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French language

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Lingua franca.

This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using
{{langx}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for
phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual
support templates may also be used. See why. (September 2024)
French
français
Pronunciation [fʁɑ̃sɛ]
Native to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Francophone Africa, Canada, and
other locations in the Francophonie
Speakers L1: 74 million (2020)[1]
L2: 238 million (2022)[1]
Total: 310 million[1]
Language family
Indo-European
Italic
Latino-Faliscan
Latinic
Romance
Italo-Western
Western
Gallo-Iberian[2]
Gallo-Romance
Gallo-Rhaetian?[3]
Arpitan–Oïl
Oïl
Francien zone
French
Early forms
Old Latin
Vulgar Latin
Proto-Romance
Old Gallo-Romance
Old French
Middle French
Writing system Latin script (French alphabet)
French Braille
Signed forms Signed French
(français signé)
Official status
Official language in
26 countries

10 subnational

Non-official but administrative/cultural

Intergovernmental organizations
Regulated by Académie Française (French Academy, France)
Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Board of the French Language,
Quebec)
Direction de la langue française [fr] (Belgium)
Language codes
ISO 639-1 fr
ISO 639-2 fre (B)
fra (T)
ISO 639-3 fra
Glottolog stan1290
Linguasphere 51-AAA-i

Countries and regions where French is the native language of the majority[a]
Countries and regions where French is an official or de facto official language,
not a majority native language
Countries, regions, and territories where French is an administrative or cultural
language but with no official status
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you
may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For
an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Part of a series on the
French language
Langues d'oïl
Dialects
Creoles
Francophonie
History
Phonological history
Oaths of Strasbourg
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
Anglo-Norman
Grammar
Adverbs
Articles and determiners
Pronouns (personal)
Verbs
(conjugationmorphology
passé composépassé simple)
Orthography
Alphabet
Reforms
Circumflex
Braille
Phonology
Elision
Liaison
Aspirated h
Help:IPA/French
vte
French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] ⓘ or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ⓘ) is a Romance
language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it
descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern
Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in Northern Gaul. Its closest
relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern
France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. It was
also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the
Germanic Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. As a result of
French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, it was introduced to
new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and numerous French-based creole
languages, most notably Haitian Creole, were established. A French-speaking person
or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
French is an official language in 26 countries, as well as one of the most
geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and
territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or
cultural language.[4] Most of these countries are members of the Organisation
internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which
share the official use or teaching of French. It is estimated to have about 310
million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers;[5] it is spoken as
a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France, Canada
(provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick), Belgium (Wallonia and the
Brussels-Capital Region), western Switzerland (Romandy region), parts of
Luxembourg, parts of the United States (Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and
Vermont), Monaco, the Aosta Valley region of Italy, and various communities
elsewhere.[6]

In Francophone Africa it is spoken mainly as a second language or lingua franca,

though it has also become a native language in a small number of urban areas; in
some North African countries, despite not having official status, it is also a
first language among some upper classes of the population alongside the indigenous
ones, but only a second one among the general population.[7]

In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial

speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in
North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.
[8] French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.[9]
Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able
to speak French as a second language.[10] Many institutions of the EU use French as
a working language along with English, German and Italian; in some institutions,
French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European
Union).[11] French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the
sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers, and is among the top five
most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017.[12]
[13] French has a long history as an international language of literature and
scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international
organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, the World Trade Organization, the International Olympic
Committee, the General Conference on Weights and Measures, and the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

History
Main article: History of French
French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar
Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France.
The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French.

Vulgar Latin in Gaul

Due to Roman rule, Latin was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the
language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character,
with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is
attested in graffiti.[14] This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance
tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Franco-Provençal.

The evolution of Latin in Gaul was shaped by its coexistence for over half a
millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language, which did not go extinct
until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.[15]
Because few Latin speakers settled in rural areas during Roman times, Latin there
held little or no social value for the peasantry; as a result, 90% of the total
population of Gaul remained indigenous in origin. The urban aristocracy, who used
Latin for trade, education or official uses, would send their children to Roman
schools and administered lands for Rome. In the fifth century, at the time of the
collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the vast majority of the (predominantly
rural) population remained Gaulish speakers. They shifted to Latin as their native
speech only one century after the Frankish conquest of Gaul, adopting the prestige
language of their urban literate elite. This eventual spread of Latin can be
attributed to the social migration from the focus of urban power to village-centred
economies and legal serfdom.[16][17][18]

The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite
considerable Romanization.[15] Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the
Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French[18][15] contributing loanwords and
calques (including oui,[19] the word for "yes"),[20] sound changes shaped by
Gaulish influence,[21][22][23] and influences in conjugation and word order.[20]
[24][14] Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have
been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish.[25]

The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at
154 by the Petit Robert,[26] which is often viewed as representing standardized
French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240.
[27] Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant
life (chêne, bille, etc.), animals (mouton, cheval, etc.), nature (boue, etc.),
domestic activities (ex. berceau), farming and rural units of measure (arpent,
lieue, borne, boisseau), weapons,[28] and products traded regionally rather than
further afield.[29] This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants
being the last to hold onto Gaulish.[29][28]

Old French
Main article: Old French
The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into
the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the
country and on the language there.[30] A language divide began to grow across the
country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the
south spoke langue d'oc.[30] Langue d'oïl grew into what is known as Old French.
The period of Old French spanned between the late 8th[31] and mid-14th centuries.
Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use
of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system
that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects.
[32] The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from the Germanic
Frankish language, which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech
and higher registers of V2 word order,[33] a large percentage of the vocabulary
(now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary[34]) including the impersonal
singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man), and the name of the language
itself.

Up until its later stages, Old French, alongside Old Occitan, maintained a relic of
the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with
the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case
distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The
phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of
various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to
monophthongs.[citation needed]

The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in the Oaths of
Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia, while Old French literature began to
be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the
lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis), or wars and royal courts,
notably including the Chanson de Roland, epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his
court, as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange.[citation needed]
During the period of the Crusades French became so dominant in the Mediterranean
Sea that it became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased
contact with the Arabs during the Crusades, who referred to them[who?] as Franj,
numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool
(alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as
algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero).[35]

Middle French
Main article: Middle French
Within Old French many dialects emerged but the Francien dialect is one that not
only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th
centuries).[30] Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect.[30] Grammatically,
during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to
be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary,
which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar.[36]
Politically, the first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was
the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named
French the language of law in the Kingdom of France.

Modern French
During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of
diplomacy and international relations (lingua franca). It retained this role until
approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was replaced by English as
the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War.
[37][38] Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the
Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first
diplomatic blow" against the language.[39]

During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders
such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV, enjoyed a period of prosperity and
prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to
protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the
primary language of the aristocracy in France.

Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue
policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional
languages (patois) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire's
"Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the
use of the French language".[40] When public education was made compulsory, only
French was taught and the use of any other (patois) language was punished. The
goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking
teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany.
Instructions given by a French official to teachers in the department of Finistère,
in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given
your position in order to kill the Breton language".[41] The prefect of Basses-
Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque
Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..."[41]
Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should
be ashamed of them; this process was known in the Occitan-speaking region as
Vergonha.[42]

Geographic distribution
Main articles: Francophonie and Geographical distribution of French speakers

Distribution of native French speakers in 6 countries in 2023

Europe
Main article: European French

Knowledge of French in the European Union and candidate countries[43]

Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most
widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-
widely taught language after English.[9][44]

Under the Constitution of France, French has been the official language of the
Republic since 1992,[45] although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it
mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates the use of French in
official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and
legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words.

In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch
and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia
(excluding a part of the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the
two official languages—along with Dutch—of the Brussels-Capital Region, where it is
spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary
language.[46]

French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German,
Italian, and Romansh, and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called
Romandy, of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland
do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual
status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais,
Fribourg and Bern. French is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss
population, and is spoken by 50%[47] of the population.

Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages
of Luxembourg, where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as
of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of
Monaco.

At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in the Aosta

Valley region of Italy (the first government authority to adopt Modern French as
the official language in 1536, three years before France itself),[48] in which is
spoken as a first language by 1.25% of the population and as a second one by
approximately 50%.[49] French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel
Islands; it is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El
Pas de la Casa. The language is taught as the primary second language in the German
state of Saarland, with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of
citizens being able to speak French.[50][51]

Africa
Main article: African French

Official status of French in Africa as of 2025:

Countries in which it is an official de jure language
Regions in which is spoken as a native language

Countries of Africa by percentage of French speakers in 2023

0–10% Francophone
11–20% Francophone
21–30% Francophone
31–40% Francophone
41–50% Francophone
>50% Francophone
The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa; while it is
an official language in 18 countries, it is not spoken as a first language by the
majority, acting mainly as a second one or a lingua franca due to the many
indigenous languages spoken in the territories.[52] According to a 2023 estimate
from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an estimated 167 million
African people spread across 35 countries and territories[b] can speak French as
either a first or a second language;[53][54] only 1,2 million of these spoke it as
a first language according to Ethnologue.[55] This number does not include the
people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a
foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking
population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050.[56][57][58]
French was the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either
official or foreign languages).[59][60]

While spoken mainly as a second language, French is increasingly being spoken as a

native language in Francophone Africa among some communities in urban areas or the
elite class. This is especially true in the cities of Abidjan,[61][62] Kinshasa,
and Lubumbashi,[63][64][65][66] Douala,[67][68] Libreville,[69][70] Antananarivo,
[71] Cotonou,[72] and Brazzaville.[73] However, some African countries such as
Algeria intermittently attempted to remove the use of French in favor of native
languages, and it was removed as an official language in Mali, Burkina Faso, and
Niger in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.[74][75][76]

There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through
contact with various indigenous African languages.[77] Language and slang from
francophone Africa, particularly as popularized through music, are playing a
growing role in influencing French across the francophone world.[78]

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to
expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth.[79] It
is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.[80][81] Some
vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French
speakers from other countries,[82] but written forms of the language are very
closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.

Americas
Further information: Languages of North America, Languages of South America,
Languages of the Caribbean, and French language in Canada
Canada

French language distribution in Canada

Regions where French is the main language and an official language at both the
federal and provincial level
Regions where French is an official language at the federal level but not a
majority native language or an official language at the provincial level

The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in the Canadian province of Québec,
while the English stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France and
other French-speaking countries and regions.
French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal
official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it was the
native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second
language of 2.9 million (8% of the population).[83][84] French is the sole official
language in the province of Quebec, where some 80% of the population speak it as a
native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it.[83] Quebec
is also home to the city of Montreal, which is the world's fourth-largest French-
speaking city, by number of first language speakers.[85][86] New Brunswick and
Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism is
enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is
Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories
(Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon). Out of the three, Yukon has the most
French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population.[87] Furthermore, while
French is not an official language in Ontario, the French Language Services Act
ensures that provincial services are available in the language. The Act applies to
areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely
Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario. Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities
are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Port au
Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French
dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all
other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa, the Canadian capital, is also
effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers,
who are required to offer services in both French and English,[88] and is just
across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau.

United States

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.
According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth[89] most
spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all
forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly
combined. French is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states
of Maine and New Hampshire. In Louisiana, it is tied with Spanish for second-most
spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is
the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.[90] Louisiana is home to many
distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French. New England
French, essentially a variant of Canadian French, is spoken in parts of New
England. Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly
known as Upper Louisiana), but is nearly extinct today.[91] French also survived in
isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower
Louisiana, such as Mon Louis Island, Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter
only being discovered by linguists in the 1990s) but these varieties are severely
endangered or presumed extinct.

Caribbean
French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole. It is
the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage
and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such
as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population
speaks Haitian Creole as their first language; the rest largely speak French as a
first language.[92] As a French Creole language, Haitian Creole draws the large
majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African
languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to
Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles.[93]

French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
the Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies, namely
Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, and Martinique.

Other territories
French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American
continent,[94] and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon,[95] an archipelago off the coast
of Newfoundland in North America.

Asia
Southeast Asia
See also: French language in Vietnam, French language in Laos, and French language
in Cambodia
French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina, comprising
modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It continues to be an administrative
language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades.
[96] In colonial Vietnam, the elites primarily spoke French, while many servants
who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as "Tây Bồi" (now
extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in
administration, education, and trade.[97] However, since the Fall of Saigon and the
opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively
displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam.
Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as the other main foreign language in the
Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language.[98] All three
countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF).

India
See also: Indian French
French was the official language of French India, consisting of the geographically
separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry. It continued to be an official
language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965.[99] A
small number of older locals still retain knowledge of the language, although it
has now given way to Tamil and English.[99][100] French is one of the main
languages of Auroville.[101]

Puducherry is served by the Alliance française de Pondichéry founded in 1889

teaching 2,200 students and holding a library with 12,000 books and the Institut
français de Pondichéry.[102][103][104] Over 100,000 people of Indian origin, and a
growing number of students, live in Metropolitan France and approximately 250,000
live in Reunion.[105][106] Reunion Creole is derived mainly from French but
includes terms from Malagasy, Hindi, Portuguese, Gujarati and Tamil.[107] French
based Mauritian Creole also has some influence from Indian languages.[108]

Lebanon
See also: French language in Lebanon

Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya in Lebanon
A former French mandate, Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language,
while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of
Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law
determines the cases in which the French language is to be used".[109] The French
language in Lebanon is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people, and
is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese
pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates, and on official
buildings (alongside Arabic).

Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon, with about 40% of the
population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone.[110] The use of English is growing
in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000
are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of
mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French.[111] Actual usage of
French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school
students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking
institutions. English is the language of business and communication, with French
being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value.[112]

Oceania

A 500-CFP franc (€4.20; US$5.00) banknote, used in French Polynesia, New Caledonia
and Wallis and Futuna
French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, where 31%
of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023.[54] It is the sole official
language in the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and the overseas
collectivities of Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia.[113]
In New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French[114] while
in French Polynesia this figure is 95%,[115] and in Wallis and Futuna, it is 84%.
[116] In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and
written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal, French
increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most
spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported
that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007
census to 74% at the 2017 census.[117][115] In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of
the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home
rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census.[116][118]

Future
According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau
Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, the total number of
French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by
2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa.[119] OIF
estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.[8]

In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes, the investment bank Natixis said that
French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050.[120][better source
needed]

In the European Union, French was the dominant language within all institutions
until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French
significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and
taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working
languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It
is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but
remains the preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as
the Court of Justice of the European Union, where it is the sole internal working
language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture. Since 2016, Brexit has
rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role
within the institutions of the European Union.[121]

Varieties
Main article: Varieties of French
African French
Maghreb French (North African French)
Aostan French
Belgian French
Cambodian French
Canadian French
Acadian French
Newfoundland French
New England French
Ontario French
Quebec French
French French
Guianese French
Meridional French
Haitian French
Indian French
Jersey Legal French
Lao French
Louisiana French
Cajun French
Missouri French
South East Asian French
Swiss French
Vietnamese French
West Indian French

Varieties of the French language in the world

Current status and importance
According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak
the language" as of 2022,[122] without specifying the criteria for this estimation
or whom it encompasses.[123] A leading world language, French is taught in
universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages
because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence, education, and
diplomacy.[124] In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the
United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat's only two working languages[125]),
one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union, an
official language of NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the Council of
Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of
American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song
Contest, one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency, World
Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North
American Free Trade Agreement countries. It is also a working language in nonprofit
organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish,
Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other
languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese,
German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish,
Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English).[126] Given
the demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the
future".[127] However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently
attempted to eradicate the use of French, and in 2024 and 2025 it was removed as an
official language in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.[74][75]

Significant as a judicial language, French is one of the official languages of such

major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies
as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Caribbean Court of Justice,
the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States, the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice, the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the
International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body. It is
the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union,
and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights's two working languages.
[128]

In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today, a comprehensive academic study

entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages".[129] In the article, Weber
ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world,
ahead of Spanish.[129] His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number
of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages),
the number of countries using the language and their respective populations, the
economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in
which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery
of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable
linguistic prestige).[129] In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded
that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains
unchanged."[129]

Knowledge of French is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in

the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered
French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most
sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%).[130]
MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a
foreign language in the workplace.[131]

In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for
business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese.[132]

In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first
foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In
the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in
schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of the
country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more
commonly taught.

Phonology
Main article: French phonology
Duration: 3 minutes and 10 seconds.3:10
Spoken French (Africa)
Consonant phonemes in French
Labial Dental/
Alveolar Palatal/
Postalveolar Velar/
Uvular
Nasal m n ɲ (ŋ)
Stop voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ ʁ
voiced v z ʒ
Approximant plain l j
labial ɥ w
Vowel phonemes in French

Oral
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close i y u
Close-mid e ø (ə) o
Open-mid ɛ/(ɛː) œ ɔ
Open a (ɑ)
Nasal
Front Back
unrounded rounded
Open-mid ɛ̃ (œ̃) ɔ̃
Open ɑ̃
Although there are many French regional accents, foreign learners normally use only
one variety of the language.

There are a maximum of 17 vowels in French, not all of which are used in every
dialect: /a/, /ɑ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɛː/, /ə/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, /y/, /u/, /œ/, /ø/, plus the
nasalized vowels /ɑ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/ and /œ̃/. In France, the vowels /ɑ/, /ɛː/ and /œ̃/ are
tending to be replaced by /a/, /ɛ/ and /ɛ̃/ in many people's speech, but the
distinction of /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/ is present in Meridional French. In Quebec and Belgian
French, the vowels /ɑ/, /ə/, /ɛː/ and /œ̃/ are present.
Voiced stops (i.e., /b, d, ɡ/) are typically produced fully voiced throughout.
Voiceless stops (i.e., /p, t, k/) are unaspirated.
The velar nasal /ŋ/ can occur in final position in borrowed (usually English)
words: parking, camping, swing.
The palatal nasal /ɲ/, which is written ⟨gn⟩, can occur in word initial position
(e.g., gnon), but it is most frequently found in intervocalic, onset position or
word-finally (e.g., montagne).
French has three pairs of homorganic fricatives distinguished by voicing, i.e.,
labiodental /f/~/v/, dental /s/~/z/, and palato-alveolar /ʃ/~/ʒ/. /s/~/z/ are
dental, like the plosives /t/~/d/ and the nasal /n/.
French has one rhotic whose pronunciation varies considerably among speakers and
phonetic contexts. In general, it is described as a voiced uvular fricative, as in
[ʁu] roue, "wheel". Vowels are often lengthened before this segment. It can be
reduced to an approximant, particularly in final position (e.g., fort), or reduced
to zero in some word-final positions. For other speakers, a uvular trill is also
common, and an apical trill [r] occurs in some dialects. The cluster /ʁw/ is
generally pronounced as a labialised voiced uvular fricative [ʁʷ], such as in [ʁʷa]
roi, "king", or [kʁʷaʁ] croire, "to believe".
Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant /l/ is unvelarised in
both onset (lire) and coda position (il). In the onset, the central approximants
[w], [ɥ], and [j] each correspond to a high vowel, /u/, /y/, and /i/ respectively.
There are a few minimal pairs where the approximant and corresponding vowel
contrast, but there are also many cases where they are in free variation. Contrasts
between /j/ and /i/ occur in final position as in /pɛj/ paye, "pay", vs. /pɛi/
pays, "country".
The lateral approximant /l/ can be delateralised when word- or morpheme-final and
preceded by /i/, such as in /tʁavaj/ travail, "work", or when a word ending in ⟨al⟩
is pluralised, giving ⟨aux⟩ /o/.
French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is
often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary
between dialects, but the standard rules are:

Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n, p and g, are normally

silent. (A consonant is considered "final" when no vowel follows it even if one or
more consonants follow it.) The final letters f, k, q, and l, however, are normally
pronounced. The final c is sometimes pronounced, as in bac, sac, roc, but can also
be silent, as in blanc or estomac. The final r is usually silent when it follows an
e in a word of two or more syllables, but it is pronounced in some words (hiver,
super, cancer etc.).
When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant may once
again be pronounced, to provide a liaison or "link" between the two words. Some
liaisons are mandatory, for example the s in les amants or vous avez; some are
optional, depending on dialect and register, for example, the first s in deux cents
euros or euros irlandais; and some are forbidden, for example, the s in beaucoup
d'hommes aiment. The t of et is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of
a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in set phrases like pied-à-terre.
Doubling a final n and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g., chien →
chienne) makes it clearly pronounced. Doubling a final l and adding a silent e
(e.g., gentil → gentille) adds a [j] sound if the l is preceded by the letter i.
Some monosyllabic function words ending in a or e, such as je and que, drop their
final vowel when placed before a word that begins with a vowel sound (thus avoiding
a hiatus). The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g., *je ai is instead
pronounced and spelled j'ai). This gives, for example, the same pronunciation for
l'homme qu'il a vu ("the man whom he saw") and l'homme qui l'a vu ("the man who saw
him"). However, in Belgian French the sentences are pronounced differently; in the
first sentence the syllable break is as "qu'il-a", while the second breaks as "qui-
l'a". It can also be noted that, in Quebec French, the second example (l'homme qui
l'a vu) has more emphasis on l'a vu.
Writing system
Alphabet
Main articles: French alphabet and French braille
French is written with the 26 letters of the basic Latin script, with four
diacritics appearing on vowels (circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent,
diaeresis) and the cedilla appearing in "ç".

There are two ligatures, "œ" and "æ", but they are often replaced in contemporary
French with "oe" and "ae", because the ligatures do not appear on the AZERTY
keyboard layout used in French-speaking countries. However, this[ambiguous] is
nonstandard in formal and literary texts.

Orthography
Main articles: French orthography and Reforms of French orthography
French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation
rules. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period,
without a corresponding change in spelling. Moreover, some conscious changes were
made to restore Latin orthography (as with some English words such as "debt"):

Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitus)

Old French pie > French pied "foot" [Latin pes (stem: ped-)]
French orthography is morphophonemic. While it contains 130 graphemes that denote
only 36 phonemes, many of its spelling rules are likely due to a consistency in
morphemic patterns such as adding suffixes and prefixes.[133] Many given spellings
of common morphemes usually lead to a predictable sound. In particular, a given
vowel combination or diacritic generally leads to one phoneme. However, there is
not a one-to-one relation of a phoneme and a single related grapheme, which can be
seen in how tomber and tombé both end with the /e/ phoneme.[134] Additionally,
there are many variations in the pronunciation of consonants at the end of words,
demonstrated by how the x in paix is not pronounced though at the end of Aix it is.

As a result, it can be difficult to predict the spelling of a word based on the

sound. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins
with a vowel (see Liaison (French)). For example, the following words end in a
vowel sound: pied, aller, les, finit, beaux. The same words followed by a vowel,
however, may sound the consonants, as they do in these examples: beaux-arts, les
amis, pied-à-terre.

French writing, as with any language, is affected by the spoken language. In Old
French, the plural for animal was animals. The /als/ sequence was unstable[further
explanation needed] and was turned into a diphthong /aus/. This change was then
reflected in the orthography: animaus. The us ending, very common in Latin, was
then abbreviated by copyists (monks) to the letter x, resulting in a written form
animax. As the French language further evolved, the pronunciation of au turned into
/o/ so that the u was reestablished in orthography for consistency, resulting in
modern French animaux (pronounced first /animos/ before the final /s/ was dropped
in contemporary French). The same is true for cheval pluralized as chevaux and many
others. In addition, castel pl. castels became château pl. châteaux.

Nasal: n and m. When n or m follows a vowel or diphthong, the n or m becomes silent

and causes the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e., pronounced with the soft
palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air to leave through the
nostrils). Exceptions are when the n or m is doubled, or immediately followed by a
vowel. The prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized. The rules are more complex
than this but may vary between dialects.
Digraphs: French uses not only diacritics to specify its large range of vowel
sounds and diphthongs, but also specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with
following consonants, to show which sound is intended.
Gemination: Within words, double consonants are generally not pronounced as
geminates in modern French (but geminates can be heard in the cinema or TV news
from as recently as the 1970s, and in very refined elocution they may still occur).
For example, illusion is pronounced [ilyzjɔ̃] and not [ilːyzjɔ̃]. However, gemination
does occur between words; for example, une info ("a news item" or "a piece of
information") is pronounced [ynɛ̃fo], whereas une nympho ("a nymphomaniac") is
pronounced [ynːɛ̃fo].
Accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar
words, and sometimes based on etymology alone.
Accents that affect pronunciation
The acute accent (l'accent aigu) é (e.g., école—school) means that the vowel is
pronounced /e/ instead of the default /ə/.
The grave accent (l'accent grave) è (e.g., élève—pupil) means that the vowel is
pronounced /ɛ/ instead of the default /ə/.
The circumflex (l'accent circonflexe) ê (e.g. forêt—forest) shows that an e is
pronounced /ɛ/ and that an ô is pronounced /o/. In standard French, it also
signifies a pronunciation of /ɑ/ for the letter â, but this differentiation is
disappearing. In the mid-18th century, the circumflex was used in place of s after
a vowel, where that letter s was not pronounced. Thus, forest became forêt,
hospital became hôpital, and hostel became hôtel.
Diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü, ÿ): over e, i, u or y, indicates that a vowel is to be
pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël.
ö [clarification needed]
The combination of e with diaeresis following o (Noël [ɔɛ]) is nasalized in the
regular way if followed by n (Samoëns [wɛ̃])
The combination of e with diaeresis following a is either pronounced [ɛ] (Raphaël,
Israël [aɛ]) or not pronounced, leaving only the a (Staël [a]) and the a is
nasalized in the regular way if aë is followed by n (Saint-Saëns [ɑ̃])
A diaeresis on y only occurs in some proper names and in modern editions of old
French texts. Some proper names in which ÿ appears include Aÿ (a commune in Marne,
formerly Aÿ-Champagne), Rue des Cloÿs (an alley in Paris), Croÿ (family name and
hotel on the Boulevard Raspail, Paris), Château du Faÿ [fr] (near Pontoise), Ghÿs
(name of Flemish origin spelt Ghijs where ij in handwriting looked like ÿ to French
clerks), L'Haÿ-les-Roses (commune near Paris), Pierre Louÿs (author), Moÿ-de-
l'Aisne (commune in Aisne and a family name), and Le Blanc de Nicolaÿ (an insurance
company in eastern France).
The diaeresis on u appears in the Biblical proper names Archélaüs, Capharnaüm,
Emmaüs, Ésaü, and Saül, as well as French names such as Haüy. Nevertheless, since
the 1990 orthographic changes, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë
or ciguë) may be moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe, and by analogy may be used in
verbs such as j'argüe.
In addition, words coming from German retain their umlaut (ä, ö and ü) if
applicable but use often French pronunciation, such as Kärcher (trademark of a
pressure washer).
The cedilla (la cédille) ç (e.g., garçon—boy) means that the letter ç is pronounced
/s/ in front of the back vowels a, o and u (c is otherwise /k/ before a back
vowel). C is always pronounced /s/ in front of the front vowels e, i, and y, thus ç
is never found in front of front vowels. This letter is used when a front vowel
after ⟨c⟩, such as in France or placer, is replaced with a back vowel. To retain
the pronunciation of the ⟨c⟩, it is given a cedilla, as in français or plaçons.
Accents with no pronunciation effect
The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, nor, in
most dialects, a. It usually indicates that an s came after it long ago, as in île
(from former isle, compare with English word "isle"). The explanation is that some
words share the same orthography, so the circumflex is put here to mark the
difference between the two words. For example, dites (you say) / dîtes (you said),
or even du (of the) / dû (past participle for the verb devoir = must, have to, owe;
in this case, the circumflex disappears in the plural and the feminine).
All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words, as in the case of
distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la ("the"
feminine singular) and the conjunction ou ("or"), respectively.
Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail
to gather interest.[135][136][137][138]

In 1990, a reform accepted some changes to French orthography. At the time the
proposed changes were considered to be suggestions. In 2016, schoolbooks in France
began to use the newer recommended spellings, with instruction to teachers that
both old and new spellings be deemed correct.[139]
Grammar
Main article: French grammar
French is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected
for number (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the
same as the singular even if spelled differently); adjectives, for number and
gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; personal pronouns and a few other
pronouns, for person, number, gender, and case; and verbs, for tense, aspect, mood,
and the person and number of their subjects. Case is primarily marked using word
order and prepositions, while certain verb features are marked using auxiliary
verbs. According to the French lexicogrammatical system, French has a rank-scale
hierarchy with clause as the top rank, which is followed by group rank, word rank,
and morpheme rank. A French clause is made up of groups, groups are made up of
words, and lastly, words are made up of morphemes.[140]

French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages,
including

the loss of Latin declensions

the loss of the neuter gender
the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives
the loss of certain Latin tenses and the creation of new tenses from auxiliaries.
Nouns
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine. Because French nouns are not
inflected for gender, a noun's form cannot specify its gender. For nouns regarding
the living, their grammatical genders often correspond to that which they refer to.
For example, a male teacher is an enseignant while a female teacher is an
enseignante. However, plural nouns that refer to a group that includes both
masculine and feminine entities are always masculine. So a group of two male
teachers would be enseignants. A group of two male teachers and two female teachers
would still be enseignants. However, a group of two female teachers would be
enseignantes. In many situations, including in the case of enseignant, both the
singular and plural form of a noun are pronounced identically. The article used for
singular nouns is different from that used for plural nouns and the article
provides a distinguishing factor between the two in speech. For example, the
singular le professeur or la professeure (the male or female teacher, professor)
can be distinguished from the plural les professeur(e)s because le /lə/, la /la/,
and les /le(s)/ are all pronounced differently. With enseignant, however, for both
singular forms the le/la becomes l', and so the only difference in pronunciation is
that the ⟨t⟩ on the end of masculine form is silent, whereas it is pronounced in
the feminine. If the word was to be followed by a word starting with a vowel, then
liaison would cause the ⟨t⟩ to be pronounced in both forms, resulting in identical
pronunciation. There are also some situations where both the feminine and masculine
form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. For
example, le dentiste refers to a male dentist while la dentiste refers to a female
dentist. Furthermore, a few nouns' meanings depend on their gender. For example, un
livre (masculine) refers to a book, while une livre a (feminine) is a pound.

Verbs
Main article: French verbs
Moods and tense-aspect forms
The French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods. The finite moods
include the indicative mood (indicatif), the subjunctive mood (subjonctif), the
imperative mood (impératif), and the conditional mood (conditionnel). The non-
finite moods include the infinitive mood (infinitif), the present participle
(participe présent), and the past participle (participe passé).

Finite moods
Indicative (indicatif)
The indicative mood makes use of eight tense-aspect forms. These include the
present (présent), the simple past (passé composé and passé simple), the past
imperfective (imparfait), the pluperfect (plus-que-parfait), the simple future
(futur simple), the future perfect (futur antérieur), and the past perfect (passé
antérieur). Some forms are less commonly used today. In today's spoken French, the
passé composé is used while the passé simple is reserved for formal situations or
for literary purposes. Similarly, the plus-que-parfait is used for speaking rather
than the older passé antérieur seen in literary works.

Within the indicative mood, the passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur,
and passé antérieur all use auxiliary verbs in their forms.

Indicatif
Présent Imparfait Passé composé Passé simple
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Plural
1st person j'aime nous aimons j'aimais nous aimions j'ai aimé nous
avons aimé j'aimai nous aimâmes
2nd person tu aimes vous aimez tu aimais vous aimiez tu as aimé vous avez
aimé tu aimas vous aimâtes
3rd person il/elle aime ils/elles aiment il/elle aimait ils/elles aimaient
il/elle a aimé ils/elles ont aimé il/elle aima ils/elles aimèrent
Futur simple Futur antérieur Plus-que-parfait Passé antérieur
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Plural
1st person j'aimerai nous aimerons j'aurai aimé nous aurons aimé
j'avais aimé nous avions aimé j'eus aimé nous eûmes aimé
2nd person tu aimeras vous aimerez tu auras aimé vous aurez aimé tu
avais aimé vous aviez aimé tu eus aimé vous eûtes aimé
3rd person il/elle aimera ils/elles aimeront il/elle aura aimé ils/elles
auront aimé il/elle avait aimé ils/elles avaient aimé il/elle eut aimé
ils/elles eurent aimé
Subjunctive (subjonctif)
The subjunctive mood only includes four of the tense-aspect forms found in the
indicative: present (présent), simple past (passé composé), past imperfective
(imparfait), and pluperfect (plus-que-parfait).

Within the subjunctive mood, the passé composé and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary
verbs in their forms.

Subjonctif
Présent Imparfait Passé composé Plus-que-parfait
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular
Plural
1st person j'aime nous aimions j'aimasse nous aimassions j'aie aimé
nous ayons aimé j'eusse aimé nous eussions aimé
2nd person tu aimes vous aimiez tu aimasses vous aimassiez tu aies aimé
vous ayez aimé tu eusses aimé vous eussiez aimé
3rd person il/elle aime ils/elles aiment il/elle aimât ils/elles
aimassent il/elle ait aimé ils/elles aient aimé il/elle eût aimé ils/elles
eussent aimé
Imperative (imperatif)
The imperative is used in the present tense (with the exception of a few instances
where it is used in the perfect tense). The imperative is used to give commands to
you (tu), we/us (nous), and plural you (vous).

Imperatif
Présent
Singular Plural
1st person aimons
2nd person aime aimez
Conditional (conditionnel)
The conditional makes use of the present (présent) and the past (passé).

The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms.

Conditionnel
Présent Passé
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person j'aimerais nous aimerions j'aurais aimé nous aurions aimé
2nd person tu aimerais vous aimeriez tu aurais aimé vous auriez aimé
3rd person il/elle aimerait ils/elles aimeraient il/elle aurait aimé
ils/elles auraient aimé
Voice
French uses both the active voice and the passive voice. The active voice is
unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb être ("to be")
and the past participle.

Example of the active voice:

"Elle aime le chien." She loves the dog.

"Marc a conduit la voiture." Marc drove the car.
Example of the passive voice:

"Le chien est aimé par elle." The dog is loved by her.
"La voiture a été conduite par Marc." The car was driven by Marc.
However, unless the subject of the sentence is specified, generally the pronoun on
"one" is used:

"On aime le chien." The dog is loved. (Literally "one loves the dog.")
"On conduit la voiture." The car is (being) driven. (Literally "one drives the
car.")
Word order is subject–verb–object although a pronoun object precedes the verb. Some
types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular
inversion of the subject and verb, as in "Parlez-vous français ?" when asking a
question rather than "Vous parlez français ?" Both formulations are used, and carry
a rising inflection on the last word. The literal English translations are "Do you
speak French?" and "You speak French?", respectively. To avoid inversion while
asking a question, "Est-ce que" (literally "is it that") may be placed at the
beginning of the sentence. "Parlez-vous français ?" may become "Est-ce que vous
parlez français ?" French also uses verb–object–subject (VOS) and object–subject–
verb (OSV) word order. OSV word order is not used often and VOS is reserved for
formal writings.[32]

Vocabulary
Root languages of loanwords[141]
English (25.1%)
Other Germanic languages (20.65%)
Italian (16.83%)
Other Romance languages (15.26%)
Celtic (3.81%)
Persian and Sanskrit (2.67%)
Native American (2.41%)
Other Asian languages (2.12%)
Afro-Asiatic (6.45%)
Balto-Slavic (1.31%)
Basque (0.24%)
Other languages (3.43%)
The majority of French words derive from Vulgar Latin or were constructed from
Latin or Greek roots. In many cases, a single etymological root appears in French
in a "popular" or native form, inherited from Vulgar Latin, and a learned form,
borrowed later from Classical Latin. The following pairs consist of a native noun
and a learned adjective:

brother: frère / fraternel from Latin frater / fraternalis

finger: doigt / digital from Latin digitus / digitalis
faith: foi / fidèle from Latin fides / fidelis
eye: œil / oculaire from Latin oculus / ocularis
However, a historical tendency to Gallicise Latin roots can be identified, whereas
English conversely leans towards a more direct incorporation of the Latin:

rayonnement / radiation from Latin radiatio

éteindre / extinguish from Latin exstinguere
noyau / nucleus from Latin nucleus
ensoleillement / insolation from Latin insolatio
There are also noun-noun and adjective-adjective pairs:

thing/cause: chose / cause from Latin causa

cold: froid / frigide from Latin frigidum
It can be difficult to identify the Latin source of native French words because in
the evolution from Vulgar Latin, unstressed syllables were severely reduced and the
remaining vowels and consonants underwent significant modifications.

More recently (1994) the linguistic policy (Toubon Law) of the French language
academies of France and Quebec has been to provide French equivalents[142] to
(mainly English) imported words, either by using existing vocabulary, extending its
meaning or deriving a new word according to French morphological rules. The result
is often two (or more) co-existing terms for describing the same phenomenon.

mercatique / marketing
finance fantôme / shadow banking
bloc-notes / notepad
ailière / wingsuit
tiers-lieu / coworking
It is estimated that 12% (4,200) of common French words found in a typical
dictionary such as the Petit Larousse or Micro-Robert Plus (35,000 words) are of
foreign origin (where Greek and Latin learned words are not seen as foreign). About
25% (1,054) of these foreign words come from English and are fairly recent
borrowings. The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient Germanic
languages, 481 from other Gallo-Romance languages, 215 from Arabic, 164 from
German, 160 from Celtic languages, 159 from Spanish, 153 from Dutch, 112 from
Persian and Sanskrit, 101 from Native American languages, 89 from other Asian
languages, 56 from other Afro-Asiatic languages, 55 from Balto-Slavic languages, 10
from Basque and 144 (about 3%) from other languages.[141]

One study analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in

comparison to Latin estimated that among the languages analyzed French has the
greatest distance from Latin.[143] The French language's lexical similarity to a
selection of other Romance languages is 89% with Italian, 80% with Sardinian, 78%
with Rhaeto-Romance, and 75% with Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese.[144][1]

Numerals
The numeral system used in the majority of Francophone countries employs both
decimal and vigesimal counting. After the use of unique names for the numbers 1–16,
those from 17 to 69 are counted by tens, while twenty (vingt) is used as a base
number in the names of numbers from 70 to 99. The French word for 80 is quatre-
vingts, literally "four twenties", and the word for 75 is soixante-quinze,
literally "sixty-fifteen". The vigesimal method of counting is analogous to the
archaic English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and
ten" (70).

Belgian, Swiss, and Aostan French[145] as well as that used in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, use different names for 70 and 90,
namely septante and nonante. In Switzerland, depending on the local dialect, 80 can
be quatre-vingts (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) or huitante (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg).
The Aosta Valley similarly uses huitante[145] for 80. Conversely, Belgium and in
its former African colonies use quatre-vingts for 80.

In Old French (during the Middle Ages), all numbers from 30 to 99 could be said in
either base 10 or base 20, e.g. vint et doze (twenty and twelve) for 32, dous vinz
et diz (two twenties and ten) for 50, uitante for 80, or nonante for 90.[146]

The term octante was historically used in Switzerland for 80, but is now considered
archaic.[147]

French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate thousands.[148] The
comma (French: virgule) is used in French numbers as a decimal point, i.e. "2,5"
instead of "2.5". In the case of currencies, the currency markers are substituted
for decimal point, i.e. "5$7" for "5 dollars and 7 cents".

Example text
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in French:

Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont
doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un
esprit de fraternité.[149]
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.[150]
See also
flag France portal
icon Language portal
Alliance Française
AZERTY
Français fondamental
Francization
Francophile
Francophobia
Francophonie
French language in the United States
French language in Canada
French poetry
Glossary of French expressions in English
Influence of French on English
Language education
List of countries where French is an official language
List of English words of French origin
List of French loanwords in Persian
List of French words and phrases used by English speakers
List of German words of French origin
Official bilingualism in Canada
Varieties of French
Notes
Dots: cities with native transmission, typically a minority.
 29 full members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF):
Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad,
Comoros, DR Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania,
Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles,
Togo, and Tunisia.
One associate member of the OIF: Ghana.
Two observers of the OIF: Gambia and Mozambique.
One country not member or observer of the OIF: Algeria.
Two French territories in Africa: Réunion and Mayotte.
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Marc Fumaroli (2011). When the World Spoke French. Translated by Richard Howard.
New York Review of Books. ISBN 978-1-59017-375-6.
Nadeau, Jean-Benoît, and Julie Barlow (2006). The Story of French. (First U.S. ed.)
New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-34183-0.
Ursula Reutner (2017). Manuel des francophonies. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter. ISBN
978-3-11-034670-1
External links
French language
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Definitions from Wiktionary
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Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
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Phrasebook from Wikivoyage
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Data from Wikidata
Organisations
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French language and culture (in French)
Agence de promotion du FLE: Agency for promoting French as a foreign language
Courses and tutorials
Français interactif: interactive French program, University of Texas at Austin
Tex's French Grammar, University of Texas at Austin
Lingopolo French
French lessons in London, The Language machine
Online dictionaries
Oxford Dictionaries French Dictionary
Collins Online English↔French Dictionary
Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales: monolingual dictionaries
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For other unilingual dictionaries, see fr:Dictionnaire.
Grammar
Verbs
French verb conjugation at Verbix
Vocabulary
Swadesh list in English and French
Numbers
Smith, Paul. "French, Numbers". Numberphile. Brady Haran. Archived from the
original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
Books
(in French) La langue française dans le monde 2010 (Full book freely accessible)
Articles
"The status of French in the world". French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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