French language

French
French
français
Pronunciation	[fʁɑ̃sɛ]
Native to	France
Region	Francophonie (French-speaking world); (geographical distribution below)
Native speakers	300 million speakers (2019); An estimated 300 million French speakers (L1 plus L2; 2019)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Western Romance Gallo-Romance Oïl French; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms:	Old French Middle French French; ;
Dialects	Tourangeau
Writing system	Latin (French alphabet); French Braille
Official status
Official language in	43 countries ; Administrative/cultural ; 15 dependent entities ; Numerous international organisations
Regulated by	Académie française (French Academy) (France) ; Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Board of the French Language) (Quebec)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	fr
ISO 639-2	fre (B); fra (T)
ISO 639-3	fra
Linguasphere	51-AAA-i
	Regions where French is the main language Regions where it is an official language Regions where it is a second language Regions where it is a minority language
	This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.
	This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

French (French: français, pronounced "Fronce-eh") is a Romance language that was first spoken in France. It is also spoken in Belgium (Wallonia), Luxembourg, Canada (Quebec), Switzerland (Romandy) and with many different countries in Africa (Francophone Africa). About 220 million people speak French as a native or a second language.^[3] It has also been one of the roots of other languages such as the Haitian Creole language. Like the other Romance languages, its nouns have genders that are divided into masculine (masculin) and feminine (féminin) words.

History

In ancient times, the Celts lived in what is now France.^[4] In those days, the land was called Gaul (Latin: Gallia). The Romans conquered Gallia and divided it into provinces. Because the Romans spoke Latin, the local people learned Latin and began to speak it. Their own language, Gaulish, tended to be spoken less often, although Breton is a language still spoken today in the part of France called Brittany, that came from the old Celtic language.

Francophone Africa

French pronunciation, more so than other Romance languages, became radically different from Latin. After the Roman Empire fell and Germanic peoples swarmed the countryside, Vulgar Latin was changing quickly. In medieval France it changed into two dialects or languages: langue d'oc and langue d'oïl. They both mean "language of yes", because oc was the word for "yes" in the south, and oïl meant "yes" in the north. Today, the word for yes in French is oui, pronounced like "we".

In 1635, France established the French Academy in order to standardize the French language. To this day, the academy establishes the rules for Standard French.

Langue d'oc is now called Occitan, and it is still spoken by many people in Southern France.

Letters

French uses the Latin alphabet, just like English. There are a few differences because vowels can have with three types of diacritics added on to them. They are the acute accent é; grave accent è and circumflex accent î. A cedilla can also be added onto a c to make ç.

Vowels

a is pronounced like in "father".
ai and ei are pronounced like the "ay" in "say"
an and en are pronounced like the "on" in "wrong", though not if there are two n letters or an e directly after it.
au and eau are pronounced like the "o" in "note".
In the endings er and ez, e is pronounced like the "ay" in "say".
eu is pronounced like the "e" in "verse".
Otherwise, e is like the a in "about". However, it is silent if it comes on the end of a word, unless it's a short word.
é is pronounced like the "ay" in "say".
è and ê are pronounced like the "e" in "bed".
Apart from e, the three diacritics don't really affect how other vowels are pronounced.
i and y are pronounced like the "ee" in "tree".
in is pronounced like the "an" in "bank", though not if there are two n letters or an e directly after it.
o is pronounced like in "note".
oi is pronounced like a "w", following by the "a" in "father".
oin is pronounced like the "wan" in "twang".
on is pronounced like the "on" in "long", though not if there are two n letters or an e directly after it.
ou is pronounced like the "oo" in "food".
œ is pronounced like the "e" in "verse" but with more rounded lips.
u is not a sound that exists in English. It is pronounced like saying the "ee" in "feed", but with your lips rounded in the way that you would say the word "food".
un is pronounced like the "un" in "hung", though not if there are two n letters or an e directly after it.

Consonants

Like in English, c is pronounced as a "k" before most letters but as a soft "s" before e, i or y.
ç is pronounced as a soft "s".
ch, sh and sch are pronounced like the "sh" in "shop".
g is pronounced as a hard "g" before most letters. Before e, i or y, it is pronounced like the "s" in "treasure".
gn is pronounced like the "ny" in "canyon".
h is always silent.
j is pronounced like the "s" in "treasure".
l is normally (but not always) pronounced like the "y" in "yes" if it comes after the letter i; otherwise it is pronounced as an "l".
m and n change if they come after a vowel - see above.
qu is pronounced as a "k".
r is pronounced differently to English, being a gargling sound made at the back of your throat.
th is pronounced as a "t", not like in English.
x is pronounced "gz" or "ks".
b, d, f, k, p, ph, s, t, v, w and z are pronounced the same as in English.

If a word ends with a consonant, this will usually not be pronounced unless the next word starts with a vowel. However, if the word is very short or the last consonant is a c, r, l or f, this is still pronounced.

Examples

Spoken French

Here are some examples of French words and sentences :

French	English
Oui	Yes (si when used as a reply to non or negative expressions)
Non	No
Bonjour	Hello (formal)
Au revoir	Goodbye
Salut	Hi and goodbye (informal)
Merci	Thank you
Merci beaucoup	Thank you very much
Monsieur	Sir, mister
Madame	Madam, Mrs.
Homme	Man
Femme	Woman
Fille	Girl
Garçon	Boy
Poulet	Chicken
Formidable	Wonderful
En vacances	On vacation/holiday
Eau	Water
Manger	To eat
Parlez-vous français?	Do you speak French?
Je parle français.	I speak French.
Comment allez-vous?	How are you? (formal or more than one person)
Comment vas-tu?	How are you? (informal)
Je t'aime.	I love you.
Où sont les toilettes s'il vous plaît ?	Where are the toilets, please?
Comment t'appelles-tu?	What is your name?
Je m'appelle... (your name)	My Name is... (your name)
Je parle l'anglais	I speak English
S'il vous plaît	Please (Formal)
J'ai besoin d'un taxi	I need a taxi

Many French words are like English words, because English took many words from the Norman language, a dialect of French influenced by Old Norse. This is true even though scholars consider English to be a Germanic language, like German. For example, many English words ending with "tion", "sion", "ible", or "able" came from the French language.

French and English have many cognates, which are words that look and sound similar because they come from the same source. Here are some examples:

French	English
Non	No
Théâtre	Theatre
Crème	Cream
Ballon	Balloon
Difficile	Difficult
Dragon	Dragon
Rat	Rat
Cinéma	Cinema
Énergie	Energy
Ennemi	Enemy
Oncle	Uncle
Impossible	Impossible
Session	Session
Conversation	Conversation

French Language Media

Knowledge of French in the European Union and candidate countries
Distribution of native French speakers in 6 countries in 2021
French language spread in the United States. Counties marked in lighter pink are those where 6–12% of the population speaks French at home; medium pink, 12–18%; darker pink, over 18%. French-based creole languages are not included.
Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya in Lebanon
A 500-CFP franc (€4.20; US$5.00) banknote, used in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna
Varieties of the French language in the world