Pronunciation of M. & Mme?

Question

In "M. Dupont et Mme Vichy vont au bureau." above, it sounds like M. is just being pronounced as the letter M and not as monsieur but Mme is pronounced as madame. Is that really how this would be said aloud? Also, is it correct that the M. has a period to denote abbreviation but the Mme does not? Is there a rule to help explain this?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Melisa !
First, yes M. needs the period to make it clear that it's the abbreviation of "Monsieur" and not just the letter M, where Mme is obvious enough not to necessitate this :)
As for the audio file, it was an error, and thanks to you, I've now fixed it to read "Monsieur" as it should!
Merci et à bientôt !

Answer

Thank you! The audio files for every example are one of the most helpful features of this site.

Answer

The rule is the same in French as in English, Bill. If there are more letters to come in the word, there is a full stop. If the abbreviation includes the last letter of the word then there is not

Consider St for Saint - no full stop

Rd for road

Ave for Avenue

but Pres. for President - requires full stop

etc

Best wishes

Edwin