French language

Romance language

Not to be confused with Lingua franca.

This article should specify the language of its non-English content using {{lang}} or {{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 (2025)[1]
L2: 238 million (2025)[1]
Total: 312 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

* Belgium
* Benin
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Canada
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Congo
* Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Djibouti
* Equatorial Guinea
* France
* Gabon
* Guinea
* Haiti
* Ivory Coast
* Luxembourg
* Madagascar
* Monaco
* Rwanda
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Switzerland
* Togo
* Vanuatu

10 subnational

* Aosta Valley (Italy)
* French Polynesia
* Louisiana (United States)
* Maine (United States)
* New Caledonia
* Puducherry (India)
* Saint Barthélemy
* Saint Martin
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Wallis and Futuna

Non-official but administrative/cultural

* Algeria
* Burkina Faso
* Cambodia
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* New Hampshire (United States)
* Niger
* Tunisia
* Vietnam

Intergovernmental organizations

* Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
* United Nations
* International Olympic Committee
* General Conference on Weights and Measures
* International Committee of the Red Cross
* European Union
* African Union
* North Atlantic Treaty Organization
* World Trade Organization
* Council of Europe

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, but 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

* (conjugation
* morphology

passé composé
* passé simple)

Orthography

* Alphabet
* Reforms
* Circumflex
* Braille

Phonology

* Elision
* Liaison
* Aspirated h
* Help:IPA/French

* v
* t
* e

French (français[b] or langue française[c]) 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 developed. 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 speakers in about 50 countries.[4] Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the use or teaching of French. It is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 74 million are native speakers;[5] it is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France, Canada (Quebec), Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region), western Switzerland (Romandy region), parts of Luxembourg, and Monaco.[6] Meanwhile 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 like Algeria, 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 22th most natively spoken language in the world,[12] 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.[13][14] 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17][18][19]

The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization.[16] Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French[19][16] contributing loanwords and calques (including oui,[20] the word for "yes"),[21] sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence,[22][23][24] and influences in conjugation and word order.[21][25][15] Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish.[26]

The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert,[27] which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240.[28] 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,[29] and products traded regionally rather than further afield.[30] This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being the last to hold onto Gaulish.[30][29]

### Old French

[edit]

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.[31] 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.[31] Langue d'oïl grew into what is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the late 8th[32] 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.[33] 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,[34] a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary[35]) 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).[36]

### Middle French

[edit]

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).[31] Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect.[31] 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.[37] 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

[edit]

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.[38][39] 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.[40]

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".[41] 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".[42] 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..."[42] 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.[43]

### French in the 21st Century

[edit]

In the 21st century, the French language has undergone significant transformations in both linguistic and sociopolitical contexts. Linguistically, French is increasingly shaped by regional variations, particularly those emerging from sub-Saharan Africa. Youth sociolects and vernacular influences, such as Camfranglais in Cameroon and Nouchi in Côte d’Ivoire, have given rise to hybrid linguistic forms that not only dominate local informal communication but are also gaining traction in Francophone popular culture, music, and social media across the broader Francosphere.[44][45][46] While there is significant variation in spoken French, written French stays largely consistent. While French is a significant language on the internet ranking fourth, only approximately 65.5% of Francophones have access to the internet.[47][48] In the 21st century, French remains a major language for business, diplomacy, and culture though its use, geography, and sociopolitical context continues to shift with declines in some areas (including academia) and growth in others.[48][49]

On a global scale, the number of French speakers continues to rise, largely attributable to demographic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, where French serves as an official, educational, and administrative language in numerous states. French now serves as a language of instruction in the educational systems serving approximately 93 million pupils from 36 countries and governments worldwide, 24 of which are located in the Africa–Indian Ocean and Middle East regions, either as the sole language or in combination with others.[47][48] Notably, 80% of students attending French-language schools are in Africa, where French is commonly used both for teaching and as a shared means of communication among different communities.[47][48] The majority of Francophones in the sub-Saharan region and the Maghreb are young, and are found in the 15-24 age group.[47][48] This growth contrasts with the declining presence of French in parts of Asia, particularly in former French colonies such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, where it has been largely replaced by local languages and English in both public life and education, though significant immigrant populations from these regions continue in France and other francophone regions.[47][48][50]

In sociopolitical terms, French remains deeply entangled in debates over language, identity, and historical legacy. In the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon, (among others) French remains the undisputed language of government, formal education, and major media. The 2022 OIF report highlights that in Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Abidjan, and Yaoundé, French serves as the dominant vehicular language, so entrenched that many urban children acquire it alongside local vernaculars as a de facto first language.[47][48] Several Sahelian states have formally curtailed French as part of postcolonial language-planning. Many governments and residents perceive it to be a remnant of colonial rule, in a complex context of cultural and political sovereignty discussions, local and Russian propaganda, political and military conflicts, and other factors.[47][48][51][52][53][54][55] In July 2023, Mali’s constitutional referendum demoted French from “official” to merely “working” status while elevating thirteen indigenous tongues to constitutional parity.[56] Burkina Faso’s transitional authorities have announced similar plans to strip French of its official role, framing these moves as assertions of cultural sovereignty as well as a closer relationship to Russian than France.[57] Yet in both Bamako and Ouagadougou, French endures as the lingua franca of higher education, national media, and interethnic commerce. The language being primarily spoken by secondary-language speakers who have mixed use of the language but reflecting the complicated role of the language in these contexts amidst French military withdrawal in Africa, rising nationalism, shifting alliances, and other factors.[58][59][47][48]

In longstanding Francophone strongholds, policymakers now seek a more balanced multilingual landscape. Senegal’s government has expanded Wolof-language programming on public television and begun renaming colonial-era names in Dakar, even though French remains the sole constitutional language and continues to dominate academia.[60] This reflects a real commitment seen in Senegal and elsewhere to shift from French to local languages or English.[61][62][63] Algeria has mandated Arabic-medium instruction in formerly Francophone private schools and introduced English tracks at its universities, framed as part of a broader multilingual strategy but in the context of diplomatic issues with France, yet French persists in judicial proceedings, international business, and everyday urban speech in Algiers and Oran and debate continues internally on language in the country.[64][65][66] Meanwhile, in Morocco and Tunisia, French continues to enjoy high prestige, both governments maintain bilingual curricula in secondary and tertiary education, and French remains the lingua franca of tourism, scientific research, and many private-sector enterprises.[47][48] Québec has doubled down on French through Bill 96 (An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec), assented on 1 June 2022. Bill 96 reaffirms French as the province’s sole official language, tightens requirements for French language services and commercial signage, and expands the Charter of the French Language’s scope which are measures designed to counter anglophone pressures and reinforce cultural identity.[67] Similarly, countries such as Madagascar, Central African Republic, Chad, and Haiti, have legally committed to French alongside local languages.[68][69][70]

Overall, French remains a practical and widely accepted medium of communication, particularly where linguistic diversity demands a neutral lingua franca.[47][48] Despite regional tensions or reductions in certain contexts, French continues to expand as a global language of diplomacy, development, and multilateral cooperation.[47][48] Several non-Francophone countries, including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Ghana, and even countries outside Africa such as Moldova and the United Arab Emirates, have joined or expanded their involvement in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).[71] Their participation reflects an interest in leveraging French for international diplomacy, educational exchange, and regional economic integration.[47][48][72] French is also used for collaboration on public health, economic development, business and local governance including through the Association internationale des maires francophones (AIMF) and other organizations.[73][74][75]

Francophone collaboration today spans an increasingly diverse set of domains. In media, international broadcasters such as TV5Monde, Radio France Internationale (RFI), and France 24 play key roles in disseminating French-language content worldwide, especially across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean.[76][77] In education, institutions like the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and Espace Francophone pour la Recherche, le Développement et l’Innovation support research and academic partnerships between Francophone universities across five continents.[78][79] In culture, the arts, and sports events like the Jeux de la Francophonie foster artistic exchange and culture and reflect increased francophone art and culture emerging outside of Europe and used in local communities around the world including new francophone social media, francophone cinema, TV, francophone literature, art, francophone music, and sport.[80][81][82][83]

## Geographic distribution

[edit]

Main articles: Francophonie and Geographical distribution of French speakers

Distribution of native French speakers in 6 countries in 2023

### Europe

[edit]

Main article: European French

Knowledge of French in the European Union and candidate countries[84]

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][85]

Under the Constitution of France, French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992,[86] 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.[87]

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%[88] 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),[89] in which is spoken as a first language by 1.25% of the population and as a second one by approximately 50%.[90] 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.[91][92]

### Africa

[edit]

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.[93] According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories[d] can speak French as either a first or a second language;[94][95] only 1.2 million of these spoke it as a first language according to Ethnologue.[96] This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages.[97] Language and slang from francophone Africa, particularly as popularized through music, are playing a growing role in influencing French across the francophone world.[98]

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,[99][100] Kinshasa, and Lubumbashi,[101][102][103][104] Douala,[105][106] Libreville,[107][108] Antananarivo,[109] Cotonou,[110] and Brazzaville.[111] However, in contrast to Central Africa and most of West Africa where French had been entrenched, countries in North Africa and the Sahel have generally distanced themselves from the language due to colonial connections.[112] For example, Algeria intermittently attempted to remove the use of French in favor of a strong native language (see Arabization), and French has recently also been removed as an official language in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.[113][114][115] Despite these changes and the emergence of English as a global lingua franca, French today remains a major language in the societies of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.[116]

Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050.[117][118][119] French was the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages).[120][121] 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.[122] It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.[123][124] Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries,[125] but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.

### Americas

[edit]

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

#### Canada

[edit]

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).[126][127] Although French is spoken throughout Canada, it is mostly present in Quebec, with significant Francophone populations also being found in New Brunswick, especially the region of Acadia, and parts of Northern and Eastern Ontario.[128][129]

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.[126] 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.[130][131] 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.[132] 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,[133] and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau.

#### United States

[edit]

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[134] 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.[135] 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.[136] 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

[edit]

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.[137] 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.[138]

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

[edit]

French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent,[139] and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon,[140] an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America.

### Asia

[edit]

#### Southeast Asia

[edit]

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.[141] 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.[142] 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.[143] All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF).

#### India

[edit]

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.[144] A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of the language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English.[144][145] French is one of the main languages of Auroville.[146]

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.[147][148][149] Over 100,000 people of Indian origin, and a growing number of students, live in Metropolitan France and approximately 250,000 live in Reunion.[150][151] Reunion Creole is derived mainly from French but includes terms from Malagasy, Hindi, Portuguese, Gujarati and Tamil.[152] French based Mauritian Creole also has some influence from Indian languages.[153]

#### Lebanon

[edit]

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".[154] 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.[155] 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.[156] 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.[157]

### Oceania

[edit]

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.[95] 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.[158]

In New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French[159] while in French Polynesia this figure is 95%,[160] and in Wallis and Futuna, it is 84%.[161] 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.[162][160] 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.[161][163]

### Future

[edit]

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.[164] 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.[165][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.[166]

## Varieties

[edit]

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

[edit]

According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022,[167] without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses.[168] 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.[169] 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[170]), 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).[171] 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".[172] 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.[113][114]

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.[173]

In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today, a comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages".[174] In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish.[174] 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).[174] In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged."[174]

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%).[175] MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in the workplace.[176]

In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese.[177]

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

[edit]

Main article: French phonology

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

[edit]

### Alphabet

[edit]

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

[edit]

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.[178] 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.[179] 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.[180][181][182][183]

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.[184]

## Grammar

[edit]

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.[185]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Main article: French verbs

#### Moods and tense-aspect forms

[edit]

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

[edit]

###### Indicative (indicatif)

[edit]

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)

[edit]

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)

[edit]

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)

[edit]

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

[edit]

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.[33]

## Vocabulary

[edit]

Root languages of loanwords[186]

1. English (25.1%)
2. Other Germanic languages (20.6%)
3. Italian (16.8%)
4. Other Romance languages (15.3%)
5. Celtic (3.81%)
6. Persian and Sanskrit (2.67%)
7. Native American (2.41%)
8. Other Asian languages (2.12%)
9. Afro-Asiatic (6.45%)
10. Balto-Slavic (1.31%)
11. Basque (0.24%)
12. 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[187] 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.[186]

One study analyzing the similarity of seven Romance languages to Vulgar Latin in terms of accent vocalization estimated that among the languages analyzed, French was the most differentiated language from Vulgar Latin in this respect.[188] 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.[189][1]

### Numerals

[edit]

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[190] 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[190] 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.[191]

The term octante was historically used in Switzerland for 80, but is now considered archaic.[192]

French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate thousands.[193] 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

[edit]

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.[194]

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.[195]

## See also

[edit]

* France portal
* 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

[edit]

1. ^ Dots: cities with native transmission, typically a minority.
2. ^ French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃sɛ] ⓘ, Canadian French: [fʁãsɛ]
3. ^ French pronunciation: [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ⓘ, Canadian French: [lãɡ fʁãsaɛ̯z]
4. ^ 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.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d French at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
2. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (24 May 2022). "Glottolog 4.8 - Shifted Western Romance". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
3. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (24 May 2022). "Glottolog 4.8 - Oil". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
4. ^ "The world's languages, in 7 maps and charts". The Washington Post. 18 April 2022. Archived from the original on 16 August 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
5. ^ French at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
6. ^ "Census in Brief: English, French and official language minorities in Canada". www12.statcan.gc.ca. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
7. ^ Benrabah, Mohamed (2007). "Language Maintenance and Spread: French in Algeria". International Journal of Francophone Studies. 10: 193–215\. doi:10.1386/ijfs.10.1and2.193_1. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024 - via ResearchGate.
8. ^ a b "The status of French in the world". Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
9. ^ a b European Commission (June 2012), "Europeans and their Languages" (PDF), Special Eurobarometer 386, Europa, p. 5, archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2016, retrieved 7 September 2014
10. ^ "Why Learn French". Archived from the original on 19 June 2008.
11. ^ Develey, Alice (25 February 2017). "Le français est la deuxième langue la plus étudiée dans l'Union européenne". Le Figaro. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
12. ^ Statistics, in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2025). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (28th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
13. ^ "How many people speak French and where is French spoken". Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
14. ^ "What are the top 200 most spoken languages?". Ethnologue. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
15. ^ a b Adams, J. N. (2007). "Chapter V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul". The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600. pp. 279–289\. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511482977. ISBN 978-0-511-48297-7.
16. ^ a b c Hélix, Laurence (2011). Histoire de la langue française. Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. p. 7\. ISBN 978-2-7298-6470-5.
17. ^ Lodge, R. Anthony (1993). French: From Dialect to Standard. Routledge. p. 46\. ISBN 978-0-415-08071-2. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
18. ^ Cravens, Thomas D. (2002). Comparative Historical Dialectology: Italo-Romance Clues to Ibero-Romance Sound Change. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 51\. ISBN 1-58811-313-2. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
19. ^ a b Mufwene, Salikoko S. (2004). "Language birth and death". Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 33: 201–222\. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143852.
20. ^ Schrijver, Peter (1997). Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles. Maynooth: Department of Old Irish, National University of Ireland. p. 15\. ISBN 9780901519597.
21. ^ a b Savignac, Jean-Paul (2004). Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois. Paris: La Différence. p. 26.
22. ^ Pellegrini, Giovanni Battista (2011). "Substrata". In Posner; Green (eds.). Romance Comparative and Historical Linguistics. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 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. Best documented is the CT- > it change which is found in all Western Romania... more reservations have been expressed about... ū > [y]..."; :"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..."
23. ^ Guiter, Henri (1995). "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania". In Bochnakowa, Anna; Widlak, Stanislan (eds.). Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii. Krakow.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
24. ^ Roegiest 2006, p. 83.
25. ^ Matasovic, Ranko (2007). "Insular Celtic as a Language Area". The Celtic Languages in Contact: Papers from the Workshop Within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies. p. 106.
26. ^ Polinsky, Maria; Van Everbroeck, Ezra (2003). "Development of Gender Classifications: Modeling the Historical Change from Latin to French". Language. 79 (2): 356–390\. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.134.9933. doi:10.1353/lan.2003.0131. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 4489422. S2CID 6797972.
27. ^ Schmitt, Christian (1997). "Keltische im heutigen Französisch". Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie. 49–50: 814–829\. doi:10.1515/zcph.1997.49-50.1.814.
28. ^ Müller, Bodo (1982). "Geostatistik der gallischen/keltischen Substratwörter in der Galloromania". In Winkelmann, Otto (ed.). Festschrift für Johannes Hubschmid zum 65. Geburtsag. Beiträge zur allgemeinen, indogermanischen und romanischen Sprachwissenschaft. pp. 603–620.
29. ^ a b Holmes, Urban; Herman Schutz, Alexander (June 1938). A History of the French Language. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. p. 30\. ISBN 978-0-8196-0191-9. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2021. ""...sixty-eight or more Celtic words in standard Latin; not all of these came down into Romance.... did not survive among the people. Vulgar speech in Gaul used many others... at least 361 words of Gaulish provenance in French and Provençal. These Celtic words fell into more homely types than... borrowings from Germanː agriculture... household effects... animals... food and drink... trees... body -- 17 (dor < durnu), dress... construction... birds... fish... insects... pièce < *pettia, and the remainder divided among weapons, religion, literature, music, persons, sickness and mineral. It is evident that the peasants were the last to hold to their Celtic. The count on the Celtic element was made by Leslie Moss at the University of North Carolina... based on unanimity of agreement among the best lexicographers..." `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
30. ^ a b Roegiest 2006, p. 82.
31. ^ a b c d "HarvardKey – Login". pin1.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
32. ^ Battye, Adrian; Hintze, Marie-Anne; Rowlett, Paul (2000). The French Language Today (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 12\. ISBN 978-1-136-90328-1. [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it was deemed no longer make to think of the varieties spoken in Gaul as Latin. Although a precise date can't be given, there is a general consensus (see Wright 1982, 1991, Lodge 1993) that an awareness of a vernacular, distinct from Latin, emerged at the end of the eighth century.]
33. ^ a b Lahousse, Karen; Lamiroy, Béatrice (2012). "Word order in French, Spanish and Italian:A grammaticalization account". Folia Linguistica. 46 (2). doi:10.1515/flin.2012.014. ISSN 1614-7308. S2CID 146854174. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
34. ^ Rowlett, P. 2007. The Syntax of French. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Page 4
35. ^ Pope, Mildred K. (1934). From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman Phonology and Morphology. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
36. ^ Nadeau, Jean-Benoit; Barlow, Julie (2008). The Story of French. St. Martin's Press. pp. 34ff. ISBN 978-1-4299-3240-0. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
37. ^ Victor, Joseph M. (1978). Charles de Bovelles, 1479–1553: An Intellectual Biography. Librairie Droz. p. 28.
38. ^ The World's 10 Most Influential Languages. Archived 12 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Top Languages. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
39. ^ Battye, Adrian; Hintze, Marie-Anne; Rowlett, Paul (2003). The French Language Today: A Linguistic Introduction. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-203-41796-6. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
40. ^ Meisler, Stanley (1 March 1986). "Seduction Still Works: French – a Language in Decline". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
41. ^ "Rapport Grégoire an II". Languefrancaise.net (in French). 18 November 2003. Archived from the original on 23 November 2006. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
42. ^ a b Labouysse, Georges (2007). L'Imposture. Mensonges et manipulations de l'Histoire officielle. France: Institut d'études occitanes. ISBN 978-2-85910-426-9.
43. ^ Joubert, Aurélie (2010). "A Comparative Study of the Evolution of Prestige Formations and of Speakers' Attitudes in Occitan and Catalan" (PDF). University of Manchester.
44. ^ Vigouroux, Cécile B. (31 May 2022), "French in African Contact Settings", The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact, Cambridge University Press, pp. 540–582, doi:10.1017/9781316796146.023, ISBN 978-1-009-10598-9, retrieved 2 August 2025
45. ^ Boutin, Akissi Béatrice (2021), Hurst-Harosh, Ellen; Brookes, Heather; Mesthrie, Rajend (eds.), "Exploring Hybridity in Ivorian French and Nouchi", Youth Language Practices and Urban Language Contact in Africa, Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 159–181, ISBN 978-1-107-17120-6, retrieved 2 August 2025
46. ^ Kießling, Roland (2022). "Camfranglais". Urban Contact Dialects and Language Change (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 540–582\. ISBN 9780429487958.
47. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "THE FRENCH LANGUAGE WORLDWIDE Overview 2022" (PDF). Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. 2022.
48. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "LA LANGUE FRANÇAISE DANS LE MONDE" (PDF). Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. 2022.
49. ^ October 2021, Jane Marshall 02. "Decline of French research investigated by Le Monde". University World News. Retrieved 3 August 2025.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
50. ^ "From Saigon to the Paris suburbs: French-Vietnamese reflect on the legacy of war". RFI. 30 April 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
51. ^ Ritzen, Yarno. "The 'ghost reporters' writing pro-Russian propaganda in West Africa". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
52. ^ "Conquering minds: A deep dive into the media offensive of a France-based Russian propagandist | RSF". rsf.org. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
53. ^ "Russia's Growing Footprint in Africa's Sahel Region". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
54. ^ Wolinski, Sofia Josephine (24 March 2025). "Russia in Africa: Private Military Proxies in the Sahel". Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
55. ^ "Junta Rule in the Sahel: Decolonization and Destabilization". Harvard International Review. 25 January 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
56. ^ AfricaNews (26 July 2023). "Mali drops French as official language". Africanews. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
57. ^ "The end of an era for the French language?". The Independent. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
58. ^ "Russian propaganda: How Moscow uses disinformation in Africa – DW – 02/03/2025". dw.com. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
59. ^ "After the Failure in the Sahel, Rethinking French Policy in Africa | Ifri". www.ifri.org. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
60. ^ "In Senegal, the bastion of the region's Francophonie, French is giving way to local languages". AP News. 4 October 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
61. ^ Lawal, Shola. "From street names to textbooks, Senegal is rewriting French colonial memory". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
62. ^ "In Senegal, the Bastion of the Region's Francophonie, French Is Giving Way to Local Languages". english.aawsat.com. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
63. ^ "'Time to move on': France faces gradual decline of influence in Africa". France 24. 2 January 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
64. ^ "Algeria forces Francophone schools to adopt Arabic curriculum but says all languages are welcome". AP News. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
65. ^ "As France's influence in Africa ebbs, Algeria expands English-language learning". Los Angeles Times. 29 September 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
66. ^ "The Politics of Language in Algerian Education". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
67. ^ "Modernization of the Charter of the French language". Gouvernement du Québec. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
68. ^ "Madagascar 2010 Constitution - Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
69. ^ "Haiti 1987 (rev. 2012) Constitution - Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
70. ^ "Central African Republic 2016 Constitution - Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
71. ^ "Portail de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)". Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (in French). Retrieved 2 August 2025.
72. ^ "Francophone countries reflect strategically on their trade priorities". www.wto.org. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
73. ^ "WHO and the International Organisation of the Francophonie (IOF) sign Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen access to health in Francophone countries". www.who.int. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
74. ^ "Promoting economic ties with Francophone community a priority of Việt Nam: leader". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
75. ^ "Association internationale des Maires francophones". AIMF (in French). Retrieved 2 August 2025.
76. ^ étrangères, Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires. "French-speaking media outlets in the world". France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
77. ^ "TV5Monde en discussion pour ouvrir son capital à plusieurs pays africains critiqués pour la liberté de la presse" (in French). 24 April 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
78. ^ MOHAMED.AQEIL (1 November 2024). "ICESCO and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie Explore Avenues for Enhanced Cooperation". ICESCO. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
79. ^ "Agence universitaire de la Francophonie". AUF (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2 August 2025.
80. ^ "Boom times for francophone Africa's TV and film industry". France 24. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
81. ^ Lauren.Peterson@groupsjr.com (16 June 2025). "Francophone Content on Spotify Continues to Thrive Around the World". Spotify. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
82. ^ "Musicians in French-speaking Africa eye global market through streaming". RFI. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
83. ^ "Africans are reshaping French one rap and joke at a time – Robert". 14 December 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
84. ^ EUROPA Archived 17 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine, data for EU25, published before 2007 enlargement.
85. ^ "Explore language knowledge in Europe". languageknowledge.eu. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
86. ^ Novoa, Cristina; Moghaddam, Fathali M. (2014). "Applied Perspectives: Policies for Managing Cultural Diversity". In Benet-Martínez, Verónica; Hong, Ying-Yi (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity. Oxford Library of Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 468\. ISBN 978-0-19-979669-4. LCCN 2014006430. OCLC 871965715.
87. ^ Van Parijs, Philippe. "Belgium's new linguistic challenge" (PDF). KVS Express (Supplement to Newspaper de Morgen) March–April 2006: Article from original source (pdf 4.9 MB) pp. 34–36 republished by the Belgian Federal Government Service (ministry) of Economy – Directorate–general Statistics Belgium. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
88. ^ Abalain, Hervé (2007). Le français et les langues. Editions Jean-paul Gisserot. ISBN 978-2-87747-881-6. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
89. ^ Caniggia, Mauro; Poggianti, Luca (25 October 2012). "La Vallée d'Aoste: enclave francophone au sud-est du Mont Blanc" (in French). Zigzag magazine. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
90. ^ Une Vallée d'Aoste bilingue dans une Europe plurilingue / Una Valle d'Aosta bilingue in un'Europa plurilingue, Aoste, Fondation Émile Chanoux, 2003.
91. ^ "Allemagne: le français, bientôt la deuxième langue officielle de la Sarre". 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
92. ^ "German region of Saarland moves towards bilingualism". BBC News. 21 January 2014. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
93. ^ "Why the future of French is African". BBC News. 7 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
94. ^ Observatoire de la langue française de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. "Francoscope. « 327 millions de francophones dans le monde en 2023 »" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
95. ^ a b Observatoire démographique et statistique de l'espace francophone (ODSEF). "Estimation du pourcentage et des effectifs de francophones (2023-03-15)". Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
96. ^ "French". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
97. ^ "Annonces import export Francophone". cecif.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
98. ^ Peltier, Elian; Bashizi, Arlette; Morales, Hannah Reyes (12 December 2023). "How Africans Are Changing French — One Joke, Rap and Book at a Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
99. ^ Simpson, Andrew, ed. (2008). Language and National Identity in Africa. y Oxford University Press Language and National Identity in Asia. ISBN 9780199286751.
100. ^ Ploog, Katja (25 September 2002). Le français à Abidjan : Pour une approche syntaxique du non-standard Broché – 25 septembre 2002. ASIN 2271059682.
101. ^ Carson, Ben (2023). "'A Metamorphosed Language': Tracing Language Attitudes Towards Lubumbashi Swahili and French in the DRC" (PDF). SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics. 21: 30–45.
102. ^ Lu, Marcus (31 August 2024). "Mapped: Top 15 Countries by Native French Speakers".
103. ^ Hulstaert, Karen (2 November 2018). ""French and the school are one" – the role of French in postcolonial Congolese education: memories of pupils". Paedagogica Historica. 54 (6): 822–836\. doi:10.1080/00309230.2018.1494203. ISSN 0030-9230.
104. ^ Katabe, Isidore M.; Tibategeza, Eustard R. (17 January 2023). "Language-in-Education Policy and Practice in the Democratic Republic of Congo". European Journal of Language and Culture Studies. 2 (1): 4–12\. doi:10.24018/ejlang.2023.2.1.58. ISSN 2796-0064.
105. ^ Fonyuy, Kelen Ernesta (24 October 2024). "Revitalizing Cameroon Indigenous Languages Usage in Empowering Realms".
106. ^ Rosendal, Tove (2008). "Multilingual Cameroon Policy, Practice, Problems and Solutions" (PDF).
107. ^ Ndinga-Koumba-Binza, H.S. (22 June 2011). "From foreign to national: a review of the status of the French language in Gabon". Literator. 32 (2): 135–150\. doi:10.4102/lit.v32i2.15. ISSN 2219-8237.
108. ^ Ursula, Reutner (December 2023). "Manual of Romance Languages in Africa".
109. ^ Øyvind, Dahl (19 June 2024). "Linguistic policy challenges in Madagascar" (PDF). core.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
110. ^ Fahrney, Megan (28 February 2025). "Emphasis on French and English accelerates decline of local language in Benin".
111. ^ Massoumou, Omer (12 April 2025). "The Republic of Congo Francophone Country".
112. ^ "The expansion of the French language lies in Africa".
113. ^ a b "Mali drops French as official language". Africanews. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
114. ^ a b "Burkina abandons French as an official language". Africanews. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
115. ^ Okafor, Chinedu (8 April 2025). "Niger downgrades French as it distances from its colonial past with a new official language". Business Insider. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
116. ^ Battenburg, John (1997). "English Versus French: Language Rivalry in Tunisia". World Englishes. 16 (2): 281–290\. doi:10.1111/1467-971X.00062.
117. ^ Population Reference Bureau. "2023 World Population Data Sheet" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
118. ^ United Nations. "World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision" (XLSX). Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
119. ^ Cross, Tony (19 March 2010), French language growing, especially in Africa, Radio France Internationale, archived from the original on 25 March 2010, retrieved 25 May 2013
120. ^ "Agora: La francophonie de demain". 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
121. ^ "Bulletin de liaison du réseau démographie" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
122. ^ France-Diplomatie Archived 27 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine "Furthermore, the demographic growth of Southern hemisphere countries leads us to anticipate a new increase in the overall number of French speakers."
123. ^ (in French) "Le français, langue en évolution. Dans beaucoup de pays francophones, surtout sur le continent africain, une proportion importante de la population ne parle pas couramment le français (même s'il est souvent la langue officielle du pays). Ce qui signifie qu'au fur et à mesure que les nouvelles générations vont à l'école, le nombre de francophones augmente : on estime qu'en 2015, ceux-ci seront deux fois plus nombreux qu'aujourd'hui. Archived 17 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine"
124. ^ (in French) c) Le sabir franco-africain Archived 17 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine: "C'est la variété du français la plus fluctuante. Le sabir franco-africain est instable et hétérogène sous toutes ses formes. Il existe des énoncés où les mots sont français mais leur ordre reste celui de la langue africaine. En somme, autant les langues africaines sont envahies par les structures et les mots français, autant la langue française se métamorphose en Afrique, donnant naissance à plusieurs variétés."
125. ^ (in French) République centrafricaine Archived 5 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine: Il existe une autre variété de français, beaucoup plus répandue et plus permissive : le français local. C'est un français très influencé par les langues centrafricaines, surtout par le sango. Cette variété est parlée par les classes non-instruites, qui n'ont pu terminer leur scolarité. Ils usent ce qu'ils connaissent du français avec des emprunts massifs aux langues locales. Cette variété peut causer des problèmes de compréhension avec les francophones des autres pays, car les interférences linguistiques, d'ordre lexical et sémantique, sont très importantes. (One example of a variety of African French that is difficult to understand for European French speakers).
126. ^ a b "Profile table". Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
127. ^ "Francophonie ("Qu'est-ce que la Francophonie?")". axl.cefan.ulaval.ca. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
128. ^ "Is bilingualism doomed?".
129. ^ Maxwell F. Yalden. Language and power in Canada.
130. ^ "Montreal". World Union of Olympic Cities. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
131. ^ Péladeau, Pierrot (13 September 2014). "Montréal n'est pas la deuxième ville française du monde". Journal de Montréal (in Canadian French). Retrieved 13 November 2024.
132. ^ "Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) (2006 Census)". 2.statcan.ca. 7 December 2010. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
133. ^ "Services and communications from federal institutions". Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada. Government of Canada. Archived from the original on 14 November 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
134. ^ "Language Use in the United States: 2011, American Community Survey Reports, Camille Ryan, Issued August 2013" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
135. ^ "Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over : Universe: Population 5 years and over: 2007–2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates??". Factfinder2.census.gov. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
136. ^ Ammon, Ulrich; International Sociological Association (1989). Status and Function of Languages and Language Varieties. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 306–08\. ISBN 978-0-89925-356-5. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
137. ^ DeGraff, Michel; Ruggles, Molly (1 August 2014). "A Creole Solution for Haiti's Woes". The New York Times. p. A17. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. "Under the 1987 Constitution, adopted after the overthrow of Jean‑Claude Duvalier's dictatorship, [Haitian] Creole and French have been the two official languages, but most of the population speaks only Creole fluently."
138. ^ Ministère de l'Éducation nationale
139. ^ "Guyana – World Travel Guide". Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
140. ^ "Saint Pierre and Miquelon". The World Factbook. 18 October 2021. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
141. ^ Richardson, Michael (16 October 1993). "French Declines in Indochina, as English Booms". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
142. ^ Chiman, Aly (1 February 2007). "The Role of English in Vietnam's Foreign Language Policy: A Brief History". worldwide.rs. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
143. ^ Kirkpatrick, Andy and Anthony J. Liddicoat, The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia., Routledge, 2019, p. 192
144. ^ a b "English to continue as link language in Puducherry: Court". The Times of India. 14 September 2014. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
145. ^ Pondicherry, the French outpost in India Archived 16 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine, France 24
146. ^ "To live and work in Auroville | Auroville". auroville.org. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
147. ^ Anitcham, M. S. (23 May 2025). "Uptick in demand for learning French at Alliance Française". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
148. ^ "Memorandum of Understanding between SBV and Alliance Francaise de Pondichery – Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth". Retrieved 10 June 2025.
149. ^ "EFEO - Centres - Pondicherry". www.efeo.fr. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
150. ^ "Bilateral Brief". www.ambinde.fr. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
151. ^ Singh, Surbhi Gloria (6 February 2025). "France issues 16.8% more visas in 2024; Indians among top recipients". Business Standard.
152. ^ Chaudenson, Robert (1974). Le lexique du parler créole de La Réunion. Paris.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
153. ^ Syea, Anand (7 April 2025), Alleesaib, Muhsina; Lefort, Julie (eds.), "Chapter 5. Indo-Aryan influence in Mauritian Creole", New Perspectives on Mauritian Creole and Reunion Creole: Standardization, grammar and language use, Contact Language Library, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 135–183, ISBN 978-90-272-1919-0, retrieved 10 June 2025
154. ^ Axel Tschentscher, LL.M. "Article 11 of the Lebanese Constitution". Servat.unibe.ch. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
155. ^ OIF 2014, p. 217.
156. ^ OIF 2014, p. 218.
157. ^ OIF 2014, p. 358.
158. ^ Vernaudon, Jacques (1 July 2020). "Les langues polynésiennes et kanak, des « langues de France » en contexte de décolonisation". Glottopol. Revue de sociolinguistique en ligne (in French) (34). doi:10.4000/glottopol.488. ISSN 1769-7425.
159. ^ "P9-1 – Population de 14 ans et plus selon la connaissance du français, le sexe, par commune, "zone" et par province de résidence" (XLS) (in French). Government of France. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2009.
160. ^ a b Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF). "Recensement 2017 – Données détaillées Langues". Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
161. ^ a b STSEE. "Les premiers résultats du recensement de la population 2018 – Principaux_tableaux_population_2018" (in French). Archived from the original (ODS) on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
162. ^ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF). "Recensement 2007 – Données détaillées Langues". Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
163. ^ "Tableau Pop_06_1: Population selon le sexe, la connaissance du français et l'âge décennal" (in French). Government of France. Archived from the original (XLS) on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2009.
164. ^ "Agora: La francophonie de demain". 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
165. ^ Gobry, Pascal-Emmanuel. "Want To Know The Language Of The Future? The Data Suggests It Could Be...French". Forbes. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
166. ^ "Focus – EU after Brexit: Will the French language make a comeback?". France 24. 17 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
167. ^ "La langue française dans le monde" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
168. ^ "French language is on the up, report reveals". thelocal.fr. 6 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 September 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
169. ^ Kai Chan, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative, "These are the most powerful languages in the world" Archived 24 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, World Economic Forum, December 2016
170. ^ Rodney Ball, Dawn Marley, The French-Speaking World: A Practical Introduction to Sociolinguistic Issues, Taylor & Francis, 2016, page 6
171. ^ The French Ministry of Foreign affairs. "France-Diplomatie". France Diplomatie: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
172. ^ Gobry, Pascal-Emmanuel (21 March 2014). "Want To Know The Language of the Future? The Data Suggests It Could Be...French". Forbes. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
173. ^ Cohen, Mathilde (April 2016). "On the Linguistic Design of Multinational Courts – The French Capture". International Journal of Constitutional Law. 14 (2): 498–517\. doi:10.1093/icon/mow023. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
174. ^ a b c d The World's 10 most influential languages, George Weber, 1997, Language Today, retrieved on scribd.com
175. ^ Burns, Judith (22 June 2014). "Foreign languages 'shortfall' for business, CBI says". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
176. ^ Johnson (9 December 2017). "Johnson: What is a foreign language worth?". The Economist. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
177. ^ Lauerman, John (30 August 2011). Mandarin Chinese Most Useful Business Language After English. New York: Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. "French, spoken by 68 million people worldwide and the official language of 27 countries, was ranked second [to Mandarin]."
178. ^ Fejzo, Anila (2016). "The contribution of morphological awareness to the spelling of morphemes and morphologically complex words in French". Reading and Writing. 29 (2): 207–228\. doi:10.1007/s11145-015-9586-8. S2CID 254991244. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
179. ^ Brissaud, Catherine; Chevrot, Jean-Pierre (2011). "The late acquisition of a major difficulty of French inflectional orthography: The homophonic /E/ verbal endings" (PDF). Writing Systems Research. 3 (2): 129–44\. doi:10.1093/wsr/wsr003. S2CID 15072817. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
180. ^ (in French) Fonétik.fr writing system proposal Archived 13 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
181. ^ (in French) Ortofasil writing system proposal Archived 14 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
182. ^ (in French) Alfograf writing system proposal Archived 12 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
183. ^ (in French) Ortograf.net writing system proposal Archived 29 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
184. ^ "End of the circumflex? Changes in French spelling cause uproar". BBC News. 5 February 2016. Archived from the original on 31 May 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
185. ^ Caffarel, Alice; Martin, J.R.; Matthiessen, Christian M.I.M. Language Typology: A Functional Perspective. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
186. ^ a b Walter & Walter 1998.
187. ^ "French fight franglais with alternatives for English technology terms". Metro News. 1 October 2012. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
188. ^ Pei, Mario (1949). Story of Language. Lippincott. ISBN 978-0-397-00400-3. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
189. ^ Brincat, Joseph M. (2005). "Maltese – an unusual formula". MED Magazine (27). Archived from the original on 5 September 2005. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
190. ^ a b Jean-Pierre Martin, Description lexicale du français parlé en Vallée d'Aoste, éd. Musumeci, Quart, 1984.
191. ^ Einhorn, E. (1974). Old French: A Concise Handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 110\. ISBN 978-0-521-09838-0.
192. ^ "Septante, octante (huitante), nonante". langue-fr.net (in French). Archived from the original on 4 September 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2009.. See also the English Wikipedia article on Welsh language, especially the section "Counting system" and its note on the influence of Celtic in the French counting system.
193. ^ "Questions de langue: Nombres (écriture, lecture, accord)" (in French). Académie française. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
194. ^ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". ohchr.org. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
195. ^ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". United Nations. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.

### Works cited

[edit]

* La langue française dans le monde 2014 (PDF) (in French). Nathan. 2014. ISBN 978-2-09-882654-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
* Roegiest, Eugeen (2006). Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania. Leuven, Belgium: Acco.

## Further reading

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

French language at Wikipedia's sister projects

* Definitions from Wiktionary
* Media from Commons
* Quotations from Wikiquote
* Texts from Wikisource
* Textbooks from Wikibooks
* Resources from Wikiversity
* Phrasebook from Wikivoyage
* French edition of Wikipedia
* Data from Wikidata

### Organisations

[edit]

* Fondation Alliance française: an international organisation for the promotion of French language and culture (in French)
* Agence de promotion du FLE: Agency for promoting French as a foreign language

### Courses and tutorials

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

* Oxford Dictionaries 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.

For other unilingual dictionaries, see fr:Dictionnaire.

### Grammar

[edit]

#### Verbs

[edit]

* French verb conjugation at Verbix

### Vocabulary

[edit]

* Swadesh list in English and French

#### Numbers

[edit]

* Smith, Paul. "French, Numbers". Numberphile. Brady Haran. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2013.

#### Books

[edit]

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

#### Articles

[edit]

* "The status of French in the world". French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Links to related articles

* v
* t
* e

France topics

History|

| Overviews|

* History
* Timeline
* Political history
* Military history
* Language
* Economic
* Foreign relations
* Journalism
* Liberalism and radicalism

|

Regions|

* History of Brittany
* History of Normandy

Ancient|

* Prehistory
* Greek colonies
* Celtic Gaul
* Roman Gaul

Middle Ages|

* Visigothic Kingdom
* Francia
* West Francia
* Middle Ages
* Kingdom of France
* Fundamental laws

Early Modern|

* Early modern era
* House of Bourbon
* Absolute monarchy
* Ancien Régime
* Wars of Religion
* Thirty Years' War
* Peace of Westphalia
* Second Hundred Years' War
* Louis XIV
* War of the Spanish Succession
* Diplomatic Revolution of 1756
* Seven Years' War

Revolution|

* French Revolution
* Napoleonic era
* First Republic
* First Empire

Late Modern|

* Long nineteenth century
* Restoration
* July Monarchy

* Revolution of 1848
* Second Republic
* Coup of 2 December 1851
* Second Empire
* Government of National Defense
* Third Republic
* Belle Époque
* World War I
* Interwar
* Années folles
* World War II
* Vichy France
* Free France
* Liberation
* Provisional Government

Contemporary|

* 1900 to present
* Fourth Republic
* Algerian War
* Fifth Republic
* May 68
* 2005 riots
* Great Recession
* 2015 Paris attacks
* 2017 presidential election
* Coronavirus pandemic
* 2021 labor protests
* 2022 presidential election

Geography|

* Administrative divisions
* Cities
* Climate change
* Borders
* Islands
* Lakes
* Mountains
* National parks
* Rivers
* World Heritage Sites

Politics|

* Constitutions
* Elections
* presidential
* Foreign relations
* Politics
* Political scandals
* Human rights
* Intersex
* LGBT
* Judiciary
* Law
* history
* enforcement
* criminal law
* Military
* Parliament
* Political parties

Economy|

* Agriculture
* Automotive industry
* Banking
* Central bank
* Economic history
* Energy
* Euro
* Exports
* Franc (former currency)
* French subdivisions by GDP
* Mining
* Stock exchange
* Science and technology
* Taxation
* Telecommunications
* Tourism
* Trade unions
* Transport
* Rail

Society|

* Abortion
* Birth control
* Censorship
* Corruption
* Crime
* Demographics
* Education
* Health care
* Homelessness
* Immigration
* Life expectancy
* People
* Poverty
* Religion
* secularism
* Racism
* Social class
* Welfare

Culture|

* Anthem
* Architecture
* Art
* Coat of arms
* Cinema
* Cuisine
* Cultural icons
* Fashion
* Flag
* Gardens
* Language
* Literature
* Media
* Music
* Philosophy
* Public holidays
* Sport
* History
* Symbols
* Theatre

* Outline

* Category
* Portal
* WikiProject

* v
* t
* e

Languages of France

Official language|

* French
* Meridional
* Saint-Barthélemy

Regional languages|

* Alemannic German
* Alsatian
* Basque
* Navarro-Lapurdian
* Souletin
* Berrichon
* Breton
* Trégorrois
* Burgundian
* Catalan
* Northern Catalan
* Champenois
* Corsican
* Frainc-Comtou
* Franco-Provençal
* Savoyard
* Gallo
* Ligurian
* Brigasc
* Intemelio
* Royasc
* Lorrain
* Lorraine Franconian
* Luxembourgish
* Norman
* Cauchois
* Cotentinais
* Occitan
* Auvergnat
* Gascon
* Languedocien
* Limousin
* Marchois
* Provençal
* Niçard
* Vivaro-Alpine
* Mentonasc
* Picard
* Poitevin–Saintongeais
* Poitevin
* Saintongeais
* Walloon
* West Flemish
* French Flemish

Overseas languages|

* Ajië
* Antillean Creole
* Drehu
* Guianese Creole
* Futunan
* Kibushi
* Nengone
* Paicî
* Réunion Creole
* Shimaore
* Tahitian
* Wallisian
* Xaracuu

Minority languages|

* Algerian Jewish Sign Language
* Caló
* Erromintxela
* French Sign Language
* Manuš Romani
* Portuguese
* Wenzhounese
* Western Armenian
* Yenish
* Yiddish

See also|

* Guillemet

See also: Language policy in France

* v
* t
* e

Languages of Belgium

Official languages|

* Dutch
* French
* German

Germanic|

* Brabantian
* East Flemish
* Limburgish
* West Flemish
* Yiddish

Romance|

* Champenois
* Lorrain
* Picard
* Walloon

Francosign|

* Flemish Sign Language
* French Belgian Sign Language

Germanosign|

* German Sign Language

Indo-Aryan|

* Sinte Romani

* v
* t
* e

Languages of Canada

Official languages|

| English|

* Black
* Afro-Nova Scotian
* Cascadian
* Franglais
* Chiac
* Indigenous
* Lunenburg
* Maritime
* Newfoundland
* Ottawa Valley
* Québec
* Toronto

|

French|

* Acadian
* Brayon
* Chaouin
* Franglais
* Chiac
* Joual
* Magoua
* Métis
* Newfoundland
* Ontarois
* Québec

Indigenous languages|

| Algonquian|

* Abenaki
* Algonquin
* Blackfoot
* Cree
* Innu
* Malecite-Passamaquoddy
* Miꞌkmaq
* Munsee
* Naskapi
* Ojibwe
* Ottawa
* Potawatomi

|

Inuit|

* Inuinnaqtun
* Inuktitut
* Inupiaq
* Inuvialuktun

Iroquoian|

* Cayuga
* Mohawk
* Oneida
* Onondaga
* Seneca
* Tuscarora†
* Wyandot†

Na-Dene|

* Babine-Witsuwitʼen
* Carrier
* Chilcotin
* Chipewyan
* Dogrib
* Gwichʼin
* Hän
* Kaska
* Nicola†
* Sekani
* Slavey
* Tagish†
* Tahltan
* Tlingit
* Tsetsaut†
* Tsuutʼina
* Tutchone

Salishan|

* Bella Coola
* Comox
* Halkomelem
* Lillooet
* Okanagan
* Pentlatch†
* Saanich
* Shíshálh
* Shuswap
* Squamish
* Thompson

Siouan|

* Stoney
* Sioux
* Assiniboine

Tsimshian|

* Coast
* Gitxsan
* Nisga'a
* Southern†

Wakashan|

* Ditidaht
* Haisla
* Heiltsuk-Oowekyala
* Kwakʼwala
* Nuu-chah-nulth

other|

* Beothuk†
* Haida
* Kutenai

Pidgins, creoles and mixed|

* Algonquian–Basque pidgin
* Broken Slavey
* Bungee
* Chinook Jargon
* Labrador Inuit Pidgin French
* Michif

Minority languages|

* Canadian Gaelic
* Newfoundland Irish
* Spanish
* Portuguese
* Italian
* German
* Pennsylvania
* Hutterite
* Plautdietsch
* Polish
* Ukrainian
* Russian
* Doukhobor
* Arabic
* Persian
* Hindustani
* Punjabi
* Tamil
* Mandarin
* Cantonese
* Korean
* Vietnamese
* Tagalog

Sign languages|

* American Sign Language
* Black American Sign Language
* Protactile
* Hand Talk
* Coast Salish Sign Language
* Oneida Sign Language
* Plateau Sign Language
* Inuit Sign Language
* Maritime Sign Language
* Quebec Sign Language
* Sawmill Sign Language

Canadian style guides \- Canadian dictionaries ‎

* v
* t
* e

Languages of Switzerland

Official languages|

* French
* German
* Italian
* Romansh

Major dialect groups|

* Lombard (Ticinese)
* Romand
* Sinte
* Swiss German

Sign languages|

* Swiss-German Sign
* French Sign
* Italian Sign

* v
* t
* e

Gallo-Romance languages and dialects

Areal groups|

* Canadian French*

Langues d'oïl|

| Antillean Creole|

* Dominican
* Grenadian
* Saint Lucian

|

Bourbonnais Creoles|

* Agalega
* Chagossian
* Mauritian
* Réunion
* Rodriguan
* Seychellois

French*|

* Acadian
* Chiac
* St. Marys Bay
* African*
* Abidjan
* Kinshasa
* Aostan
* Belgian
* Métis
* New England
* Québécois*
* Joual
* Magoua
* Cambodian
* Francien
* Frenchville
* Haitian
* Houma French
* Indian
* Jersey Legal
* Laotian
* Middle French
* Meridional
* Metropolitan
* Missouri
* Muskrat
* Newfoundland
* Ontarian
* Saint-Barthélemy
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Standard
* Swiss
* Vietnamese

Norman|

* Anglo-Norman
* Augeron
* Auregnais
* Cauchois
* Cotentinais
* Guernésiais
* Jèrriais
* Law French
* Old Norman
* Sercquiais

Others|

* Angevin
* Berrichon
* Bolze
* Bourbonnais
* Burgundian
* Burundi Pidgin
* Camfranglais
* Champenois
* Frainc-Comtou
* Gallo
* Guianese
* Haitian Creole*
* Karipúna Creole
* Labrador Inuit Pidgin
* Lorrain
* Welche
* Louisiana Creole
* Louisiana French
* Michif
* Moselle Romance
* Nouchi
* Old French
* Orléanais
* Petit nègre
* Picard
* Poitevin-Saintongeais
* Poitevin
* Saintongeais
* Tayo
* Tây Bồi
* Walloon
* Wisconsin Walloon
* Zarphatic

Francoprovencalic|

* Faetar/Faetar-Cigliàje
* Franco-Provençal/Arpitan
* Savoyard
* Valdôtain

* Italics indicate extinct languages or dialects
* A star (*) indicates varieties with more than 5 million speakers
* Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.

* v
* t
* e

Romance languages (classification)

Major branches|

* Eastern
* Italo-Western
* Italo-Dalmatian
* Western
* Southern

Eastern|

* Aromanian
* Istro-Romanian
* Megleno-Romanian
* Daco-Romanian
* dialects
* Banat
* Bukovinian
* Crișana
* Maramureș
* Moldavian
* Oltenian
* Transylvanian
* Wallachian

Italo-
Dalmatian|

| Central|

* Central Italian
* Central Marchigiano
* Ancona
* Fabriano
* Macerata
* Central−Northern Latian
* Romanesco
* Sabino
* Corsican
* Gallurese
* Italian
* Italo-Australian
* Maltese Italian
* Regional Italian
* Swiss Italian
* Sassarese
* Tuscan
* Florentine

|

Southern|

* Extreme Southern Italian
* Central−Southern Calabrian
* Salentino
* Manduriano
* Sicilian
* Pantesco
* Neapolitan–Calabrese
* Neapolitan
* Barese
* Benevento
* Castelmezzano
* Cilentan
* Irpinian
* Arianese
* Molisan
* Southern Latian
* Tarantino
* Vastese
* Northern Calabrian

Others|

* Dalmatian Romance
* Dalmatian
* Istriot
* Judeo-Italian

Western|

| Gallo-Italic|

* Emilian–Romagnol
* Emilian
* Bolognese
* Judeo-Mantuan
* Parmigiano
* Romagnol
* Forlivese
* Old Romagnol
* Sammarinese
* Ferrarese
* Gallo-Italic of Basilicata
* Gallo-Italic of Sicily
* Gallo-Picene
* Ligurian
* Brigasc
* Genoese
* Intemelio
* Monégasque
* Royasc
* Tabarchino
* Judeo-Italian
* Lombard
* Eastern
* Bergamasque
* Cremish
* Old Lombard
* Western
* Brianzöö
* Canzés
* Bustocco–Legnanese
* Legnanese
* Comasco–Lecchese
* Comasco
* Laghée
* Lecchese
* Vallassinese
* Milanese
* Ossolano
* Southwestern
* Cremunés
* Novarese
* Pavese
* Ticinese
* Varesino
* Piedmontese
* Judeo-Piedmontese

|

Gallo-
Romance|

| Langues
d'oïl|

* Angevin
* Berrichon
* Bourbonnais
* Burgundian
* Champenois
* Ardennais
* Rémois
* Frainc-Comtou
* Gallo
* French
* Jersey Legal
* Meridional
* North American dialects
* Canadian
* Acadian
* Chiac
* St. Marys Bay French
* Brayon
* Newfoundland
* Quebec
* Joual
* Magoua
* Franco-Ontarian
* Métis
* Muskrat
* New England
* Frenchville
* Louisiana
* Missouri
* Creoles
* Lorrain
* Gaumais
* Vosgien
* Welche
* Mayennais
* Moselle Romance
* Norman
* Anglo-Norman
* Auregnais
* Guernésiais
* Jèrriais
* Sercquiais
* Law French
* Augeron
* Cauchois
* Cotentinais
* Orléanais
* Paydret
* Picard
* Poitevin–Saintongeais
* Poitevin
* Saintongeais
* Walloon
* West Walloon
* Wisconsin Walloon

|

* Franco-Provençal/Arpitan
* Faetar
* Savoyard
* Valdôtain
* Old Gallo-Romance

Ibero-
Romance
(West
Iberian)|

| Asturleonese|

* Asturian
* Eastern
* Western
* Cantabrian
* Leonese
* Bercian
* Paḷḷuezu
* Palra
* Riberan
* Riunorese
* Mirandese
* Old Leonese

|

Galician–Portuguese|

* Fala
* Galician
* Galician–Asturian/Eonavian
* Portuguese
* dialects
* African
* Asian
* Brazilian
* Mineiro
* European
* Alentejan
* Oliventine
* Estremenho
* Minderico
* Northern
* Uruguayan
* Creoles
* Portugis
* Judeo-Portuguese

Castilian|

* Extremaduran
* Judeo-Spanish
* Haketia
* Tetuani
* Spanish
* dialects
* Equatoguinean
* Latin American
* Chilean
* Chilote
* Peruvian
* Peruvian Ribereño
* Rioplatense
* Peninsular
* Andalusian
* Llanito
* Castilian
* Castrapo
* Castúo
* Murcian
* Philippine
* Saharan
* Creoles
* Old Spanish

Pyrenean–Mozarabic|

* Andalusi Romance
* Navarro-Aragonese
* Aragonese
* Central
* Eastern
* Ribagorçan
* Benasquese
* Judeo-Aragonese
* Southern
* Somontanés
* Navalese
* Western
* Aisinian
* Ansó
* Aragüés
* Hecho
* Community of Villages Aragonese
* Ebro Valley Aragonese
* Navarrese
* Old Riojan
* Valencian Aragonese

Others|

* Barranquenho (mixed Portuguese–Spanish)
* Caló (mixed Romani–Ibero- and Occitano-Romance)

Occitano-
Romance|

* Catalan
* dialects
* Eastern
* Algherese
* Balearic
* Mallorcan
* Menorcan
* Central
* Northern
* Judeo-Catalan
* Patuet
* Western
* Ribagorçan
* Valencian
* Gardiol
* Occitan
* Auvergnat
* Gascon
* Aranese
* Béarnese
* Aas whistled
* Landese
* Judeo-Gascon
* Judeo-Provençal
* Languedocien
* Limousin
* Provençal
* Niçard
* Vivaro-Alpine
* Gardiol
* Mentonasc
* Old Occitan
* Old Catalan

Rhaeto-
Romance|

* Friulian
* Fornes
* Ladin
* Cadorino
* Nones
* Romansh
* Jauer
* Putèr
* Surmiran
* Sursilvan
* Tuatschin
* Sutsilvan
* Vallader

Others|

* Franco-Italian
* Mediterranean Lingua Franca (Western Romance-based pidgin)
* Venetian (unknown further classification)
* Chipilo
* Fiuman
* Talian
* Triestine

Others|

* African Romance
* British Latin
* Pannonian Latin
* Sardinian
* Campidanese
* Logudorese
* Dialects of Latin

Reconstructed|

* Proto-Romance
* Proto-Eastern Romance

* Italics indicate extinct languages
* Bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers
* Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.

* v
* t
* e

Languages of Europe

Sovereign states|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
*   * Italy
* Kazakhstan
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* England
* Northern Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales
* Vatican City

States with limited
recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria

Dependencies and
other entities|

* Åland
* Faroe Islands
* Gibraltar
* Guernsey
* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* Svalbard

Other entities|

* European Union
* Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Latvia
* Israel

Other|

* Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
* Yale LUX

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[†]: Extinct