference between madam and madame? What about ma’am?
We broke down the differences below.
- Madam: a polite way of addressing adult women.
- Madame: a title or way of addressing married French-speaking women.
- Ma’am: contraction, or short form, of madam.
Madam is a formal way of addressing older women in English-speaking countries. The contraction ma’am, which is the short form of madam, is more common and slightly less formal than madam. Although ma’am is more commonly used than madam in the US, the use of both ma’am and madam has declined over the years. However, words like sir and madam are still used in the salutation of letters or emails when the name of the recipient is unknown.
Unless you are in a French-speaking country, you will probably will not need to use madame. Madame is a title or way of politely addressing married French women and is the French equivalent of missus (Mrs.). Meanwhile, mademoiselle is the French equivalent of miss (Ms.), and monsieur is the French mister.
In the Philippines, it is common to address people by sir, ma’am, and madam when speaking formally or politely. The use of sir and ma’am in the present-day Philippines is actually more prevalent than the use of the two words in the US on an everyday basis. Mister and miss are also used in the Philippines alongside sir, ma’am, and madam.
Pronunciation
- Madam: ma·dm or ma·dem
- Madame: ma·dam
The second A in madam is pronounced more like E or barely pronounced at all. The second A in the French madame, however, is pronounced slightly more like an A.
The confusion between madam and madame may have come from the fact that the two words have similar pronunciation and spelling. English borrows thousands of words from French, such as ballet, chic, cliché, façade, homage, and reservoir. Hence, there may be some confusion on how to spell these French-borrowed words the American way. There are also words in English and French that have the same meaning and similar pronunciation but different spellings, such as bleu and blue, which can also cause confusion.
Example sentences
Madam
Would you like some more coffee, madam?
Dear Madam, thank you so much for your help the other day.
I asked the kind madam for her name before she left.
Madame
Typically, you would be speaking or writing in French when using madame.
Bonjour madame.
Merci Madame Dupont.
Félicitations, Madame la Directrice.
When in doubt
Here are some simple rules of thumb you can follow:
- When speaking or writing in English, use madam.
- When speaking or writing in French, use madame or mademoiselle.
Because this article is in English, you most use English more than French. If it were the latter, you would be reading this article in French. If you are in an English-speaking country, you most likely will not need to use the French madame at any time. If anything, madam can also be used to politely address French madame when you are speaking English, so when in doubt, you can simply use madam.
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