French language

French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, French and its closest relatives—the langues d'oïl, historically spoken in northern France and southern Belgium—descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Over time, French largely supplanted these regional relatives. 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. 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; 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. 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 several urban areas. In some North African countries like Algeria and Morocco, it is the primary language for the elite (alongside Arabic) while being an auxiliary language for the general population. In 2025, approximately 50% of the Francophone population lived in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 30% lived in Europe, 15% in North Africa, 7% in the Americas, and a small percent in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. 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). French is also the 22nd most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers, and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organizations 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 French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French. Vulgar Latin in Gaul Due to Roman rule, Latin was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Franco-Provençal. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization. Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui, the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. Following the Roman conquest of Gaul, 90% of the population remained indigenous in origin. Furthermore, sociological factors drove an uneven language shift. Latin spread from urban centers—such as Narbonensis—into rural hinterlands as native populations became bilingual. Although the Roman state lacked a deliberate policy of suppression, its requirement that formal administration use Latin accelerated the language's adoption in regulated zones. During the Crisis of the Third Century, locals increasingly adopted Latin to communicate with Germanic tribes and Roman settlers. Consequently, writing in Gaulish and monolingualism all but disappeared between the 4th and 5th centuries. By the time the Romans left, the majority of the population spoke a mix of Celtic, Latin, and occasionally Greek. Additionally, because Northern Gaul was politically cut off from the Mediterranean by the 5th century, its local Latin diverged sharply from standard grammar rules. Overall, Latin was largely adopted by the masses after the Roman departure, largely because of the increasing influence of missionaries and the Romanized elite as sources of authority, rather than the central Imperial authority. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert, which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life (chêne, bille, etc.), animals (mouton, cheval, etc.), nature (boue, etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau), farming and rural units of measure (arpent, lieue, borne, boisseau), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being the last to hold onto Gaulish. Old French The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langues d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langues d'oc. One langue d'oïl became Old French. The Old French period spanned between the late 8th and mid-14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French used different word orders, just as Latin did, because it had a case system retaining the distinction between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects. The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from the Germanic Frankish language, which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order, a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French, alongside the langue d'oc called 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 as monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in the Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia, while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland, the Matter of Britain, as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange. During the period of the Crusades, French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that it became the lingua franca (literally 'Frankish language'). Due to increased contact with Arabs (who referred to the Crusaders as Franj), numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrup), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). 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 between the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. The status of French as a global language of administration and diplomacy is not merely a product of modern history, but the result of a process of state-building that began in the Crusader states. The transition towards French as a formal language began in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Facing a crisis of authority during the War of the Lombards of the mid-13th century, the nobility replaced Latin with Outremer French—a koiné of Parisian, Norman, and Picard dialects—to codify the Assizes of Jerusalem. For the knights and jurists of Outremer, this refined vernacular became a vital tool for legal security in matters of property and inheritance, distinguishing them from Byzantines, Muslims, and newly arrived European crusaders. The military elite, who often lacked academic training in Latin, standardized laws they could read and debate in their native tongue. This made Jerusalem the first state to implement French for legal and administrative security, three decades before France itself. This administrative model "rebounded" to Europe through Louis IX, who, after his stay in the Levant (1250–1254), professionalized the French chancery. This trajectory reached its legal peak with the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539), where Francis I mandated French as the exclusive language for all legal acts and official communications, effectively ending the official role of Latin and centralizing the state around the Parisian standard. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically, the first government authority to adopt Modern French as the official language was the Aosta Valley in 1536, three years before France itself. Modern French During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations (lingua franca). It retained this role until approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War. 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. 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". 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". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha. French in the 21st century 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The majority of Francophones in the sub-Saharan region and the Maghreb are young, and are found in the 15–24 age group. 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. 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. 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. In July 2023, Mali's constitutional referendum demoted French from "official" to merely "working" status while elevating thirteen indigenous tongues to constitutional parity. 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. 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. 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. This reflects a real commitment seen in Senegal and elsewhere to shift from French to local languages or English. 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. 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. 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. Similarly, countries such as Madagascar, Central African Republic, Chad, and Haiti, have legally committed to French alongside local languages. Overall, French remains a practical and widely accepted medium of communication, particularly where linguistic diversity demands a neutral lingua franca. Despite regional tensions or reductions in certain contexts, French continues to expand as a global language of diplomacy, development, and multilateral cooperation. 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). Their participation reflects an interest in leveraging French for international diplomacy, educational exchange, and regional economic integration. 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. 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. In education, institutions like the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and Espace Francophone pour la Recherche, Développement et l'Innovation support research and academic partnerships between Francophone universities across five continents. 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. Future Recent growth Per the OIF, between 2022 and 2025, use of French experienced significant growth, increasing from 321 to between 348 and 396 million speakers (depending on the methodology used). The first method counts all native speakers in countries considered natively Francophone (France, Monaco, and the Francohpone regions of Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada). In other countries where French is an official language, co-official language, or language of instruction only children aged 10 and older and adults aged 15 and older who are literate in French are counted. The second method additionally includes children aged 6–9 who are literate in French in countries of the Global South where French is an official language, co-official language, or language of instruction. Under this method there are 396 million French speakers, distributed across the five continents, nearly 65% of whom are in Africa. Given the second methodology, the OIF states that French is the fourth most spoken language in the world, with 170 million students enrolled in French language education or courses, and the language being the third most used for business and fourth most used on the internet. Factors in growth Growth of French is caused by many factors including population growth in Africa, a youthful Francophone population, urbanization and improved educational access. In 2025, approximately 70% of Francophones live in urban areas as the world continues to urbanize. The Francophone population is young. In 2025, around 150 million young Francophones represent 30.6% of the total population. In 2024, more than 170 million pupils in 36 countries around the world received education in French or learned French in institutional settings, in contexts of French as a native, or French as a second language. The number of learners of French as a foreign language worldwide is estimated at 51 million learners. Primary education remains the main point of growth for French, particularly in countries such as Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where school enrollment rates have risen quickly since 2010. In Côte d'Ivoire the number of Francophones is growing rapidly, at a pace higher than demographic growth. French language use increased from 7.4 million in 2010 to 17.1 million in 2025 (+131%) while the country's population grew from 22 to 33 million (52%) during the same period. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo the number of French speakers grew from rom 31 million in 2010 to 68 million in 2025. French usage is also growing to formal organizational initiatives, business, and culture. The Agency for French Education Abroad has 600 locations and 397,000 students as of 2025. The Alliance Francaise network has almost 1,000 locations with 824 main branches and 160 affiliated branches spread across 138 countries. Within this system, there are 450,000 students including 420,000 students of French and 33,000 students in other courses. Combined with the Institut de France (IF) there are 912,000 students enrolled in language centers outside of France. Due to France's Campus France program, over 440,000 international students study in France and students studying at numerous other universities in the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie. According to a demographic projection led by the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, the total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and over 1 billion by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa. in 2026, the OIF estimated French will be spoken by between 466 million and 666 million people by 2050, the majority of which 9 of 10 will live in Africa. Geographic distribution Europe Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the two official languages—along with Dutch—of the Brussels-Capital Region, where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. 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% 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), in which is spoken as a first language by 1.25% of the population and as a second one by approximately 50%. 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. Africa 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. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language; only 1.2 million of these spoke it as a first language according to Ethnologue. 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. Language and slang from francophone Africa, particularly as popularized through music, are playing a growing role in influencing French across the francophone world. 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, Kinshasa, and Lubumbashi, Douala, Libreville, Antananarivo, Cotonou, and Brazzaville. 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. For example, Algeria intermittently attempted to remove the use of French in favor of a strong native language (see Arabization), and French was removed as an official language in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. Despite these changes and the emergence of English as a global lingua franca, French today remains a major language in the Sahel and the societies of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French was the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. Americas Canada French is the second most 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). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau. United States According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and Vermont. In Louisiana, it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French. New England French, essentially a variant of Canadian French, is spoken in parts of New England. Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana, such as Mon Louis Island, Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in the 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. In 2024–2025, Louisiana has around 4,300 pupils enrolled in 32 French immersion schools, and nearly 22,800 learners of French as a foreign language. Caribbean French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole. It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language; the rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language, Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles. French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in the Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies, namely Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, and Martinique. Other Caribbean French Creoles In the countries of Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, Trinidad Venezuela and Panama French based creoles are used in lesser capacities, being secondary languages. It should be understood that Creoles are distinct from French although they are occasionally intelligible (depending on the Creole and how much French influence the language received). The Creoles of Venezuela and Panama are dying/severely endangered. In Trinidad and Grenada creole (known colloquially as Patwa) are only spoken by elders although revitalisation efforts are growing. In Dominica and St Lucia standard French is also used unofficially as a third language and some people use French and French creoles interchangeably. Other territories French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. Asia French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina, comprising modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In 2025, there were about 712,000 speakers in Vietnam, 400,000 in Cambodia, and 215,000 in Laos. Cambodia In Cambodia, there are about 400,000 French speakers and almost 125,000 Cambodians were learning French in 2018. In 2025, 400,000 students were learning French and around 3,000 schoolchildren were enrolled in bilingual courses across the country and between 7,000 and 8,000 graduate students take French classes as part of training in specialized fields such as medicine or law. The OIF has also promoted the teaching of the French language in Cambodia, notably through its Teacher Mobility Program, which facilitates the placement of French-speaking educators from other countries in Cambodian institutions. The National Center for French Learning was opened in 2025. The 20th Sommet de la Francophonie will be held in Cambodia, in November 2026. The summit will mark the transfer of the Francophonie presidency from France to Cambodia. Norodom Monineath, the Queen Mother of Cambodia, authored the foreword to a report emphasizing the significance of the OIF and the Observatoire de la Langue Française. In her remarks, she described Cambodia's role as host of the summit as a distinct honor for both herself and the nation. The Lycée Français René-Descartes in Phnom Penh has over a thousand students, the majority of which are Cambodian, is part of the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) among other francophone schools affiliated with the AEFE including the EFI French International School. Other organizations include the Institut Français du Cambodge an Alliance Française, and The French Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia Cambodia has French media including L'Echo du Cambodge and Le Toque. Laos In Laos, there are approximately 215,000 francophones. Approximately 75,000 students are learning French as a second language and 3,000 students are in bilingual courses. Approximately 3% of Laotians can speak French. The Ecole Francophone de Luang Prabang offers French and Lao education. 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". 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. The use of English is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. India French was the official language of French India, consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry. It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of the language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. Vietnam In colonial Vietnam, the elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as "Tây Bồi" (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually declined in modern Vietnam: it has been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English, and slightly under 1% of the population was fluent in French in 2018. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as the other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. In 2025, approximately 40,000 students and 6,500 university students are enrolled in French. Oceania French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. 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. In New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure is 95%, and in Wallis and Futuna, it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal, French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. Varieties Current status and importance According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. French is regarded as an influential world language because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence, education, and diplomacy, though its use, geography, and sociopolitical context continues to shift with declines in some areas, including academia, and growth in others. 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"; despite this growth in parts of Central and West Africa, where it had been entrenched as an official, administrative and educational language in numerous states, countries in North Africa and the Sahel have generally distanced themselves from the language due to colonial connections: some countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and it was removed as an official language in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. Its use is also largely declined in parts of Asia, particularly in former French colonies such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, where it has been replaced by local languages and English in both public life and education. 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), 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). 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. 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. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today, a comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations, the economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in the workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Phonology Vowel phonemes in French Although there are many French regional accents, foreign learners normally use only one variety of the language. There are a maximum of 17 vowels in French, not all of which are used in every dialect: /a/, /ɑ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɛː/, /ə/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, /y/, /u/, /œ/, /ø/, plus the nasalized vowels /ɑ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/ and /œ̃/. In France, the vowels /ɑ/, /ɛː/ and /œ̃/ are tending to be replaced by /a/, /ɛ/ and /ɛ̃/ in many people's speech, but the distinction of /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/ is present in Meridional French. In Quebec and Belgian French, the vowels /ɑ/, /ə/, /ɛː/ and /œ̃/ are present. Voiced stops (i.e., /b, d, ɡ/) are typically produced fully voiced throughout. Voiceless stops (i.e., /p, t, k/) are unaspirated. The velar nasal /ŋ/ can occur in final position in borrowed (usually English) words: parking, camping, swing. The palatal nasal /ɲ/, which is written ⟨gn⟩, can occur in word initial position (e.g., gnon), but it is most frequently found in intervocalic, onset position or word-finally (e.g., montagne). French has three pairs of homorganic fricatives distinguished by voicing, i.e., labiodental /f/~/v/, dental /s/~/z/, and palato-alveolar /ʃ/~/ʒ/. /s/~/z/ are dental, like the plosives /t/~/d/ and the nasal /n/. French has one rhotic whose pronunciation varies considerably among speakers and phonetic contexts. In general, it is described as a voiced uvular fricative, as in [ʁu] roue, "wheel". Vowels are often lengthened before this segment. It can be reduced to an approximant, particularly in final position (e.g., fort), or reduced to zero in some word-final positions. For other speakers, a uvular trill is also common, and an apical trill [r] occurs in some dialects. The cluster /ʁw/ is generally pronounced as a labialised voiced uvular fricative [ʁʷ], such as in [ʁʷa] roi, "king", or [kʁʷaʁ] croire, "to believe". Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant /l/ is unvelarised in both onset (lire) and coda position (il). In the onset, the central approximants [w], [ɥ], and [j] each correspond to a high vowel, /u/, /y/, and /i/ respectively. There are a few minimal pairs where the approximant and corresponding vowel contrast, but there are also many cases where they are in free variation. Contrasts between /j/ and /i/ occur in final position as in /pɛj/ paye, "pay", vs. /pɛi/ pays, "country". The lateral approximant /l/ can be delateralised when word- or morpheme-final and preceded by /i/, such as in /tʁavaj/ travail, "work", or when a word ending in ⟨al⟩ is pluralised, giving ⟨aux⟩ /o/. French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n, p and g, are normally silent. (A consonant is considered "final" when no vowel follows it even if one or more consonants follow it.) The final letters f, k, q, and l, however, are normally pronounced. The final c is sometimes pronounced, as in bac, sac, roc, but can also be silent, as in blanc or estomac. The final r is usually silent when it follows an e in a word of two or more syllables, but it is pronounced in some words (hiver, super, cancer etc.). When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant may once again be pronounced, to provide a liaison or "link" between the two words. Some liaisons are mandatory, for example the s in les amants or vous avez; some are optional, depending on dialect and register, for example, the first s in deux cents euros or euros irlandais; and some are forbidden, for example, the s in beaucoup d'hommes aiment. The t of et is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in set phrases like pied-à-terre. Doubling a final n and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g., chien → chienne) makes it clearly pronounced. Doubling a final l and adding a silent e (e.g., gentil → gentille) adds a [j] sound if the l is preceded by the letter i. Some monosyllabic function words ending in a or e, such as je and que, drop their final vowel when placed before a word that begins with a vowel sound (thus avoiding a hiatus). The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g., *je ai is instead pronounced and spelled j'ai). This gives, for example, the same pronunciation for l'homme qu'il a vu ("the man whom he saw") and l'homme qui l'a vu ("the man who saw him"). However, in Belgian French the sentences are pronounced differently; in the first sentence the syllable break is as "qu'il-a", while the second breaks as "qui-l'a". It can also be noted that, in Quebec French, the second example (l'homme qui l'a vu) has more emphasis on l'a vu. Writing system Alphabet 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 is nonstandard in formal and literary texts. Orthography French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. Moreover, some conscious changes were made to restore Latin orthography (as with some English words such as "debt"): Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitus) Old French pie > French pied "foot" [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. Many given spellings of common morphemes usually lead to a predictable sound. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic generally leads to one phoneme. However, there is not a one-to-one relation of a phoneme and a single related grapheme, which can be seen in how tomber and tombé both end with the /e/ phoneme. Additionally, there are many variations in the pronunciation of consonants at the end of words, demonstrated by how the x in paix is not pronounced though at the end of Aix it is. As a result, it can be difficult to predict the spelling of a word based on the sound. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel (see Liaison (French)). For example, the following words end in a vowel sound: pied, aller, les, 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 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 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 (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. 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. 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. French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including the loss of Latin declensions the loss of the neuter gender the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives the loss of certain Latin tenses and the creation of new tenses from auxiliaries. Nouns Every French noun is either masculine or feminine. Because French nouns are not inflected for gender, a noun's form cannot specify its gender. For nouns regarding the living, their grammatical genders often correspond to that which they refer to. For example, a male teacher is an enseignant while a female teacher is an enseignante. However, plural nouns that refer to a group that includes both masculine and feminine entities are always masculine. So a group of two male teachers would be enseignants. A group of two male teachers and two female teachers would still be enseignants. However, a group of two female teachers would be enseignantes. In many situations, including in the case of enseignant, both the singular and plural form of a noun are pronounced identically. The article used for singular nouns is different from that used for plural nouns and the article provides a distinguishing factor between the two in speech. For example, the singular le professeur or la professeure (the male or female teacher, professor) can be distinguished from the plural les professeur(e)s because le /lə/, la /la/, and les /le(s)/ are all pronounced differently. With enseignant, however, for both singular forms the le/la becomes l', and so the only difference in pronunciation is that the ⟨t⟩ on the end of masculine form is silent, whereas it is pronounced in the feminine. If the word was to be followed by a word starting with a vowel, then liaison would cause the ⟨t⟩ to be pronounced in both forms, resulting in identical pronunciation. There are also some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. For example, le dentiste refers to a male dentist while la dentiste refers to a female dentist. Furthermore, a few nouns' meanings depend on their gender. For example, un livre (masculine) refers to a book, while une livre a (feminine) is a pound. Verbs Moods and tense-aspect forms The French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods. The finite moods include the indicative mood (indicatif), the subjunctive mood (subjonctif), the imperative mood (impératif), and the conditional mood (conditionnel). The non-finite moods include the infinitive mood (infinitif), the present participle (participe présent), and the past participle (participe passé). Finite moods Indicative (indicatif) The indicative mood makes use of eight tense-aspect forms. These include the present (présent), the simple past (passé composé and passé simple), the past imperfective (imparfait), the pluperfect (plus-que-parfait), the simple future (futur simple), the future perfect (futur antérieur), and the past perfect (passé antérieur). Some forms are less commonly used today. In today's spoken French, the passé composé is used while the passé simple is reserved for formal situations or for literary purposes. Similarly, the plus-que-parfait is used for speaking rather than the older passé antérieur seen in literary works. Within the indicative mood, the passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, and passé antérieur all use auxiliary verbs in their forms. Subjunctive (subjonctif) The subjunctive mood only includes four of the tense-aspect forms found in the indicative: present (présent), simple past (passé composé), past imperfective (imparfait), and pluperfect (plus-que-parfait). Within the subjunctive mood, the passé composé and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary verbs in their forms. Imperative (imperatif) The imperative is used in the present tense (with the exception of a few instances where it is used in the perfect tense). The imperative is used to give commands to you (tu), we/us (nous), and plural you (vous). Conditional (conditionnel) The conditional makes use of the present (présent) and the past (passé). The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms. Voice French uses both the active voice and the passive voice. The active voice is unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb être ("to be") and the past participle. Example of the active voice: "Elle aime le chien." She loves the dog. "Marc a conduit la voiture." Marc drove the car. Example of the passive voice: "Le chien est aimé par elle." The dog is loved by her. "La voiture a été conduite par Marc." The car was driven by Marc. 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. Vocabulary 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 More recently (1994) the linguistic policy (Toubon Law) of the French language academies of France and Quebec has been to provide French equivalents to (mainly English) imported words, either by using existing vocabulary, extending its meaning or deriving a new word according to French morphological rules. The result is often two (or more) co-existing terms for describing the same phenomenon. mercatique / marketing finance fantôme / shadow banking bloc-notes / notepad ailière / wingsuit tiers-lieu / coworking It is estimated that 12% (4,200) of common French words found in a typical dictionary such as the Petit Larousse 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. 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. 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. Numerals The numeral system used in the majority of Francophone countries employs both decimal and vigesimal counting. After the use of unique names for the numbers 1–16, those from 17 to 69 are counted by tens, while twenty (vingt) is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70 to 99. The French word for 80 is quatre-vingts, literally "four twenties", and the word for 75 is soixante-quinze, literally "sixty-fifteen". The vigesimal method of counting is analogous to the archaic English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70). Belgian, Swiss, and Aostan French 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 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. The term octante was historically used in Switzerland for 80, but is now considered archaic. French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate thousands. The comma (French: virgule) is used in French numbers as a decimal point, i.e. "2,5" instead of "2.5". In the case of currencies, the currency markers are substituted for decimal point, i.e. "5$7" for "5 dollars and 7 cents". Example text Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in French: Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. See also Alliance Française – International network for the promotion of the French language and culturePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets AZERTY – Keyboard layout used for French Français fondamental – Simplified version of French Francization – Expansion of the French language Francophile – Strong interest in or love of French people, culture, and history Francophobia – Hostility towards French peoplePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Francophonie – French-speaking world French language in Canada French language in the United States French poetry – Poetry written in French Glossary of French expressions in English Influence of French on English Language education – Process and practice of acquiring a language 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 References Works cited 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 Cravens, Thomas D. (2002). Comparative Historical Dialectology: Italo-Romance Clues to Ibero-Romance Sound Change. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 1588113132.</ref> Marc Fumaroli (2011). When the World Spoke French. Translated by Richard Howard. New York Review of Books. ISBN 978-1-59017-375-6. Mufwene, Salikoko S. (2004). "Language birth and death" (PDF). Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 33. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143852. Mullen, Alex; Woudhuysen, George (2023). Languages and Communities in the Late-Roman and Post-Imperial Western Provinces. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191995293. 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 Organisations 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 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 Archived 1 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Language machine Online dictionaries 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. Grammar Verbs French verb conjugation at Verbix Vocabulary Swadesh list in English and French Numbers Smith, Paul. "French, Numbers". Numberphile. Brady Haran. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2013. Books (in French) La langue française dans le monde 2010 (Full book freely accessible) Articles "The status of French in the world". French Ministry of Foreign Affairs