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French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from
Gallo-Romance The Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages includes in the narrowest sense the Langues d'oïl and Franco-Provençal. However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic, and Rhaeto-Rom ...
, the Latin spoken in
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, which French ( Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents, most of which are members of the '' Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'' (OIF), the community of 84 countries which share the official use or teaching of French. French is also one of six official languages used in the United Nations. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick, as well as other Francophone regions); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine,
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. 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 The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
. Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German; in certain institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union). French is also the 18th most natively spoken language in the world, fifth most spoken language by total number of speakers and the second or third most studied language worldwide (with about 120 million learners as of 2017). As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon,
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
,
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
, Tunisia,
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
, Senegal and Ivory Coast.''La Francophonie dans le monde 2006–2007''
published by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
Nathan
, Paris, 2007.
French is estimated to have about 76 million native speakers; about 235 million daily, fluent speakers; and another 77–110 million secondary speakers who speak it as a
second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language ( first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a ...
to varying degrees of proficiency, mainly in Africa. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language", without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. 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. OIF estimates 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. 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 European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Trade Organization, the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In 2011, '' Bloomberg Businessweek'' ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese.


History

French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
and Middle French.


Vulgar Latin in Gallia

Due to Roman rule, Latin was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul, and 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 being attested on graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan. The evolution of Latin in Gaul was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...
Gaulish language, which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of the Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek.Mufwene, Salikoko S. "Language birth and death." Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 33 (2004): 201-222. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of the urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization. Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and
calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...
s (including ''oui'', the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence,Pellegrini, Giovanni Battista. 2011. "Substrata." In Posner and Green (2011), ''Romance Comparative and Historical Linguistics'', De Gruyter Mouton: pages 43-74. Celtic influences on French discussed in pages 64-67. Page 65:"In recent years the primary role of the substratum... has been disputed. Beset doucmented is the CT- > ''it'' change which is found in all Western Romania... more reservations have been expressed about... ū > .."; :"Summary on page 67: "There can be no doubt that the way French stands out from the other Western Romance languages (Vidos 1956: 363) is largely due to the intensity of its Celtic substratum, compared with lateral areas like Iberia and Venetia..." and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the '' Petit Robert'', which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. 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, and products traded regionally rather than further afield.Eugeen Roegiest, ''Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania'' (Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), page 82. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being the last to hold onto Gaulish.


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. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke while the population in the south spoke . Langue d'oïl grew into what is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 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. 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, a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary) 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 Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
, 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. 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.


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). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. 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. Politically, the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law.


Modern French

During the 17th century, French replaced
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
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.The World's 10 Most Influential Languages
''Top Languages''. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
Stanley Meisler of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' 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. During the
Grand Siècle Grand Siècle or Great Century refers to the period of French history during the 17th century, under the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The period was notable for its development of art and literature, along with the construction of the Pal ...
(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 The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages (''
patois ''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon o ...
'') 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". 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 State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in p ...
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". 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..." 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 In Occitan, ''vergonha'' (, meaning "shame") refers to the effects of various language discriminatory policies of the government of France on its minorities whose native language was deemed a ''patois'', where a Romance language spoken in the co ...
.


Geographic distribution


Europe

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. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, 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. – The linguistic situation in Belgium (and in particular various estimates of the population speaking French and Dutch in Brussels) is discussed in detail. 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 Berne. French is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% 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 where it is the first language of approximately 30% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
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.


Africa

The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2018 estimate from the , an estimated 141 million African people spread across 34 countries and territories29 full members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF): Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...
, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, DR Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar,
Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...
, Mauritania,
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
,
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, and Tunisia.
One associate member of the OIF: Ghana.
One observer of the OIF: Mozambique.
One country not member or observer of the OIF:
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
.
Two French territories in Africa: Réunion and Mayotte.
can speak French as either a first or a
second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language ( first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a ...
. 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. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is mostly a second language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville, Gabon. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages. 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. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.


Americas


Canada

French is the second most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language for 2.07 million or 6% of the entire population of Canada. French is the sole official language in the province of Quebec, being the mother tongue for some 7 million people, or almost 80% (2006 Census) of the province. About 95% of the people of Quebec speak French as either their first or second language, and for some as their third language. Quebec is also home to the city of
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
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. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario, the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are to be 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, and is across a river from Quebec, opposite the major city of Gatineau with which it forms a single metropolitan area.


United States

According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth 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 Vermont. 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 Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
, Rhode Island, and
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. 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. 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. 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. 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 Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in Englis ...
, Saint Martin, and Martinique.


Other territories

French is the official language of both
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas ...
on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America.


Asia


Southeast Asia

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. 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. 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. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF).


India

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. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of the language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English.


Western Asia


=Lebanon

= A former French
mandate Mandate most often refers to: * League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919 * Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate Mandate may also r ...
, Lebanon designates
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
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". The
French language in Lebanon French is the second language of Lebanon, with about 45% of the population being Francophone. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used within government, and is often used as a prestige language for business, diploma ...
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 The pound or lira ( ar, ليرة لبنانية ''līra Libnāniyya''; French: ''livre libanaise''; abbreviation: LL in Latin, in Arabic, historically also £L, ISO code: LBP) is the currency of Lebanon. It was formerly divided into 100 pi ...
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. 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. 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.


=United Arab Emirates and Qatar

= The UAE has the status in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie as an observer state, and Qatar has the status in the organization as an associate state. However, in both countries, French is not spoken by almost any of the general population or migrant workers, but spoken by a small minority of those who invest in Francophone countries or have other financial or family ties. Their entrance as observer and associate states respectively into the organization was aided a good deal by their investments into the Organisation and France itself. A country's status as an observer state in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie gives the country the right to send representatives to organization meetings and make formal requests to the organization but they do not have voting rights within the OIF. A country's status as an associate state also does not give a country voting abilities but associate states can discuss and review organization matters.


Oceania and Australasia

French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2018. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), 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. 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.


Future

The future of the French language is often discussed in the news. For example, in 2014, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' documented an increase in the teaching of French in New York, especially in K-12 dual-language programs where Spanish and Mandarin are the only second-language options more popular than French. 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. It noted that French is spreading in areas where the population is rapidly increasing, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, 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.


Varieties

* African French ** Maghreb French (North African French) *
Aostan French Aostan French (french: français valdôtain) is the variety of French spoken in the Aosta Valley, Italy. History The Aosta Valley was the first government authority to adopt Modern French as working language in 1536, three years before Franc ...
* 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 Jersey Legal French, also known as Jersey French (french: français de Jersey), was the official dialect of French used administratively in Jersey. Since the anglicisation of the island, it survives as a written language for some laws, contr ...
* Lao French * Louisiana French ** Cajun French * Missouri French * South East Asian French * Swiss French * Vietnamese French * West Indian French


Current status and importance

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. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat's only two working languagesRodney Ball, Dawn Marley, ''The French-Speaking World: A Practical Introduction to Sociolinguistic Issues'', Taylor & Francis, 2016, page 6), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, an official language of NATO, the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
, 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). 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". 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 Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordan ...
, 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 The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in ''Language Today'', a comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages".The World's 10 most influential languages
George Weber, 1997, ''Language Today'', retrieved on scribd.com
In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second most ''influential'' language of the world, ahead of Spanish. 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). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." 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%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in the workplace. 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

Vowel phonemes in French 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: plus the nasalized vowels and . In France, the vowels , and are tending to be replaced by , and in many people's speech, but the distinction of and is present in Meridional French. In Quebec and Belgian French, the vowels , , and are present. * Voiced stops (i.e., ) are typically produced fully voiced throughout. * Voiceless stops (i.e., ) are unaspirated. * The velar nasal can occur in final position in borrowed (usually English) words: ''parking, camping, swing''. The palatal nasal 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 , dental , and palato-alveolar . are dental, like the plosives and the nasal . * 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 ', "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 occurs in some dialects. * Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant is unvelarised in both onset (''lire'') and coda position (''il''). In the onset, the central approximants , , and each correspond to a high vowel, , , and 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 and occur in final position as in ', "pay", vs. ', "country". 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 like in bac, sac, roc but can also be silent like 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 Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...
, 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 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 Hiatus may refer to: * Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure * Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes'' * G ...
). 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, for 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'') is more emphasized on ''l'a vu''.


Writing system


Alphabet

French is written with the 26 letters of the basic
Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...
, 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 is nonstandard in formal and literary texts.


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" atin ''pes'' (stem: ''ped-'') French orthography is
morphophonemic Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound changes that take place in morphemes ...
. 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. 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. 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'', ', ''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 sequence was unstable and was turned into a diphthong . This change was then reflected in the orthography: ''animaus''. The ''us'' ending, very common in Latin, was then abbreviated by copyists (monks) by the letter ''x'', resulting in a written form ''animax''. As the French language further evolved, the pronunciation of ''au'' turned into so that the ''u'' was reestablished in orthography for consistency, resulting in modern French ''animaux'' (pronounced first before the final 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 Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery * ...
: '' 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 and not . However, gemination does occur between words; for example, ''une info'' ("a news item" or "a piece of information") is pronounced , whereas ''une nympho'' ("a nymphomaniac") is pronounced . * 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 instead of the default . *** The grave accent (''l'accent grave'') ''è'' (e.g., ''élève''—pupil) means that the vowel is pronounced instead of the default . *** The circumflex (''l'accent circonflexe'') ''ê'' (e.g. ''forêt''—forest) shows that an ''e'' is pronounced and that an ''ô'' is pronounced . In standard French, it also signifies a pronunciation of 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''. ****The combination of ''e'' with diaeresis following ''o'' (''Noël'' ) is nasalized in the regular way if followed by ''n'' ('' Samoëns'' ) ****The combination of ''e'' with diaeresis following ''a'' is either pronounced (''Raphaël'', ''Israël'' ) or not pronounced, leaving only the ''a'' ('' Staël'' ) and the ''a'' is nasalized in the regular way if ''aë'' is followed by ''n'' ('' Saint-Saëns'' ) ****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 Feÿ'' (near Joigny), ''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 in front of the back vowels ''a'', ''o'' and ''u'' (''c'' is otherwise before a back vowel). ''C'' is always pronounced in front of the front vowels ''e'', ''i'', and ''y'', thus ''ç'' is never found in front of front vowels. ** 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. In 1990, a Reforms of French orthography, 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.


Grammar

French is a moderately
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...
language. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected for
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual 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 Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ca ...
; 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. 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 Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...
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". In many situations, and 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 professeur(e)" (the male or female teacher, professor) can be distinguished from the plural "les professeurs" because "le", "la", and "les" are all pronounced differently. There are 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.


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 In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
(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 The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
( imparfait), the pluperfect (
plus-que-parfait The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, is a type of verb form, generally treated as a grammatical tense in certain languages, relating to an action that occurred prior to an aforementioned time i ...
), the
simple future This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
( futur simple), the future perfect (
futur antérieur The future perfect is a verb form or construction used to describe an event that is expected or planned to happen before a time of reference in the future, such as ''will have finished'' in the English sentence "I will have finished by tomorrow." ...
), 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.


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.


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).


Conditional (Conditionnel)

The conditional makes use of the present (présent) and the past (passé). The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms.


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.''


Syntax


= Word order

= French declarative 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 Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...
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.


Vocabulary

The majority of French words derive from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
or were constructed from
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
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 Frater is the Latin word for brother. *In Roman Catholicism, a monk who is not a priest Frater may also refer to: People Surname * Alexander Frater (1937–2020), New Hebrides travel writer and journalist * Anne Frater, Scottish poet from Bayb ...
/ fraternalis'' * finger: '' doigt'' / '' digital'' from Latin '' digitus / digitalis'' * faith: '' foi'' / '' fidèle'' from Latin ''
fides Fides or FIDES may refer to: *Faith, trust, loyalty, or fidelity, or a religious belief * Fides (cycling team), an Italian professional cycling team in 1961 *Fides (deity), goddess of trust in Roman mythology * Fides (reliability), guide allowing ...
/ fidelis'' * eye: '' œil'' / '' oculaire'' from Latin ''
oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American s ...
/ 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 Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: * Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucl ...
'' * '' 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 Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
, unstressed syllables were severely reduced and the remaining vowels and consonants underwent significant modifications. More recently the linguistic policy of the French language academies of France and Quebec has been to provide French equivalents 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 ''Le Petit Larousse Illustré'', commonly known simply as ''Le Petit Larousse'' (), is a French-language encyclopedic dictionary published by Éditions Larousse. It first appeared in 1905 and was edited by Claude Augé, following Augé's '' Dictio ...
'' or ''Micro-Robert Plus'' (35,000 words) are of foreign origin (where Greek and
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
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 The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
, 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. 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.
Lexical similarity In linguistics, lexical similarity is a measure of the degree to which the word sets of two given languages are similar. A lexical similarity of 1 (or 100%) would mean a total overlap between vocabularies, whereas 0 means there are no common words. ...
is 89% with Italian, 80% with Sardinian, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, and 75% with Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese.Ethnologue report for language code:ita (Italy)
– Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version


Numerals

The French counting system is partially vigesimal:
twenty Twenty or 20 may refer to: * 20 (number), the natural number following 19 and preceding 21 * one of the years 20 BC, AD 20, 1920, 2020 Music Albums * ''20'' (2nd Chapter of Acts album), 1992 * ''20'' (Cunter album), 2011 * ''20'' (Drag ...
(') is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70 to 99. The French word for ''80'' is ', literally "four twenties", and the word for ''75'' is ', literally "sixty-fifteen". This reform arose after the French Revolution to unify the counting systems (mostly vigesimal near the coast), because of Celtic (via Breton) and Viking influences. This system is comparable to the archaic English use of ''score'', as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70). In Old French (during the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
), 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. Belgian French, Swiss French,
Aostan French Aostan French (french: français valdôtain) is the variety of French spoken in the Aosta Valley, Italy. History The Aosta Valley was the first government authority to adopt Modern French as working language in 1536, three years before Franc ...
Jean-Pierre Martin, ''Description lexicale du français parlé en Vallée d'Aoste'', éd. Musumeci, Quart, 1984. and the French used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi are different in this respect. In the French spoken in these places, 70 and 90 are ' and '. In Switzerland, depending on the local dialect, 80 can be ' (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) or ' (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg). ''Octante'' had been used in Switzerland in the past, but is now considered archaic, while in the Aosta Valley 80 is '. In Belgium and in its former African colonies, however, ''quatre-vingts'' is universally used. French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate thousands. The comma (french: virgule, link=no) 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
cent Cent may refer to: Currency * Cent (currency), a one-hundredth subdivision of several units of currency * Penny (Canadian coin), a Canadian coin removed from circulation in 2013 * 1 cent (Dutch coin), a Dutch coin minted between 1941 and 1944 * ...
s".


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.'' 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.''


See also

* Alliance Française * AZERTY * Français fondamental * Francization * Francophile * Francophobia * Francophonie *
French language in the United States The French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. Roughly 2.1 million Americans over the age of five reported speaking the language at home in a federal 2010 estimate, making French the fourth most-spoken language in the ...
* French language in Canada * French poetry * Glossary of French expressions in English *
Influence of French on English The influence of French on English pertains mainly to its lexicon but also to its syntax, grammar, orthography, and pronunciation. Most of the French vocabulary in English entered the language after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, w ...
* 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 Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engl ...
*
List of German words of French origin This is a list of German words and expressions of French origin. Some of them were borrowed in medieval times, some were introduced by Huguenot immigrants in the 17th and 18th centuries and others have been borrowed in the 19th and 20th centuries ...
* Official bilingualism in Canada * Varieties of French


Notes


References


Further reading

* * Nadeau, Jean-Benoît, and Julie Barlow (2006). ''The Story of French''. (First U.S. ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press. . * Ursula Reutner (2017). ''Manuel des francophonies''. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter. . *


External links


Organisations


Fondation Alliance française
an international organisation for the promotion of French language and culture
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 Dictionarie
French Dictionary

Collins Online English↔French Dictionary

Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales
monolingual dictionaries (including the Trésor de la langue française), language corpora, etc.


Grammar


Verbs


French verb conjugation
at Verbix


Vocabulary

* Swadesh list in English and French


Numbers

*


Books

*
La langue française dans le monde 2010
(Full book freely accessible)


Articles

*
The status of French in the world
.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (France) The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term ...
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