One of my French friends squealed when she saw it — ‘Mais qu’est-ce que c’est ça, RSVP?’ — somewhere between ‘what is this?’ and ‘what the hell is that?’
That’s what Mira said when she saw RSVP on the invitation I’d just designed for her going-away party.
RSVP is an abbreviation of the phrase Répondez, S’il Vous Plaît
“REPLY IF IT PLEASES YOU,” but idiomatically, it means “PLEASE REPLY.”
What does RSVP mean? RSVP stands for Répondez s’il vous plaît — a French phrase meaning “please reply.” The abbreviation entered English in the 19th century, when French phrases in social correspondence signalled refinement. It became standard in English and never left. In France, the phrase fell out of use long before the abbreviation caught on elsewhere, which is why French people today don’t recognise it.
STORYTIME: My confused French friends and the French invitation
Mira and her family were moving to Russia for three years for a job opportunity. She asked me to design the invitation — in French.
I happily agreed and came up with the idea of making it look like a postcard featuring five red Russian nesting dolls — one for each family member, including the cat.
I think the invitation turned out super cute.
As I created the invitation in Photoshop, my girlfriends looked over my shoulder, giving me annoying but welcome feedback.
When I typed RSVP at the bottom, my friends lost it.
At first, I thought they were joking or pretending not to know. It is, after all, a French abbreviation for the French phrase ‘Répondez, S’il Vous Plaît.’ It took me a few minutes to accept that they genuinely didn’t.
I tried explaining to them how Anglophone countries use RSVP. Even in French-speaking Quebec, we know the meaning of RSVP. Nothing I said clicked until I told them it was like adding an “R” to “S.V.P.,” short for “S’il Vous Plait,” a well-known French acronym for the word “please.”
They were intrigued by the use of “RSVP” in English, but said we shouldn’t use it on a French invitation because no one would understand what it means.
I was a little embarrassed and irritated because I created two birthday invitations for my daughter and used RSVP, and no one ever said anything to me.
How to ask people to RSVP in France
Mira asked me to type ‘Réponse avant le 30 Septembre’ — respond before the 30th of September.
I like “réponse souhaitée” followed by contact information — phone number or email. It’s simple and to the point. Not too formal and not too friendly.
If you want options:
- Réponse souhaitée: Response wanted
- Réponse souhaitée avant la (date): Response wanted before the (date)
- Merci de me confirmer ta présence: Thank you for confirming your presence
- Merci de confirmer ta présence le plus tôt possible en contactant au (tel) ou (email) :Thank you for confirming your presence asap by calling (phone number) or (email)
- Confirmez votre participation avant la (date): Confirm your participation before the (date)
- Prière de Répondre: (Somewhat more formal) Pray do respond
How did RSVP become part of the English language?
RSVP — an abbreviation of a French phrase — survived in English longer than it survived in French.
When William the Conqueror took the English throne in 1066, he brought his Norman French with him and made it the language of the court. For the next few centuries, speaking French wasn’t trying to sound sophisticated. It was a status signal to show that you already were. That habit crossed the Atlantic. By the 19th century, sprinkling French phrases into English social correspondence showed refinement among the American elite. RSVP landed there and stuck.
Meanwhile, French kept evolving. The abbreviation fell out of fashion, then out of use. English preserved it like a fossil — long after the people who coined it stopped recognising it.
Quebec did the same thing, which is why I knew exactly what it meant, and my French friends didn’t.
Related Article: French loan words in Irish.
