Answering the phone in English at a French business: key phrases to greet, hold and transfer callers

The greeting sets the tone. A simple, professional version: “Good morning, [company name], [your first name] speaking. How can I help you?”, the English counterpart of « Bonjour, [entreprise], [prénom] à l’appareil. Que puis-je faire pour vous ? ». In the afternoon, replace “Good morning” with “Good afternoon”. If you do not know what time of day it is for the person calling, “Hello” is still correct.

To identify the caller: “May I ask who’s calling?” (« Puis-je savoir qui est à l’appareil ? »), then “Could you spell your name, please?” (« Pourriez-vous épeler votre nom, s’il vous plaît ? »). To find out what the call is about: “What is it regarding?” (« À quel sujet ? »).

To ask for a moment: “Could you hold on a moment, please?” (« Pourriez-vous patienter un instant, s’il vous plaît ? »). According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “hold on” means to wait for a short time, and “hold the line” means to wait on the phone until someone is able to speak to you.

Say what you are doing while the caller waits: “Let me check if she’s available” (« Je vérifie si elle est disponible »). When you come back on the line, thank them: “Thank you for holding” (« Merci d’avoir patienté »). If the wait drags on, go back to the caller rather than leaving them without news: “I’m sorry, he’s still on another call. Would you like to wait or shall I take a message?” (« Désolé, il est encore en ligne. Préférez-vous patienter ou voulez-vous laisser un message ? »).

The key verb is “put through”, which means connecting a caller to the person they want to speak to: “I’ll put you through to our sales department” (« Je vous passe notre service commercial »). A variant: “I’m transferring you now” (« Je vous transfère »).

Before transferring, tell your colleague about the call so that the caller does not have to repeat everything. If the person asked for is not available: “I’m afraid she’s not available at the moment” (« Je suis désolé, elle n’est pas disponible pour le moment »), followed by a concrete offer: a call back, a message or another contact.

To offer: “Would you like to leave a message?” (« Souhaitez-vous laisser un message ? ») or “Can I take a message?” (« Puis-je prendre un message ? »). Then ask for the useful details: “Could I have your phone number, please?” (« Puis-je avoir votre numéro de téléphone ? ») and “When is the best time to call you back?” (« Quel est le meilleur moment pour vous rappeler ? »).

Always read the details back: “Let me read that back to you” (« Je vous relis ces informations »). Numbers deserve particular attention: in English, zero can be said as “zero” or “oh”, and in British English “double” is used for two identical digits, as in “double five” for 55. End with “Thank you for calling, goodbye” (« Merci de votre appel, au revoir »).

Some word-for-word translations sound wrong. Do not say “I listen” for « je vous écoute »; use “How can I help you?” instead. “Actually” does not mean « actuellement » but « en fait »; for « actuellement », say “currently” or “at the moment”. “Eventually” means « finalement », not « éventuellement ».

Also avoid speaking faster to hide your hesitation: a slow pace and short sentences are better understood. If you have not understood, say so: “Sorry, could you repeat that, please?” (« Pardon, pourriez-vous répéter ? ») or “Could you speak a little more slowly?” (« Pourriez-vous parler un peu plus lentement ? »). Pretending to have understood leads to an incorrect message, which is worse than asking one more question.

A multilingual voice agent could, in theory, handle the first exchanges in English; check with each provider what is actually available before relying on it. Alyas answers the phone 24 hours a day using the information you provide, announces at the start of each call that it is an AI, collects the caller’s contact details, transfers calls to the number you have chosen and posts a transcript and a summary of every call to your client area. The ten-day free trial lets you test it on your calls.