French (français, French pronunciation: [fʀɑ̃sɛ]) is a Romance language The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome. There are more than 600 million native speakers worldwide, mainly in the Americas, Europe, and Africa, as well as many smaller regions scattered throughout the world. The six most widely spoken spoken, around the world, by more than 100 million people as a first language Sometimes the term first language is used for the language that the speaker speaks best (mother tongue), by 190 million as a second language A second language is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language A second language is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas, with significant speakers in 54 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France France (pronounced /ˈfræns/ or /ˈfrɑːns/; French: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the,^[21] where the language originated. The rest live essentially in Canada Canada is a country occupying most of upper North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area and shares the world's longest common border with the United States to the south and northwest (Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay, to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador), Belgium The Kingdom of Belgium /ˈbɛldʒəm/ is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi) and has a population of about 10.7 million, Switzerland Switzerland (German: die Schweiz French: la Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh: Svizra, officially the Swiss Confederation is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.7 million people (2009) in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states, called cantons. Bern is the seat of the federal, Francophone Africa African French is the generic name of the varieties of French spoken by an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 francophone African countries. This includes those who speak French as a first or second language in these 31 francophone African countries , but it does not include French speakers living in non-francophone African, Luxembourg Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɝɡ/ GA: ˈləksɪmbɚg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of under half a, and Monaco Monaco /ˈmɒnəkoʊ/ , officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian: Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a small sovereign city-state located in South Western Europe on the northern central coast of the Mediterranean Sea, having a land border on three. Most second language speakers of French live in Francophone Africa, arguably exceeding the number of native speakers.^[22] The Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country (by area) in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is, with a UN estimated population of 66,020,000, the nineteenth most populous nation in the world, and the fourth most populous nation in is the Francophone country with the largest population.

French is a descendant of the Latin Latin is an Italic language historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, Spanish, and Portuguese are descended from Latin, while many others, especially European languages, including language of the Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor, Augustus. The nearly 500-year-old Roman Republic,, as are national languages such as Portuguese Portuguese ( português or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula (namely the Gallaeci, the Lusitanians, the Celtici and the Conii) around 2000 years ago. It spread worldwide in the 15th, Spanish Spanish , sometimes called Castilian (castellano), is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade. It was taken most notably to the Americas, and also to Africa and Asia Pacific with the expansion of the Spanish Empire between, Italian Italian ( italiano , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City. Standard Italian, adopted by the and Romanian Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba română, pronounced [ˈlimba roˈmɨnə]) is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia. In the Republic of Moldova, the language is officially, and minority languages ranging from Catalan Catalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià (Valencian) and in the city of Alghero in the Italian island of Sardinia. It is also spoken, although with no and Occitan Occitan , known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name: occitan [utsiˈta], lenga d'òc [ˈleŋɡɔˈðɔ(k)]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra i.e. "our [own] language") is a Romance language spoken in Occitania, that is, Southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, Monaco and in the Aran Valley of Spain. It is also spoken to Neapolitan The name is often given to the varied Italo-Western group of dialects of southern Italy; for example Ethnologue groups the dialects as a separate Romance language called Napoletano-Calabrese. This linguistic group is spoken throughout most of southern continental Italy, including the Gaeta and Sora districts of southern Lazio, the southern part of and many more. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, having much earlier been used by Greek and Roman writers to describe tribes in central Gaul. During the 1st of Roman Gaul Gaul is a historical name used in the context of the Roman empire in references to the region of Western Europe approximating present day France and Belgium, but also sometimes including the Po Valley, western Switzerland, and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine. In English, the word Gaul may also refer to and by the Germanic The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe. Proto-Germanic, along with all of its descendants, is characterized by a language of the post-Roman Frankish The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. Under the Merovingian dynasty, they founded one of the Germanic monarchies which replaced the Western Roman Empire from the 5th century. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over large invaders.

It is an official language An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a language a legal status, even if that language is not in 29 countries The following is a list of the 29 countries where French is an official language. Note that in most of these countries, French is not the only language, and therefore the population does not indicate the number of French-speakers, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie La Francophonie, or the Francophonie, is an international organization of polities and governments with French as the mother or customary language, wherein a significant proportion of people are francophones or where there is a notable affiliation with the French language or culture, the community of French-speaking nations. It is an official language of all United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achieving world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to agencies and a large number of international organizations List of international organisations which have French as an official, administrative or working language. According to the European Union The European Union is an economic and political partnership among 27 member states primarily in Europe that is committed to regional integration. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993, upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community. With a population of almost 500 million, the EU generates an, 129 million (26% of the 497,198,740) people in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million (12%) are native speakers and 69 million (14%) claim to speak it either as a second or foreign language, which makes it the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries and of the United States since the mid 20th century, it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world. It is and German German (Deutsch, [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native. In addition, prior to the mid 20th century, French served as the preeminent language of diplomacy among European and colonial powers as well as a lingua franca Lingua franca is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or structure of the language: though pidgins and creoles often function as lingua francas, many lingua francas are neither pidgins nor creoles among the educated classes of Europe.

Contents 1 Geographic distribution 1.1 Europe 1.1.1 Legal status in France 1.1.2 Switzerland 1.1.3 Belgium 1.1.4 Malta 1.1.5 Monaco and Andorra 1.1.6 Italy 1.1.7 Luxembourg 1.1.8 The United Kingdom and the Channel Islands 1.2 Americas 1.2.1 Canada 1.2.2 Haiti 1.2.3 French overseas territories 1.2.4 The United States 1.3 Africa 1.4 Asia 1.4.1 Lebanon 1.4.2 Syria 1.4.3 Southeast Asia 1.4.4 India 1.5 Oceania 2 Dialects 3 History 4 Phonology 5 Orthography 6 Writing system 7 Grammar 8 Vocabulary 8.1 Numerals 9 Examples 10 See also 11 References 12 External links 12.1 Courses and tutorials 12.2 Online dictionaries 12.3 Vocabulary 12.3.1 Audio

Geographic distribution

Europe

Legal status in France

See also: Toubon Law The Toubon Law , is a law of the French government mandating the use of the French language in official government publications, in advertisements, in the workplace, in commercial contracts, in some other commercial communication contexts, in government-financed schools, and some other contexts. The law does not concern private, non-commercial and Languages of France There are a number of languages of France. The French language is by far the most widely spoken and the only official language of France, but several regional languages are also spoken to varying degrees. Other languages are spoken by a substantial percentage of the population due to immigration. The map to the right includes the French-speaking

According to the Constitution of France The current Constitution of France was adopted on October 4, 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and replaced that of the Fourth Republic dating from 1946. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth Republic, while the text was drafted by Michel Debré, French has been the official language since 1992^[23] (although previous legal texts have made it official since 1539, see ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by Francis I of France on August 10, 1539 in the city of Villers-Cotterêts). France France (pronounced /ˈfræns/ or /ˈfrɑːns/; French: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual ; and in its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to another through institutions. Teachers outside of specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts A contract is an exchange of promises between two or more parties to do, or refrain from doing, an act which is enforceable in a court of law. It is a binding legal agreement. That is to say, a contract is an exchange of promises for the breach of which the law will provide a remedy; advertisements Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries must bear a translation of foreign words.

In addition to French, there are also a variety of regional languages and dialects. France has signed the European Charter for Regional Languages, but has not ratified it since that would go against the 1958 Constitution.^{[citation needed]}

Switzerland

Further information: Demographics of Switzerland This article is about the demographic features of the population of Switzerland, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population and Swiss French Swiss French is the name used for the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. Swiss French is not to be confused with Franco-Provençal/Arpitan or Romansh, two other Romance languages spoken in areas not far from Romandy

French is one of the three official languages of Switzerland Switzerland (German: die Schweiz French: la Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh: Svizra, officially the Swiss Confederation is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.7 million people (2009) in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states, called cantons. Bern is the seat of the federal (along with German German (Deutsch, [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native and Italian Italian ( italiano , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City. Standard Italian, adopted by the) and is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandie The Swiss German region is in the north and center, the Swiss French part (Romandie) in the west and the Swiss Italian area (Svizzera Italiana) in the south. There remains a small Romansh-speaking native population in Graubünden in the east. The cantons of Fribourg, Bern and Valais are officially bilingual; Graubünden is officially trilingual. French is the native language of about 20% of the Swiss population.

Swiss french is mostly mutually compatible with the standard french spoken in France, but small changes, such as different numbers are often used.

Belgium

Further information: Languages of Belgium The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages are spoken as well and Belgian French Bilingual signs in Brussels.

In Belgium, French is the official language of Wallonia (excluding 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, though often not as their primary language.^[24] French and German are not official languages nor recognized minority languages in the Flemish Region, although along borders with the Walloon and Brussels-Capital regions, there are a dozen municipalities with language facilities for French speakers. A mirror situation exists for the Walloon Region with respect to the Dutch and German languages. In total, native French speakers make up about 40% of the country's population, while the remaining 60% speak Dutch as a first language. Of the latter, 59% claim to speak French as a second language, meaning that about three quarters of the Belgian population can speak French.^[25][26]

Malta

Further information: Languages of Malta

Maltese is a Semitic language^[27] influenced by Italian and to a lesser extent French; 17% of the Maltese population speaks French.^[28] A French presence has existed on Malta since the arrival of the Ordre des Hospitaliers in 1530.

Monaco and Andorra

Further information: Languages of Monaco and Languages of Andorra

Although Monégasque is the national language of the Principality of Monaco, French is the only official language, and French nationals make up some 47% of the population.

Catalan is the only official language of Andorra; however, French is commonly used due to the proximity to France. French nationals make up 7% of the population.

Knowledge of French in the European Union and candidate countries^[29]

Italy

Further information: Languages of Italy

French is also an official language, along with Italian, in the province of Aosta Valley, Italy. In addition, a number of Franco-Provençal dialects are spoken in the province, although they do not have official recognition.^[30]

Luxembourg

Further information: Languages of Luxembourg and Multilingualism in Luxembourg

French is one of three official languages of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, alongside German and Luxembourgish, the natively-spoken language of Luxembourg. Luxembourg's education system is trilingual: the first years of primary school are in Luxembourgish, before changing to German; while in secondary school, the language of instruction changes to French.

The United Kingdom and the Channel Islands

Further information: Languages of Jersey, Languages of Guernsey, and Languages of the United Kingdom

French is an official language in Jersey and Guernsey, the two bailiwicks collectively referred to as the Channel Islands, although they are separate entities. Both use French to some degree, mostly in an administrative capacity. Jersey Legal French is the standardized variety used in Jersey. However, Norman is the historical vernacular langue d'Oïl of the islands.

A large portion of words of the English Language (originating in Great Britain) are of French root or origin. This is due to the Norman Invasion which made French the language of administration and was spoken by the aristocracy and upper classes (while the peasants and lower classes spoke an Anglo-Saxon Language).

French is a large minority language and immigrant language in the UK with over 1 million speakers as a first language. It is also the most popular foreign language with just under a quarter of the British population being able to speak French proficiently.

Americas

Canada

See also: Canadian French, French language in Canada, Spoken languages of Canada, and Official bilingualism in Canada Bilingual (English/French) stop sign on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, an example of bilingualism at the federal level in Canada.

French is the second most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. French is the sole official language in the province of Quebec, being the mother tongue for some 7 million people. New Brunswick, where about a third of the population is francophone, is the only officially bilingual province. Portions of Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba have sizeable French minorities, but its prescription as an official language in those jurisdictions and the level of francophone services varies.

Haiti

French is an official language of Haiti, although it is mostly spoken by the upper class, while Haitian Creole (a French-based creole language) is more widely spoken as a mother tongue.

French overseas territories

French is also the official language in France's overseas territories of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, St. Martin and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

The United States

See also: French in the United States, Cajun French, and Louisiana Creole French French language spread in the United States. Counties marked in yellow are those where 6–12% of the population speak French at home; brown, 12–18%; red, over 18%. French-based creole languages are not included.

Although it has no official recognition on a federal level, French is the third^[31][32] most-spoken language in the United States, after English and Spanish, and the second most-spoken in the states of Louisiana, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Louisiana is home to many distinct dialects, Cajun French has the largest number of speakers. According to the 2000 US Census, there are over 194,000 people in Louisiana who speak French at home, the most of any state if excluding Creole French.^[32]

Africa

Main articles: African French and Maghreb French Supermarket sign in French in Dakar, Senegal. Countries usually considered as Francophone Africa. These countries had a population of 321 million in 2007.^[33] Their population is projected to reach 733 million in 2050.^[33] Countries sometimes considered as Francophone Africa

A majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to the 2007 report by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 francophone African countries can speak French either as a first or second language.^[22]

French is mostly a second language in Africa, but in some areas it has become a first language, such as in the region of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire^[34] and in Libreville, Gabon.^[35] It is not possible to speak of a single form of African French, but rather of diverse forms of African French which have developed due to the contact with many indigenous African languages.^[36]

In the territories of the Indian Ocean, the French language is often spoken alongside French-derived creole languages, the major exception being Madagascar. There, a Malayo-Polynesian language (Malagasy) is spoken alongside French. The French language has also met with competition from English, since English has been the official language in Mauritius and the Seychelles for a while and has recently become an official language of Madagascar.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, due to the expansion of education and rapid demographic growth.^[37] It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.^[38][39] Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries,^[40] but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.

French is an official language in many African countries, most of them former French or Belgian colonies:

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Comoros
• Congo (Brazzaville)
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea (former colony of Spain)
• Gabon
• Guinea
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Niger
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Togo

In addition, French is an administrative language and commonly used, though not on an official basis, in Mauritius and in the Maghreb states:

• Algeria
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Tunisia

In Algeria, various reforms have been implemented in recent decades to improve the status of Arabic relative to French, especially in education.

While the predominant European language in Egypt is English, French is considered to be a more sophisticated language by some elements of the Egyptian upper and upper-middle classes;^{[citation needed]} for this reason, a typical educated Egyptian will learn French in addition to English at some point in his or her education. The perception of sophistication may be related to the use of French as the royal court language of Egypt during the nineteenth century. Egypt participates in La Francophonie.

French is also the official language of Mayotte and Réunion, two overseas territories of France located in the Indian Ocean, as well as an administrative and educational language in Mauritius, along with English.

Asia

Lebanon

A Lebanese "mille livres" (thousand-pound) bank note

French was the official language in Lebanon, along with Arabic, until 1943, when the country declared independence from France. French is still considered an official language by the Lebanese people and is used on bank notes (along with Arabic) and on official buildings. French is widely used by the Lebanese, especially for administrative purposes, and is taught in many schools as a primary language along with Arabic.

Syria

Like Lebanon, French was official in Syria until 1943. But in contrast to Lebanon, the language is not official, but still spoken by educated group, both elites and middle-class.

Southeast Asia

French is an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent years.^[41] In colonial Vietnam, the elites spoke French, and many who worked for the French spoke a French creole known as "Tây Bồi" (now extinct). The language was also spoken by the elite in the leased territory Guangzhouwan in southern China.

In Burma, French is gaining popularity amongst university students and the tourism sector, as the country slowly opens up. French is not offered at the basic education level, but the University of Foreign Languages in Yangon offers a B.A. in French, and Alliance Française has active centres in Rangoon and Mandalay. The Francophone community is estimated to number from 25,000 to 50,000+.

India

French has de-jure official status in the Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry, along with the regional languages Tamil, Telugu. Some students of Tamil Nadu opt for French as their second or third language (usually behind English and Tamil).

French is commonly taught as a third language in secondary schools in most cities of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, as part of the preparation for secondary school (X-SSC) and higher secondary school (XII-HSC) certificate examinations. Certain high-profile schools affiliated with the CBSE in the NCR offer French as an option as early as grade 4. In grade 9, students are asked to drop either French or Hindi, which is their native language.

Oceania

French is a second official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu and Wallis & Futuna. In France's territories of French Polynesia, and New Caledonia it has more than 90% speakers either as native or secondary language.

Dialects

Main article: Dialects of the French language

• Acadian French
• African French
• Aostan French
• Belgian French
• Cajun French
• Canadian French
• Cambodian French
• French-based creole languages
• Guyana French
• Indian French
• Jersey Legal French
• Lao French
• Levantine French (most commonly referred to as Lebanese French)
• Louisiana Creole French
• Maghreb French (see also North African French)
• Meridional French
• Metropolitan French
• New Caledonian French
• Newfoundland French
• Oceanic French
• Quebec French
• South East Asian French
• Swiss French
• Vietnamese French
• West Indian French

History

Main article: History of French

Phonology

Main article: French phonology

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Although there are many French regional accents, only one version of the language is normally chosen as a model for foreign learners, which has no commonly-used special name.

• Voiced stops (i.e. /b d ɡ/) are typically produced fully-voiced throughout.
• Voiceless stops (i.e. /p t k/) are unaspirated.
• Nasals: The velar nasal /ŋ/ occurs only in final position in borrowed (usually English) words: parking, camping, swing. The palatal nasal /ɲ/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).
• Fricatives: French has three pairs of homorganic fricatives distinguished by voicing, i.e. labiodental /f/–/v/, dental /s/–/z/, and palato-alveolar /ʃ/–/ʒ/. Notice that /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 fairly common, and an apical trill [r] occurs in some dialects.
• 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".

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 consonants: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m, are normally silent. (The final letters c, r, f and l, however, are normally pronounced.)
  • 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.
• elision or vowel dropping: 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, for Belgian French the sentences are pronounced differently, in the first sentence "qu'il" is formed as one syllable while in the second sentence, it is pronounced as two syllables.

Orthography

Main article: French orthography

• 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 get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
• Digraphs: French not only uses 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 [illyzjɔ̃]. But 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 [ynnɛ̃fo].
• Accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes for 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 late 19th century, the circumflex was used in place of s after a vowel, where that letter s was not to be pronounced. Thus, forest became forêt and hospital became hôpital.
    • The diaeresis (le tréma) (e.g. naïf—foolish, Noël—Christmas) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one, not combined, and is not a schwa.
    • The cedilla (la cédille) ç (e.g. garçon—boy) means that the letter ç is pronounced /s/ in front of the hard vowels a, o and u (c is otherwise /k/ before a hard vowel). C is always pronounced /s/ in front of the soft vowels e, i, and y, thus ç is never found in front of soft vowels.
  • Accents with no pronunciation effect
    • The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, and in most dialects, a as well. It usually indicates that an s came after it long ago, as in île (island, compare with English isle).
    • 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" fem. sing.) and the conjunction ou ("or") respectively.

Writing system

Main article: French alphabet

French is written using the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and the two ligatures (œ) and (æ).

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:

• Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitus)
• Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pes (stem: ped-))

As a result, it is difficult to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel. For example, all of these 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.

On the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable sound, and the Académie française works hard to enforce and update this correspondence. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme.

The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.

• acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound of a short ai in English, with no diphthong. An é in modern French is often used where a combination of e and a consonant, usually s, would have been used formerly: écouter < escouter. This type of accent mark is called accent aigu in French.
• grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). Over an e, indicates the sound /ɛ/.
• circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û): Over an a, e or o, indicates the sound /ɑ/, /ɛ/ or /o/, respectively (the distinction a /a/ vs. â /ɑ/ tends to disappear in many dialects). Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. It has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to have to do something (pertaining to an act)"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu). (See Use of the circumflex in French)
• diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü, ÿ): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. 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 (commune in canton de la Marne formerly Aÿ-Champagne), Rue des Cloÿs (alley in the 18th arrondisement of Paris), Croÿ (family name and hotel on the Boulevard Raspail, Paris), Château du Feÿ (near Joigny), Ghÿs (name of Flemish origin spelt Ghijs where ij in handwriting looked like ÿ to French clerks), l'Haÿ-les-Roses (commune between Paris and Orly airport), Pierre Louÿs (author), Moÿ (place in commune de l'Aisne and family name), and Le Blanc de Nicolaÿ (an insurance company in eastern France). The diaresis on u appears only in the biblical proper names Archélaüs, Capharnaüm, Emmaüs, Ésaü and Saül. Nevertheless, since the 1990 orthographic rectifications, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) may be moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe.
• umlaut: Words coming from German retain the old Umlaut (ä, ö and ü) if applicable but use French pronunciation, such as Kärcher (trade mark of a pressure washer).
• cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced /s/ when it would otherwise be pronounced /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with c = [s] before e), je lançais "I was throwing" (c would be pronounced [k] before a without the cedilla). The c cedilla (ç) softens the hard /k/ sound to /s/ before the vowels a, o or u, for example ça /sa/. C cedilla is never used before the vowels e or i since these two vowels always produce a soft /s/ sound (ce, ci).

There are two ligatures, which have various origins:

• The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words. Some of these are native French words, with the pronunciation /œ/ or /ø/, e.g. sœur "sister" /sœʁ/, œuvre "work (of art)" /œvʁ/. Note that it usually appears in the combination œu; œil is an exception. Many of these words were originally written with the digraph eu; the o in the ligature represents a sometimes artificial attempt to imitate the Latin spelling: Latin bovem > Old French buef/beuf > Modern French bœuf. Œ is also used in words of Greek origin, as the Latin rendering of the Greek diphthong οι, e.g. cœlacanthe "coelacanth". These words used to be pronounced with the vowel /e/, but in recent years a spelling pronunciation with /ø/ has taken hold, e.g. œsophage /ezɔfaʒ/ or /øzɔfaʒ/. The pronunciation with /e/ is often seen to be more correct. The ligature œ is not used in some occurrences of the letter combination oe, for example, when o is part of a prefix (coexister).
• The ligature æ is rare and appears in some words of Latin and Greek origin like ægosome, ægyrine, æschne, cæcum, nævus or uræus.^[42] The vowel quality is identical to é /e/.

French writing, as with any language, is affected by the spoken language. In Old French, the plural for animal was animals. Common speakers pronounced a u before a word ending in l as the plural. This resulted in animauls. As the French language evolved this vanished and the form animaux (aux pronounced /o/) was admitted. The same is true for cheval pluralized as chevaux and many others. Also castel pl. castels became château pl. châteaux.

Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail to gather interest. ^{[43] [44] [45]}

Grammar

Main article: French grammar

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

• the loss of Latin's declensions
• only two grammatical genders
• the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives
• new tenses formed from auxiliaries

French word order is Subject Verb Object, except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb. Some rare archaisms allow for different word orders.

Vocabulary

The majority of French words derive from Vulgar Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being "popular" (noun) and the other one "savant" (adjective), both originating from Latin. Example:

• brother: frère / fraternel < from Latin frater
• finger: doigt / digital < from Latin digitus
• faith: foi / fidèle < from Latin fides
• cold: froid / frigide < from Latin frigidus
• eye: œil / oculaire < from Latin oculus

In some examples there is a common word from Vulgar Latin and a more savant word borrowed directly from Medieval Latin or even Ancient Greek.

• Cheval—Concours équestre—Hippodrome

The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognisable than Italian words of Latin origin because as French evolved from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was dropped or elided into the following word.

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. 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 ancient 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 Slavic languages and Baltic languages, 10 for Basque and 144 — about three percent — from other languages.^[46]

Numerals

The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty (vingt) is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 60–99. The French word for eighty, for example, is quatre-vingts, which literally means "four twenties", and soixante-quinze (literally "sixty-fifteen") means 75. This reform arose after the French Revolution to unify the different counting system (mostly vigesimal near the coast, due to Celtic (via Breton) and Viking influence). This system is comparable to the archaic English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70).

Belgian French and Swiss French are different in this respect. In Belgium and Switzerland 70 and 90 are septante and nonante. In Switzerland, depending on the local dialect, 80 can be quatre-vingts (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) or huitante (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg). Octante had been used in Switzerland in the past, but is now considered archaic.^[47] In Belgium, however, quatre-vingts is universally used.

It should also be noted that French uses a period (also called a full stop) or a space to separate thousands where English uses a comma or (more recently) a space. The comma is used in French numbers as a decimal point: 2,5 = deux virgule cinq.

Cardinal numbers in French from 1 to 20 are as follows:

• One: un /œ̃/
• Two: deux /dø/
• Three: trois /tʁwa/
• Four: quatre /katʁ/
• Five: cinq /sɛ̃k/
• Six: six /sis/
• Seven: sept /sɛt/
• Eight: huit /ʔɥɪt/
• Nine: neuf /nœf/
• Ten: dix /dis/
• Eleven: onze /ɔ̃z/
• Twelve: douze /duz/
• Thirteen: treize /tʁɛz/
• Fourteen: quatorze /katɔʁz/
• Fifteen: quinze /kɛ̃z/
• Sixteen: seize /sɛz/
• Seventeen: dix-sept /dis.sɛt/
• Eighteen: dix-huit /di.z‿ɥit/
• Nineteen: dix-neuf /diz.nœf/
• Twenty: vingt /vɛ̃/

Examples

This section includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help.

The "Canadian" audio samples here are not necessarily from speakers of Quebec French, which has distinct regional pronunciations of certain words.^{references needed}

English	French	IPA pronunciation (Canadian accent)	IPA pronunciation (French accent)
French	Français	/fʀɑ̃ˈsɛ/	/fʀɑ̃se/
English	Anglais	/ɑ̃ɡlɛ/	/ɑ̃ɡle/
Yes	Oui (si when countering an assertion or a question expressed in the negative)	/wi/	/wi/
No	Non	/nɔ̃/	/nɔ̃/
Hello!	Bonjour ! (formal) or Salut ! (informal)	/bɔ̃ˈʒuːʀ/	/bɔ̃ʒuʀ/
Good evening!	Bonsoir !	/bɔ̃swɑːʁ/	/bɔ̃swaːʀ/
Good night!	Bonne nuit !	/bɔnnɥi/	/bɔn nɥi/
Goodbye!	Au revoir !	/ɔʁˈvwɑːʁ/	/ɔʁ vwa/
Have a nice day!	Bonne journée !	/bɔn ʒuʀˈne/	/bɔn ʒuʀne/
Please	S'il vous plaît (formal) or S'il te plaît (informal)	/sɪlvuplɛ/	/sil vu plɛ/
Thank you	Merci	/mɛʀˈsi/	/mɛʁsi/
You're welcome	De rien ("it is nothing") or Je vous en prie (formal) or Je t'en prie (informal)		/də ʁiɛ̃/
I'm sorry	Pardon or Je suis désolé (if male) / Je suis désolée (if female) or Excuse-moi (informal) / Excusez-moi (formal)	/paʀdɔ̃/ / /dezɔle/	/paʁdɔ̃/ / /dezɔle/
Who?	Qui ?	/ki/	/ki/
What?	Quoi ? (←informal; used as "What?" in English)) or Comment ? (←formal; used the same as "Pardon Me?" in English)	/kwa/	/kwa/
When?	Quand ?	/kɑ̃/	/kɑ̃/
Where?	Où ?	/u/	/u/
Why?	Pourquoi ?	/puʀkwa/	/puʀkwɑ/
What's your name?	Comment vous appelez-vous ? (formal) or Comment t'appelles-tu ? (informal)		/kɔmɑ̃ vu‿zap le vu/
Because	Parce que / "À cause de" — literally "because of" or "due to"	/paʁs(ə)kə/	/paʀs kǝ/
For (when used as "because")	Car		/kaʀ/
Therefore	Donc	/dɔñk/	/dɔ̃k/
How?	Comment ?	/kɔmɑ̃/	/kɔmɑ̃/
How much?	Combien ?	/kɔ̃ˈbjɛ̃/	/kɔ̃ bjɛ̃/
I do not understand.	Je ne comprends pas.	/ʒə nə kɔ̃pʀɑ̃ pɑ/	/ʒə nə kɔ̃pʀɑ̃ pa/
Yes, I understand.	Oui, je comprends. Except when responding to a negatively posed question, in which case Si is used preferentially over Oui	/wi ʒə kɔ̃pʀɑ̃/	/wi, ʒə kɔ̃ pʀɑ̃/
Help!	Au secours !! (à l'aide !)	/o səˈkuʀ/	/o səku:ʁ/
Can you help me please ?	Pouvez-vous m'aider s'il vous plaît ? / Pourriez-vous m'aider s'il vous plaît ? (formal) or Peux-tu m'aider s'il te plaît ? / Pourrais-tu m'aider s'il te plaît (informal)
Where are the toilets?	Où sont les toilettes ?	/u sɔ̃ le twalɛt/	/u sɔ̃ le twa.lɛt/
Do you speak English?	Parlez-vous anglais ?	/paʀle vu ɑ̃ɡlɛ/	/paʁ le vu ɑ̃ɡ lɛ/
I do not speak French.	Je ne parle pas français.	/ʒə nə paʀlə pɑ fʀɑ̃sɛ/	/ʒə nə paʁl pa fʁɑ̃sɛ/
I don't know.	Je ne sais pas.		/ʒə (nə) se pa/
I know.	Je sais.		/ʒə sɛ/
I am thirsty.	J'ai soif. (literally, "I have thirst")		/ʒe swaf/
I am hungry.	J'ai faim. (literally, "I have hunger")		/ʒe fɛ̃/
How are you? / How are things going? / How's everything?	Comment allez-vous? (formal) or Ça va? / Comment ça va ? (informal)
I am (very) well / Things are going (very) well // Everything is (very) well	Je vais (très) bien (formal) or Ça va (très) bien. / Tout va (très) bien (informal)
I am (very) bad / Things are (very) bad / Everything is (very) bad	Je vais (très) mal (formal) or Ça va (très) mal / Tout va (très) mal (informal)
I am ok/so-so / Everything is ok/so-so	Assez bien or Ça va comme ci, comme ça or simply Ça va.. (Sometimes said: « Couci, couça. ») i. e. « Comme ci, comme ça. »)
I am fine.	Je vais bien.		/ʒə vɛ bjɛ̃/

See also

• Académie française
• Alliance française
• CRFL (CaReFuL mnemonic) — French pronunciation
• Francophonie
• French-based creole languages
• French language in Canada
• French language in the United States
• French proverbs
• French verb morphology
• French Wikipedia
• History of French
• 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 pseudo-French words adapted to English
• Louchébem
• Office québécois de la langue française
• Reforms of French orthography
• Varieties of French
• Verlan
• Quebec French
• French people

References

1. ^ ethnologue (2000). "French". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Ethnolouge.. http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=FRN.
2. ^ "[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775272.html Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World]". http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775272.html.
3. ^ "Top 30 Most Spoken Languages in the World by Number of Speakers". http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html.
4. ^ "SOYOUWANNA KNOW THE TEN MOST WIDELY SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD?". http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/toptens/languages/languages.html#para1.
5. ^ "La Journée internationale de la Francophonie". http://20mars.francophonie.org/.
6. ^ "French Wikipedia on the List of Top Languages Spoken in the World". http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langues_les_plus_parl%C3%A9es_dans_le_monde#cite_note-1.
7. ^ http://www.ambafrance-au.org/france_australie/spip.php?article2223
8. ^ http://www.france24.com/en/20081018-cheer-french-speakers-francophone-francophonie-nadeau
9. ^ http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm
10. ^ http://www.pagef30.com/2008/10/french-in-9th-place-with-200-million.html
11. ^ ethnologue (2000). "French". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Ethnolouge.. http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=FRN.
12. ^ "[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775272.html Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World]". http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775272.html.
13. ^ "Top 30 Most Spoken Languages in the World by Number of Speakers". http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html.
14. ^ "SOYOUWANNA KNOW THE TEN MOST WIDELY SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD?". http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/toptens/languages/languages.html#para1.
15. ^ "La Journée internationale de la Francophonie". http://20mars.francophonie.org/.
16. ^ "French Wikipedia on the List of Top Languages Spoken in the World". http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langues_les_plus_parl%C3%A9es_dans_le_monde#cite_note-1.
17. ^ http://www.ambafrance-au.org/france_australie/spip.php?article2223
18. ^ http://www.france24.com/en/20081018-cheer-french-speakers-francophone-francophonie-nadeau
19. ^ http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm
20. ^ http://www.pagef30.com/2008/10/french-in-9th-place-with-200-million.html
21. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (2005). "French: A language of France". Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra. Retrieved on 2008-08-29. "51,000,000 in France. Population total all countries: 64,858,311"
22. ^ ^{a b} (French) La Francophonie dans le monde 2006–2007 published by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Nathan, Paris, 2007.
23. ^ (French) Loi constitutionnelle 1992 — C'est à la loi constitutionnelle du 25 juin 1992, rédigée dans le cadre de l'intégration européenne, que l'on doit la première déclaration de principe sur le français, langue de la République.
24. ^ Van Parijs, Philippe, Professor of economic and social ethics at the UCLouvain, Visiting Professor at Harvard University and the KULeuven. "Belgium's new linguistic challenge" (pdf 0.7 MB). KVS Express (supplement to newspaper De Morgen) March–April 2006: Article from original source (pdf 4.9 MB) pages 34–36 republished by the Belgian Federal Government Service (ministry) of Economy — Directorate-general Statistics Belgium. http://www.statbel.fgov.be/studies/ac699_en.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. — The linguistic situation in Belgium (and in particular various estimations of the population speaking French and Dutch in Brussels) is discussed in detail.
25. ^ (French) "La dynamique des langues en Belgique" (pdf). Regards économiques, Publication préparée par les économistes de l'Université Catholique de Louvain (Numéro 42). June 2006. http://regards.ires.ucl.ac.be/Archives/RE042.pdf. "Les enquêtes montrent que la Flandre est bien plus multilingue, ce qui est sans doute un fait bien connu, mais la différence est considérable : alors que 59 % et 53 % des Flamands connaissent le français ou l'anglais respectivement, seulement 19 % et 17 % des Wallons connaissent le néerlandais ou l'anglais. … 95 pour cent des Bruxellois déclarent parler le français, alors que ce pourcentage tombe à 59 pour cent pour le néerlandais. Quant à l’anglais, il est connu par une proportion importante de la population à Bruxelles (41 pour cent)".
26. ^ 40%+60%*59%=75.4%
27. ^ C.F. & F.M. Voegelin. 1977. Classification and Index of the World's Languages. Elsevier. Merritt Ruhlen. 1991. A Guide to the World's Languages, Volume 1: Classification. Stanford. David Dalby. 2000. The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities. Linguasphere Observatory. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th ed. Summer Institute of Linguistics. Alan S. Kaye & Judith Rosenhouse. 1997. "Arabic Dialects and Maltese," The Semitic Languages. Ed. Robert Hetzron. Routledge. pp. 263-311.
28. ^ eurobarometer; europa; [2006-02]; retrieved on 2007-04-11.
29. ^ Source: [1], data for EU25, published before 2007 enlargement.
30. ^ http://www.regione.vda.it/turismo/la_tradizione/lingue_f.asp
31. ^ National Virtual Translation Center — Languages Spoken in the U.S.
32. ^ ^{a b} U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3 — Language Spoken at Home: 2000.
33. ^ ^{a b} Population Reference Bureau. "Eng.pdf 2007 World Population Data Sheet" (PDF). http://www.prb.org/pdf07/07WPDS Eng.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
34. ^ (French) Le français à Abidjan : Pour une approche syntaxique du non-standard by Katja Ploog, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2002.
35. ^ (French) "De plus, le français est également devenu la langue maternelle de plus de 30 % des Librevillois et il est de plus en plus perçu comme une langue gabonaise."
36. ^ (French) "En Afrique, il est impossible de parler d'une forme unique du français mais..."
37. ^ [2] "Furthermore, the demographic growth of Southern hemisphere countries leads us to anticipate a new increase in the overall number of French speakers."
38. ^ (French) http://www.cecif.com/?page=la_francophonie "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."
39. ^ (French) c) Le sabir franco-africain: "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."
40. ^ (French) République centrafricaine: 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 utilisent 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).
41. ^ French Declines in Indochina, as English Booms, International Herald Tribune, 16 October 1993: "In both Cambodia and Laos, French remains the official second language of government."
42. ^ (French) La ligature æ.
43. ^ (French) Ortofasil writing system proposal.
44. ^ (French) Ortograf.fr writing system proposal.
45. ^ (French) Ortograf.net writing system proposal.
46. ^ Walter & Walter 1998.
47. ^ (French) "Septante, octante, huitante, nonante". langue-fr.net. http://www.langue-fr.net/index/S/septante.htm. . 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.

External links

Wikiversity has learning materials about French language

French language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus

French language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia French language edition of Wikisource, the free-content library

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: French

Courses and tutorials

• French language resources and broadcasts in simplified French at Radio France Internationale (RFI) website
• Learn French BBC
• Learn French at About (including French gestures)
• Learn the basic rules of French (easy tables)
• French lessons at Target Language (extensive)
• French Language Course (basic och first (1994) online course)
• École Interculturelle de Français, French language school in France
• The French Tutorial

Online dictionaries

For unilingual dictionaries, see fr:Dictionnaire.

• English - French Dictionary
• Collins French Dictionary
• English <-> French Dictionary with gender and type of words
• Grand dictionnaire terminologique
• Le Dictionnaire
• LookWAYup French English Dictionary
• WordReference.com English-French dictionary

Vocabulary

• A Two-Page PDF Reference Guide of the 681 Most Common French/English Verbs
• French vocabulary, with audio
• Questions and answers

Audio

• Free Audio base of French Words
• French audio files of the Shtooka.net project

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