What is the literal meaning of the French phrase "respondez s'il vous plait" (R.S.V.P.) and especially, how do you pronounce the phrase? Thank you for any assistance. R. Dixon.

Répondez s'il vous plait means please answer, as in please answer the phone or please answer the door or please answer the question. Notice, there's no 's' between the letters e and p.

Pronouciation is difficult to type but the 'é' is pronounced like an 'a' in a word like 'date'. 'pon' is pronounced like the word 'pound' but without the d at the end and 'dez' again is like an 'a' in the word date. So 'ra_pon_da'. The 'i' in 's'il' is pronounced like an 'e' and the s at the end of vous is silent. 'Plait' is the same again as an 'a' in date and the rest of the letters in that word are also silent.

So... Raponda s'eel vou pla.

Hope that helps.

See Vu Pleh I think..

Ray-Pon-Day See-Voo-Play

Actually, it's not See it's Seel, there's an L.