All about the French phrase "S'te plaît"

Get ready to learn all the things you ever wanted to know about the basic phrase "S'te plaît". To be clear, it includes a detailed explanation of what it is and how you can use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. But that's not all, we also added some useful informations like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example, synonym and more!

Translation in English

Translation : Please
Register : Informal - Basic - Slang

Pronunciation example

Slow

Normal

IPA : / stə plɛ /

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What does s'te plaît mean?

Definition

"S'te plait" is the informal way to say "Please" in French. It's the shortened version of "S'il te plait" and it literally means "If it pleases you".

How to use it

Depending on the context, you should either use "S'te plait" (Informal & Singular) or "S'il te plait" (Neutral & Singular) or "S'il vous plaît" (Formal &/or Plural).

So, use "S'te plait" or "S'il te plaît" when talking to only one person and if you "know" this person already (a friend, a lover, a family member or anybody you can be informal with).

For example: "Papa, tu peux m'aider s'te plait ?" (Dad, can you help me, please?)

Now, it's different if you are talking to several people and/or people you should show respect to (strangers, elderly, police, when meeting colleagues, etc.). Here you should use: "S'il vous plait".

For example: "Pouvez-vous me donner le dossier s'il vous plaît ?" (Can you give me the folder please?)

Also, both are invariable, so never add an "s" at "plait" or at "il". Just like you should never conjugate it with the genre and say "S'elle te plait" for example.

Finally, you will probably often see variations of "plait" with 'î' instead of 'i'. Since 1990, both are ok and we prefer using the version with the "simple i" but it's still used for official documents and some other situations. Anyway, you will NEVER be wrong by not putting the accent over the 'i'.

Fun facts

For an even more informal version, you can use "Steup". And for texting, we use massively "Stp" which is even shorter...

Synonyms / Related

The "full" synonyms are:

S'il vous plaît. ("Please")(Formal and singular)
S'il te plait. ("Please")(Neutral and singular)
Steup. ("Please")(Very familiar)
STP. ("Please")(Texting)

And if you want something stronger, use one of these:

Je t'en prie. ("I beg you")(Medium strong)
Je t'en supplie. ("I beg you")(Super strong)
Je t'implore. ("I'm pleading you")(Super strong)

N.B: Depending on context, "Je t'en prie" can also mean: "You are welcome"

↓ Example in a story with slow audio ↓

Finally, let's see an example in a parallel story with slow audio.

Rendez-vous au restaurant

Date at the restaurant

Joe et Angèle ont un rendez-vous au restaurant.

Joe and Angèle have a date at the restaurant.

JoeBonjour ! Nous avons une réservation pour deux à vingt heures au nom de Joe.

Hello! We have a reservation for two at 8pm in the name of Joe.

Le serveur vérifie la liste des réservations puis conduit Joe et Angèle à leur table.

The waiter checks the reservation list, then takes Joe and Angèle to their table.

Enfin, il leur donne le menu.

Finally, he gives them the menu.

JoeWaouh ! Il y a beaucoup de choix ! Angèle, tu peux me recommander un plat typiquement français, s'te plaît ?

Whoa! There is a lot of choice! Angèle, can you recommend me a typical French dish, please?

AngèleJe te recommande le foie gras ! C'est du foie de canard engraissé. En général, on le mange avec des toasts et de la confiture de figue.

I recommend you the foie gras! This is fattened duck liver. In general, we eat it with some toasts and fig jam.