# With compliments



## Kate32

Hi there - I am printing off some company compliment slips. How do you say "With compliments" in french? Thanks in advance.


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## Sickduck

"Avec nos compliments"


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## Cecily

Do we really use "avec nos compliments" in French in this context?
It seems to me that "avec nos compliments" in French is when you congratulate somebody. 
Here I think that "compliments" in English means that it is offered by the company (like : "complimentary drinks" meaning "free drinks")
I know that we use "gracieusement offert" when a company offers something to its customers but I'm not sure we use "avec nos compliments" in this case. Maybe we do. I'm just wondering and I want to make sure that we are not giving wrong information.


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## coolchick

_*Gracieuseté de*_ "XYZ Company".


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## Cecily

I'm sorry but I've never heard this either so I am wondering if it is just because I don't know it or if it is because it is Canadian French. Do you know?


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## joleen

I've heard "Gracieusement" but never "Gracieusete" either .... ???


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## Pipsy

Moi non plus! Non- je plaisante.  Néanmoins, j'suis sure que ça vient du XVème siècle..


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## Cecily

So who will let Kate32 know what "with compliments" is in French? Do we use "avec nos compliments" in her context? (Actually I'd like to know either)


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## Kate32

Thanks for your advice. To give you some more context, I work for a film production company and when we send out scripts to other companies we would just include a compliment slip that says "With compliments" and then a signature.


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## Cecily

Kate, my dictionnary says "avec nos compliments" either. I don't know if it is widely used, but apparently it is the correct way of saying it.


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## Kate32

Thanks Cecily. I think you might well be right. I've asked around outside this forum as well and that answer seems to come up most often.


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## clairet

I think a comparable phrase in English would be "with our respects" (the use of the plural, as in the case of "compliments", is odd when you come to look at it - may be something to do with "our", which is implicit in the "compliments" phrase).  So, in French, is there a phrase like "avec respects"?  The site dictionary suggests "respects" would be formal, so probably appropriate here - and that it is equivalent to "compliments".


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## Cecily

You're welcome!


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## coolchick

usually, IMO, these expressions 'with compliments', 'gracieusete de..' etc are usually accompanying gifts offered by companies... you know, those freebies or samples that are sent out to clients as 'thank you's' or 'here, try this out for out' kinda thing...
(I am surprised none of you have heard the expression 'gracieusete de...' - I feel so _alone_...)

wink wink
Chris


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## Cecily

"Avec nos compliments" is probably the best then.
I think they use it in the hotel industry. I have tried to search on the web for evidence that it is correct but I haven't found anything. We should get advice from someone working in a company which gives free samples.

Anyway, most of the time I think we write a note saying : "Nous sommes heureux de vous offrir blablabla..." or "Nous sommes heureux de vous présenter..." or "Toute l'équipe est heureuse de vous offrir ..." and then we add "avec nos sincères salutations" and then we sign.


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## Kate32

Yes, it doesn't seem to be a commonly used expression...if at all.


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## Sickduck

Well, «Avec nos compliments» is very commonly used in diplomatic notes, as in: «Avec les compliments de l'Ambassade de XXX».


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## charlie2

The captioned expression is not just for gifts and, as far as I know, is used on slips by law firms when they send, for instance, a copy document to a third party where there is no cover(ing) letter.


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## Cecily

Hi Kate 32,
I went to a hotel yesterday and they gave me a voucher for a free drink on which was written... "avec nos compliments / with our compliments". This confims what we said. I thought you might want to know.


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## WME

Sickduck said:


> Well, «Avec nos compliments» is very commonly used in diplomatic notes, as in: «Avec les compliments de l'Ambassade de XXX».


oui, mais ça ne veut pas du tout dire la même chose
dans le langage diplomatique, les "compliments" sont une "visite de courtoisie faite à un personnage officiel"
with compliments, c'est quand on offre quelque chose
dire "avec nos compliments" en français pour dire cela est répandu mais abusif


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## Language Hound

Kate32 said:


> I am printing off some company compliment slips. How do you say "With compliments" in french? Thanks in advance.


I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to add my two cents for anyone else searching here.
Based on my experience of working for French companies, I can confirm that _avec nos compliments _is used.

Additionally, when a person sends a copy of a document, for example, but doesn't want to write a cover letter to go with it, the person will often attach their business card to the document and write _avec mes compliments_ on it.
Generally speaking, French business cards are much bigger than American ones and short notes are often written on them.


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## WME

There's several things :
- Yes it is used, but no it's not good French, it's just basically a copy of the English phrase. 
- We have business cards and cartes de visite (name cards, in English) : the bigger ones that you are refering to cartes de visite and are normally not used in business


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## Lucky19

A moi aussi, ça me fait bizarre mais j'ai jeté un coup d’œil dans différents dictionnaires et effectivement, un compliment est aussi une formule de politesse ou de civilité.


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## WME

Tout à fait, mais elle ne doit pas être utilisée dans les mêmes situations qu'en anglais.


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## Lucky19

Je ne sais pas. Je ne connaissais pas cet emploi du mot compliment.

=> Peut-être dans ce contexte : Formule de politesse employée pour se rappeler au bon souvenir de quelqu'un : Avec les compliments de la direction.

On leur fait une petite salutation et on marque le coup par un cadeau... ???


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## Language Hound

WME said:


> There's several things :
> - Yes it is used, but no it's not good French, it's just basically a copy of the English phrase.
> Even though it may be a calque, it seems to me that it is what's commonly used in the OP's context.
> - We have business cards and cartes de visite (name cards, in English) : the bigger ones that you are refering to cartes de visite and are normally not used in business
> Yes, my French _carte de visite_ is large and is perfect for writing short notes.
> French business cards may be smaller than French _cartes de visite_, but they are still bigger than American business cards (unless there's been a recent global effort to standardize the size that I'm not aware of) and it's been my experience that they are sometimes used, unlike American business cards, as small pieces of stationery.
> (I hope this isn't too off-topic...)


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## WME

OK,I've seen US business cards and they don't seem mush smaller but I won't continue with the off-topic.
The fact that it's commonly used does not mean it is correct. Let's say we are a bit more stringent with our language (for better or worse...)


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## Language Hound

The rampant use of _avec nos/mes compliments_ that I have witnessed in the French business world never really struck me as a copy of the English phrase because no American business person that I ever met used it that way.

For me, _with our/my compliments_, is used when you are offering something free-of-charge to someone.  The OP who asked the question is from the UK, where usage of this phrase may be different.


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## WME

Yes it seems much of the confusion is related to the fact that in the end the context is not clear in the situation met by the op.
All I mean to say is don't use avec nos compliments when sending out freebies.
By the way, is it possible to add something after with compliments in English ?  
Like, with compliments from the company?


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## Language Hound

WME said:


> All I mean to say is don't use avec nos compliments when sending out freebies.
> I agree 100%.
> By the way, is it possible to add something after with compliments in English ?
> Like, with compliments from the company?


I think it may be more common to just have "With Compliments" on one line and the person's or company's name below.
Or you could write: "With *the* Compliments *of*" followed by the person's or company's name.
Some compliments cards can be viewed here.

The following was written by Zwibir1st, a native French speaker, in response to a query about compliments slips here: "Both French Assemblies have compliments cards with "avec nos compliments" ou "avec les compliments du service X du Sénat". (What an example !)
So I think that "avec nos compliments" fits "

In the link I provided above, you can view a compliments card from the Commonwealth of Australia which reads: With the compliments of/The Minister of State/for Air.


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