"Formal" means something different in every language, so each of the 100 languages has its own tone instruction.
The form of address in formal text, by language
| Language | Form of address in formal text |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | u |
| Albanian | Ju |
| Amharic | respectful verb forms |
| Arabic (MSA) | formal register, no particular form |
| Armenian | Դուք |
| Assamese | আপুনি |
| Azerbaijani | Siz |
| Basque | zu (zuka) |
| Belarusian | вы |
| Bengali | আপনি |
| Bosnian | Vi |
| Bulgarian | Вие |
| Burmese | honorific vocabulary |
| Catalan | vostè |
| Cebuano | respectful forms |
| Chinese Simplified | 您 |
| Chinese Traditional | 您 |
| Croatian | Vi |
| Czech | vy (vykání) |
| Danish | formal register, no particular form |
| Dutch | u |
| Estonian | teie (teie-vorm) |
| Farsi | شما |
| Finnish | te (teitittely) |
| French | vous |
| Frisian | jo |
| Galician | vostede |
| Georgian | თქვენ |
| German | Sie |
| Greek | εσείς |
| Gujarati | આપ, તમે |
| Haitian Creole | formal register, no particular form |
| Hausa | formal register, no particular form |
| Hebrew | formal register, no particular form |
| Hindi | आप |
| Hungarian | Ön, Önök |
| Icelandic | formal register, no particular form |
| Igbo | formal register, no particular form |
| Indonesian | Anda |
| Irish | formal register, no particular form |
| Italian | Lei |
| Japanese | です・ます (teineigo), 敬語 where natural |
| Javanese | krama |
| Kannada | ನೀವು |
| Kazakh | Сіз |
| Khmer | honorific vocabulary |
| Kinyarwanda | formal register, no particular form |
| Korean | 하십시오체, 합니다체, with honorifics |
| Kurdish (Kurmanji) | hûn |
| Kyrgyz | Сиз |
| Lao | respectful vocabulary |
| Latvian | Jūs |
| Lithuanian | Jūs |
| Macedonian | Вие |
| Malagasy | respectful forms |
| Malay | anda |
| Malayalam | നിങ്ങൾ |
| Maltese | formal register, no particular form |
| Marathi | आपण |
| Mongolian | Та |
| Nepali | तपाईं |
| Norwegian | du, where direct address cannot be avoided |
| Odia (Oriya) | ଆପଣ |
| Pashto | تاسو |
| Polish | Państwo, with verbs in the third person plural |
| Portuguese (European) | third-person polite forms |
| Punjabi | ਤੁਸੀਂ |
| Romanian | dumneavoastră |
| Russian | вы (Вы for the reader) |
| Scottish Gaelic | sibh |
| Serbian | Vi |
| Sesotho | formal register, no particular form |
| Shona | formal register, no particular form |
| Sinhala | ඔබ |
| Slovak | vy (vykanie) |
| Slovenian | vi (vikanje) |
| Somali | formal register, no particular form |
| Spanish (European) | usted |
| Sundanese | basa lemes |
| Swahili | formal register, no particular form |
| Swedish | formal register, no particular form |
| Tagalog | po, opo, kayo |
| Tajik | Шумо |
| Tamil | அவர் |
| Tatar | Сез |
| Telugu | మీరు |
| Thai | ท่าน or neutral forms |
| Turkish | siz |
| Turkmen | Siz |
| Ukrainian | ви |
| Urdu | آپ |
| Uyghur | سىز |
| Uzbek | Siz |
| Vietnamese | quý vị or neutral terms |
| Welsh | chi |
| Wolof | formal register, no particular form |
| Xhosa | formal register, no particular form |
| Yiddish | איר |
| Yoruba | ẹ (respectful plural) |
| Zulu | formal register, no particular form |
The form of address we require for each language under tone of voice.