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Formality

Use formality to influence tone when translating.

Allowed values:

  • auto (default behavior)
  • formal
  • informal
  • neutral

formality is an instruction to the underlying model; results can vary by language.

Frequently asked questions​

When should I use formal or informal instead of auto?​

Use formal or informal when you need a specific tone regardless of the source text's register. auto lets the model infer the tone from the input, which usually matches the original text. Choose formal or informal if your target audience expects a fixed level of politeness (e.g., customer-facing legal documents versus internal chat).

Does formality work for every language?​

No. The parameter has no grammatical basis in languages that don't distinguish between formal and informal address (like "u"/"jij" in Dutch or "vous"/"tu" in French). For those languages, the effect may be minimal or invisible. You can still pass the parameter. It won't cause errors, but the output might not change noticeably.

How does formality interact with glossary and custom instructions?​

The formality parameter and other options (such as glossary and custom instructions) work together, but formality does not override them. For example, a term defined in your glossary will still be used regardless of whether you set formality to formal or informal. The tone adjustment applies to the phrasing and register, not to fixed term substitutions.