French language

"Francophone" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Francophonie.

French
français
Pronunciation [fʁɑ̃sɛ]
Native to France, now worldwide
(See geographical distribution below)
Native speakers
 80 million (2015)[1]
220 million total speakers
Early forms
Latin (French alphabet)
French Braille
Signed French
(français signé)
Official status
Official language in




Numerous international organisations

Regulated by Académie française (French Academy)
Language codes
ISO 639-1 fr
ISO 639-2 fre (B)
fra (T)
ISO 639-3 fra
Glottolog stan1290[2]
Linguasphere 51-AAA-i

  Regions where French is the main language
  Regions where it is an official language
  Regions where it is a second language
  Regions where it is a minority language

French (le français [lə fʁɑ̃sɛ] or la langue française [la lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛz]) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, as did languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan and others. French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

French is the official language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is spoken as a first language in France, southern Belgium, western Switzerland, Monaco, certain parts of Canada and the United States, and by various communities elsewhere. As of 2015, 40% of the francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.[1]

French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.[3] 1/5 of non-Francophone Europeans speak French.[4] As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast.[5] In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers,[1][6] and 190 million secondary speakers.[7] Approximately 270 million people are able to speak the language.[8] According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la francophonie, total French speakers will number approximately 500 million people in 2025 and 650 million people by 2050.[9] The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.[1]

French has a long history as an international language of commerce, diplomacy, literature, and scientific standards and is an official language of many international organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the WTO, the International Olympic Committee, and the ICRC. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Mandarin Chinese.[10]

Geographic distribution

Europe

Knowledge of French in the European Union and candidate countries[11]

Spoken by 12% of the EU population, French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, after German, English and Italian; it is also the third most widely known language of the Union, after English and German (33% of the EU population report knowing how to speak English, whilst 22% of Europeans understand German and 20% French).[3][12]

Under the Constitution of France, French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992[13] (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 (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words.

In Belgium, French is the 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 often as their primary language.[14]

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 Romandie, 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 Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais, Fribourg and Berne. French is the native language of about 20% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50.4%[15] of the population.

French is also an official language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley (Italy), while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands.

Africa

  Countries usually considered part of Francophone Africa.
Their population was 392 million in 2015 and it is forecast to reach 847 million in 2050.[16]
  Countries sometimes considered as Francophone Africa
  Countries that are not Francophone but are Members or Observers of the OIF
Main article: African French

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 countries can speak French as either a first or a second language.[5] This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language.[5] Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050.[17] French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign language).[18][19]

French is mostly a second language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast[20] and in Libreville, Gabon.[21] There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages.[22]

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.[23] It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.[24][25] Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries,[26] but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.

North and South America

The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in Canada while the English stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.

French is the second most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29.4% and the second language for 2.07 million or 6.4% of the entire population of Canada.[6] French is the sole official language in the province of Quebec, being the mother tongue for some 7 million people, or almost 80.1% (2006 Census) of the province. About 95.0% of the people of Quebec speak French as either their first or second language, and for some as their third language. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal, which is the world's second 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, comprising just under 4% of the population.[27] Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario, the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are to be available in the language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario. Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia, 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 city of Ottawa, the Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it is on the other side of a river from Quebec, opposite the major city of Gatineau, and is required to offer governmental services in French as well as English.

French language spread in the United States. Counties marked in yellow are those where 6–12% of the population speaks French at home; brown, 12–18%; red, over 18%. French-based creole languages are not included.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth[28] 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 remains the second most-spoken language in the states of Louisiana, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Louisiana is home to many distinct dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French. Cajun French has the largest number of speakers, mostly living in Acadiana. According to the 2000 United States Census, there are over 194,000 people in Louisiana who speak French at home, the most of any state if Creole French is excluded.[29] 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.[30]

French is one of Haiti's two official languages. It is the principal language of writing, school instruction, and administrative use. It is spoken by all educated Haitians and is used in the business sector. It is also used in ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations and church masses. About 70–80% of the country's population have Haitian Creole as their first language; the rest speak French as a first language. The second official language is the recently standardized Haitian Creole, which virtually the entire population of Haiti speaks. Haitian Creole is one of the French-based creole languages, drawing the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. Haitian Creole is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles.[31]

Asia

Southeast Asia

French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina, comprising modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent years.[32] 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.[33] Since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the main foreign language of choice by English. French nevertheless maintains its colonial legacy by being spoken as a second language by the elderly and elite populations and is presently being revived in higher education and continues to be a diplomatic language in Vietnam.

Middle East

Lebanon

French language in Lebanon
Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya in Lebanon.
An obsolete 100 Lebanese pound note with inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
Lebanese license plate with inscription "Liban".
French cultural center in Deir el Qamar, Lebanon

A former French colony, 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".[34] French language in Lebanon is widely used as a second language by the Lebanese people, and is taught in many schools as a secondary language along with Arabic and English. The language is also used on Lebanese pound bank notes, 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.[35] 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.[36] 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.[37] On social media, French was used on Facebook by just 10% of Lebanese in 2014, far behind English (78%).

Syria

Similarly to Lebanon, Syria was also a French colony until 1943, but the French language is largely extinct in the country and is only limited to some members of the elite and middle classes.

Israel

A significant French-speaking community is also present in Israel, primarily among the community of French Jews in Israel, Moroccan Jews in Israel, Lebanese Jews and many secondary schools offer French as a foreign language.

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates has joined the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie as an observer, and Qatar has joined as a "member state". However, in both countries French is not spoken by almost any of the general population or migrant workers, but spoken by a small minority of those who invest in Francophone countries or have other financial or family ties. Their entrance into the organisation was aided a good deal by their investments into the Organisation and France itself.[38]

Oceania and Australasia

A 500-CFP franc (€4.20; US$5.65) banknote, used in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna.

French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu where 45% of the population can speak French.[39] In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French, whereas only 1% have no knowledge of French.[40] In French Polynesia, 95% of the population can speak, read and write French, whereas only 2% have no knowledge of French.[41] In the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, 78% of the population can speak, read and write French, whereas 17% have no knowledge of French.[42]

Dialects

Dialects of the French language in the world

History

Main article: History of French

French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France.

French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations (lingua franca) in the 17th century. 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.[43][44] Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was also written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language.[45]

Current status and economic, cultural and institutional importance

French remains one of the most important diplomatic languages,[21] with the language being one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of American States, the Eurovision Song Contest the European Space Agency, World Trade Organisation and the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins sans Frontières, and Médecins du Monde.[46] Given the demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, Forbes released an article in 2014 which claimed that French "could be the language of the future".[47]

French is a court language. It is one of the official languages of the main international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies such 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, the World Trade Organization Appellate Body, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights.[48]

In 1997, George Werber published in Language Today a comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages".[49] In his article, Werber ranked French as being the second – after English – most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish.[49] His criteria were not solely the numbers of native speakers, but also included the number of secondary speakers (which tends to be specially high for French among fellow world languages); the economic power of the countries using the language; the number of major areas in which the language is used; the number of countries using the language, and their respective population; and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Werber highlighted in particular that French benefits from a considerable linguistic prestige).[49] In 2008, Werber reassessed his article, and concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged."[49]

Knowledge of French is widely considered to be a crucial skill for 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%).[50]

Phonology

Main article: French phonology

Although there are many French regional accents, foreign learners normally use only one variety of the language.

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:

Writing system

Alphabet

Main articles: French alphabet and French braille

French is written with the 26 letters of the basic Latin script, with four diacritics appearing on vowels (circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis) and the cedilla appearing in "ç".

There are two ligatures, "œ" and "æ", but it is not usually used now because of the French official keyboard. Yet, they cannot be changed for "oe" and "ae" in formal and literary texts. "æ" is sometimes replaced with "é" (from Latin loanwords, like "ténia" not "tænia").

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 (see Vocabulary below). Moreover, some conscious changes were made to restore Latin orthography (as with some English words such as "debt"):

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.

On the other hand, a given spelling usually leads to a predictable sound. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme.

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) by 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

Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail to gather interest.[51][52][53][54]

In 1990, a reform accepted some changes.

Grammar

Main article: French grammar

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

French declarative word order is subject–verb–object although a pronoun object precedes the verb. Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular inversion of the subject and verb like "Parlez-vous français?" when asking a question rather than just "Vous parlez français?" Both questions mean the same thing; however, a rising inflection is always used on both of them whenever asking a question, especially on the second one. Specifically, the first translates into "Do you speak French?" while the second one is literally just "You speak French?" To avoid inversion while asking a question, 'Est-ce que' (literally 'is it that') may be placed in the beginning of the sentence. "Parlez-vous français?" may become "Est-ce que vous parlez français?"

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:

However a historical tendency to gallicise Latin roots can be identified, whereas English conversely leans towards a more direct incorporation of the Latin:

There are also noun-noun and adjective-adjective pairs:

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

More recently the linguistic policy of the French language academies of France and Quebec has been to provide French equivalents[55] 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, with varying rates of success for the French equivalent.

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 Slavic languages and Baltic languages, 10 from Basque and 144 (about 3%) from other languages.[56]

One study analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin estimated that among the languages analyzed French has the greatest distance from Latin.[57] Lexical similarity is 89% with Italian, 80% with Sardinian, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, and 75% with Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese.[58][59][58]

Numerals

The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty (vingt) is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 60 to 99.

The French word for 80 is quatre-vingts, literally "four twenties", and the word for 75 is soixante-quinze, literally "sixty-fifteen". This reform arose after the French Revolution to unify the different counting systems (mostly vigesimal near the coast, because of Celtic (via Breton) and Viking influences).

This system is comparable to the archaic English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70).

In Old French (during the Middle Ages), 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.[60]

Belgian French, Swiss French, Aostan French[61] and the French used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi are different in this respect.

In Belgium, Switzerland and in the Aosta Valley, 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,[62] while in the Aosta Valley 80 is huitante.[61] In Belgium and in its former African colonies, however, quatre-vingts is universally used.

It should also be noted that French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate thousands[63] 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.

Units

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

After Twenty, numbers use base ten logic (vingt et un, vingt-deux, vingt-trois...)

Tens

Cardinal numbers in French, by tens from 10 to 100, are as follows:

After One hundred, numbers use base ten logic (cent dix, cent vingt, cent trente...)

Hundreds

Cardinal numbers in French, by hundreds from 100 to 2000, are as follow:

After deux mille (2000), only the second option is used (deux mille cent, deux mille deux cents, deux mille trois cents...)

The words vingt and cent take the plural -s only when they are the last word of the number: quatre-vingts (eighty) and quatre-vingt-un (eighty-one), cinq cents (five hundreds) and cinq cent trente (five hundreds and thirty). When a number using vingt or cent is used as an ordinal numeral adjective, the words vingt or cent stay unchanged[68]

Scales[lower-alpha 8]

Cardinal numbers in French, by exponentiation points, from 100 to 1020, are as follow:

Notes

  1. ↑ It has been suggested that Nine and New homophonographs are related and that it would be an unusual preservation of the octal number system speculated to be formerly used in proto-Indo-European language, though the evidence supporting this is slim.[64]
  2. ↑ Septante is used in Belgium and in Switzerland. Its use is dated in Eastern France and archaic elsewhere in France.
  3. ↑ Huitante is used in Vaud, Valais, Fribourg, archaic in France.
  4. ↑ Octante is used, but dated, in Romandie and in Southern France. Its use is archaic in other parts of France.
  5. ↑ Nonante is used in Belgium, Switzerland and, dated, in Eastern France, archaic in other parts of France.
  6. ↑ Formerly singular of the now invariable mille, mil is now only used in formal documents to write dates between mil un (1001) and mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (1999).[65]
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 While both styles are correct and concurrently used, numbers above mille and under deux mille are usually counted by hundreds from onze cents up to seize cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf and are then indifferently counted both styles[66] in informal language while the count by adding hundreds to one thousand, like in mille cent, mille six cents, is favoured in written language, especially in juridical, administrative and scientific works.[67]
  8. ↑ Nota Bene that English use the short scale while French use the long scale.

Words

English French Quebec accent Touraine accent
French Français (people) or français (language)  [fʁ̥ãsɛ]  [fʁ̥ɒ̃sɛ]
English Anglais (people) or anglais (language)  [ãɡlɛ]  [ɒ̃ɡlɛ]
Yes Oui (si when countering an assertion or a question expressed in the negative)  [wi]  [wi]
No Non  [nɔ̃]  [nõ]
Hello! Bonjour ! (formal) or Salut ! (informal) or "Allô" (Quebec French or when answering on the telephone) [bõʒuːʁ]  [bõʒuʁ]
Good evening! Bonsoir ! [bõswɑːʁ]  [bõswaʁ]
Good night! Bonne nuit ! [bɔn nɥi]  [bʌn nɥi]
Goodbye! Au revoir !  [ɔʁvwɑːʁ]  [oʁ(ø)vwaʁ]
Have a nice day! Bonne journée !  [bɔn ʒuʁne]  [bʌn ʒuʁne]
Please/if you please S’il vous plaît (formal) or S’il te plaît (informal)  [sɪl vu plɛ]  [sil vu plɛ]
Thank you Merci [mɛʁsi]  [mɛʁ̥si]
You are welcome De rien (informal) or Ce n’est rien (informal) ("it is nothing") or Je vous en prie (formal) or Je t’en prie (informal) or Bienvenue (Quebec) [də ʁjẽ]  [dœ ʁjæ̃]
I am sorry Pardon or Désolé or Je suis désolé (if male) / Je suis désolée (if female) or Excuse-moi (informal) / Excusez-moi (formal) / "Je regrette"  [paʁdɒ̃] /  [dezɔle]  [paʁdõ] /  [dezɔle]
Who? Qui ?  [ki]  [ki]
What? Quoi ? (←informal; used as "What?" in English) or Pardon ? (←formal; used the same as "Excuse me?" in English) [kwa]  [kwa]
When? Quand ?  [kæ̃]  [kɒ̃]
Where? Où ? [u]  [u]
Why? Pourquoi ?  [puʁ̥kwa]  [puʁ̥kwa]
What is your name? Comment vous appelez-vous ? (formal) or Comment t’appelles-tu ? (informal) [kɔmã vu z‿aple vu], [kɔmã t‿apɛl t͡sy]  [kɔmɒ̃ vu z‿aple vu],  [kɔmɒ̃ t‿apɛl t͡sy]
My name is... Je m'appelle...  [ʒø mapɛl]
Which Quel/Quels(pl.)/Quelle(fem.) [kɛl] [kɛl]
Because Parce que / Car  [paʁ̥skœ]  [paʁ̥s(ø)kø]
Because of À cause de [a kou̯z dœ]  [a koz dø]
Therefore, Donc [dõːk]  [dõk]
Maybe Peut-être  [pœt‿aɪ̯tʀ̥]  [pøt‿ɛtʁ̥]
How? Comment ? [kɔmã]  [kɔmɒ̃]
How much? Combien ? [kõbjẽ]  [kõbjæ̃]
I do not understand. Je ne comprends pas.  [ʒœ nœ kõpʁ̥ã pɔ]  [ʒø nø kõpʁ̥ɒ̃ 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 ʒœ kõpʁ̥ã]  [wi ʒø kõpʁ̥ɒ̃]
I agree Je suis d’accord. "D’accord" can be used without je suis. [ʒə sɥi dakɑɔ̯ʁ] [ʒø sɥi dakɔʁ]
Help! Au secours ! (à l’aide !)  [o skuːʁ]  [o søkuːʁ]
At what time...? À quelle heure...? [a kɛl aœ̯ʁ] [a kɛl œʁ]
Today Aujourd'hui [oʒuʁd͡zɥi] [oʒuʁdɥi]
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) [puve vu mɛːde sɪl vu plɛ] [puve vu mede sil vu plɛ]
Where are the toilets? Où sont les toilettes ? [u sõ le twalɛt]  [u sõ le twalɛt]
Do you speak English? Parlez-vous (l')anglais ? / Est-ce que vous parlez (l')anglais ?  [ɛs kœ vu paʁle lãɡlɛ]  [paʁle vu ɒ̃ɡlɛ]
I do not speak French. Je ne parle pas français. [ʒœ nœ paʁl pɔ fʁãsɛ] [ʒø nø paʁl pa fʁɒ̃sɛ]
I do not know. Je sais pas. (syntax mistake[69] and over-familiar[70])
Je ne sais pas.
Je ne sais. (formal, rare)		  [ʒœ se pɔ]
[ʒœ n(œ) se pɔ]
[ʒœ n(œ) se] 		[ʒø sɛ pa]
[ʒø n(ø) sɛ pa]
[ʒø n(ø) sɛ]
I know. Je sais. [ʒœ se] [ʒø sɛ]
I am thirsty. J’ai soif. (literally, "I have thirst") [ʒe swaf] [ʒe swaf]
I am hungry. J’ai faim. (literally, "I have hunger") [ʒe fẽ] [ʒɛ fæ̃]
How are you? / How are things going? / How is everything? Comment allez-vous ? (formal) or Ça va ? / Comment ça va ? (informal) [kɔmã t‿ale vu] [kɔmɒ̃ t‿ale vu]
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) [ʒœ vɛ (tʁɛ) bjẽ] [ʒø vɛ (tʁɛ) bjæ̃]
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) [ʒœ vɛ (tʁɛ) mal] [ʒø vɛ (tʁɛ) mal]
I am all right/so-so / Everything is all right/so-so Assez bien or Ça va comme ci, comme ça or simply Ça va.. (Sometimes said: « Couci, couça. », informal: "bof") i.e. « Comme ci, comme ça. ») [ase bjẽ] [ase bjæ̃]
I am fine. Ça va bien. [sa vɔ bjẽ] [sa va bjæ̃]
(How) may I help you? / Do you need help? / We need help! (Comment) puis-je vous aider ? Avez-vous besoin d'aide ? Nous avons besoin d'aide ! [(kɔmã) pɥiʒ vu z‿ɛːde] [(kɔmɑ̃) pɥiʒ vu z‿ede]

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The status of French in the world". Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Standard French". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. 1 2 European Commission (June 2012), "Europeans and their Languages" (PDF), Special Eurobarometer 386 (Europa), p. 5, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-06, retrieved 7 September 2014
  4. ↑ "Why Learn French".
  5. 1 2 3 (French) La Francophonie dans le monde 2006–2007 published by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Nathan, Paris, 2007.
  6. 1 2 "Qu'est-ce que la Francophonie?".
  7. ↑ "The World's Most Widely Spoken Languages".
  8. ↑ "French language is on the up, report reveals".
  9. ↑ "Agora: La francophonie de demain". Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  10. ↑ Lauerman, John (30 August 2011). "Mandarin Chinese Most Useful Business Language After English". Bloomberg Business (New York). Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. French, spoken by 68 million people worldwide and the official language of 27 countries, was ranked second [to Mandarin].
  11. ↑ EUROPA, data for EU25, published before 2007 enlargement.
  12. ↑ "Language knowledge in Europe".
  13. ↑ Novoa, Cristina; Moghaddam, Fathali M. (2014). "Applied Perspectives: Policies for Managing Cultural Diversity". In Benet-Martínez, Verónica; Hong, Ying-Yi. The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity. Oxford Library of Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 468. ISBN 978-0-19-979669-4. LCCN 2014006430. OCLC 871965715. It is important to note, however, that not all countries have an official language. Until 1992, France had discouraged the use of regional languages ... in schools and businesses, but had stopped short of making an official language declaration. In 1992, the government ratified ... a constitutional amendment that made French the sole official language of the Republic ...
  14. ↑ 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. Retrieved 5 May 2007. – The linguistic situation in Belgium (and in particular various estimates of the population speaking French and Dutch in Brussels) is discussed in detail.
  15. ↑ Le français et les langues ... – Google Books. Books.google.com. 1 January 2007. ISBN 978-2-87747-881-6. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  16. ↑ United Nations. "World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision" (XLS). Retrieved 2015-08-23.
  17. ↑ "French language growing, especially in Africa – Francophonie – RFI". Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  18. ↑ "Agora: La francophonie de demain". Retrieved 2011-06-13.
  19. ↑ "Bulletin de liaison du réseau démographie" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-06-14.
  20. ↑ (French) Le français à Abidjan : Pour une approche syntaxique du non-standard by Katja Ploog, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2002.
  21. 1 2 "L’aménagement linguistique dans le monde". CEFAN (Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d’expression française en Amérique du Nord, Université Laval (in French). Jacques Leclerc. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  22. ↑ (French) "En Afrique, il est impossible de parler d'une forme unique du français mais..."
  23. ↑ France-Diplomatie "Furthermore, the demographic growth of Southern hemisphere countries leads us to anticipate a new increase in the overall number of French speakers."
  24. ↑ (French) "Le français, langue en évolution. Dans beaucoup de pays francophones, surtout sur le continent africain, une proportion importante de la population ne parle pas couramment le français (même s'il est souvent la langue officielle du pays). Ce qui signifie qu'au fur et à mesure que les nouvelles générations vont à l'école, le nombre de francophones augmente : on estime qu'en 2015, ceux-ci seront deux fois plus nombreux qu'aujourd'hui."
  25. ↑ (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."
  26. ↑ (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).
  27. ↑ "Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) (2006 Census)". 2.statcan.ca. December 7, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  28. ↑ Language Use in the United States: 2011, American Community Survey Reports, Camille Ryan, Issued August 2013
  29. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3 – Language Spoken at Home: 2000.
  30. ↑ Ammon, Ulrich; International Sociological Association (1989). Status and Function of Languages and Language Varieties. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 306–308. ISBN 0-89925-356-3. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  31. ↑ Ministère de l'Éducation nationale
  32. ↑ 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."
  33. ↑ "The role of English in Vietnam's foreign language policy: A brief history". The role of English in Vietnam's foreign language policy: A brief history.
  34. ↑ Prof. Dr. Axel Tschentscher, LL.M. "Article 11 of the Lebanese Constitution". Servat.unibe.ch. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  35. ↑ OIF 2014, p. 217.
  36. ↑ OIF 2014, p. 218.
  37. ↑ OIF 2014, p. 358.
  38. ↑
  39. ↑ Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. "Estimation du nombre de francophones dans le monde1" (PDF). Retrieved 3 October 2009.
  40. ↑ INSEE, Government of France. "P9-1 – Population de 14 ans et plus selon la connaissance du français, le sexe, par commune, "zone" et par province de résidence" (XLS) (in French). Retrieved 3 October 2009.
  41. ↑ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF). "Recensement 2007 – Langues : Chiffres clés" (in French). Archived from the original on 8 September 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2009.
  42. ↑ INSEE, Government of France. "Tableau Pop_06_1 : Population selon le sexe, la connaissance du français et l'âge décennal" (XLS) (in French). Retrieved 3 October 2009.
  43. ↑ The World's 10 Most Influential Languages Top Languages. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  44. ↑ The French language today: a linguistic introductionGoogle Books Retrieved 27 June 2011
  45. ↑ Meisler, Stanley. "Seduction Still Works : French—a Language in Decline." Los Angeles Times. March 1, 1986. p. 2. Retrieved on May 18, 2013.
  46. ↑ The French Ministry of Foreign affairs. "France-Diplomatie - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development". France Diplomatie :: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development.
  47. ↑ Want To Know The Language Of The Future? The Data Suggests It Could Be...French, Forbes, March, 21st of 2014
  48. ↑ On the Linguistic Design of Multinational Courts—The French Capture, forthcoming in 14 INT’L J. CONST. L. (2016), Mathilde Cohen
  49. 1 2 3 4 The World's 10 most influential languages, George Werber, 1997, Language Today, retrieved on scribd.com
  50. ↑ Foreign languages 'shortfall' for business, CBI says, Judith Burns, BBC News, 22 June 2014
  51. ↑ (French) Fonétik.fr writing system proposal.
  52. ↑ (French) Ortofasil writing system proposal.
  53. ↑ (French) Alfograf writing system proposal.
  54. ↑ (French) Ortograf.net writing system proposal.
  55. ↑ metrowebukmetro (1 October 2012). "French fight franglais with alternatives for English technology terms - Metro News". Metro.
  56. ↑ Walter & Walter 1998.
  57. ↑ Pei, Mario (1949). Story of Language. ISBN 03-9700-400-1.
  58. 1 2 Ethnologue report for language code:ita (Italy) – Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version
  59. ↑ Brincat (2005)
  60. ↑ Einhorn, E. (1974). Old French: A Concise Handbook. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 110. ISBN 0-521-09838-6.
  61. 1 2 Jean-Pierre Martin, Description lexicale du français parlé en Vallée d'Aoste, éd. Musumeci, Quart, 1984.
  62. ↑ "Septante, octante (huitante), nonante". langue-fr.net (in French).. 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.
  63. ↑ "Questions de langue: Nombres (écriture, lecture, accord)" (in French). Académie française. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015. Dans un souci de lisibilité, on sépare les milliers par une espace insécable dans les nombres exprimant une quantité : 1 000 m, 342 234 euros, 1 234 °C, etc.
    En revanche, dans les nombres ayant fonction de numérotage (pages, dates, articles de code), les chiffres ne sont jamais séparés :     la page 1254 de l’édition de 1992 ; l’article 1246 du Code civil.
    La virgule (et non le point comme chez les anglo‑saxons) sépare la partie entière de la partie décimale :     π vaut environ 3,14 ; 14,5 est la moitié de 29.
  64. ↑ Winter, Werner (1991). "Some thoughts about Indo-European numerals". In Gvozdanović, Jadranka. Indo-European numerals. Trends in Linguistics 57. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 13–14. ISBN 3-11-011322-8. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  65. ↑ "Questions de langue: ‘An deux mil’ ou ‘an deux mille’?" (in French). Académie française. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015. L’Académie n’admet (et ne privilégie) la variante mil de mille, dans les dates, que lorsque le numéral au singulier est suivi d’un ou plusieurs autres nombres.
  66. ↑ Lexique des règles typographiques en usage à l'imprimerie nationale (in French) (6th ed.). Paris: Imprimerie nationale. March 2011. p. 41. ISBN 978-2-7433-0482-9. Au-delà de mille, on compte habituellement : ↲ onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize cents ↲ plutôt que : ↲ mille cent, mille deux cents, mille trois cents... ↲ mais on emploiera indifféremment : ↲ dix-sept cents ou mille sept cents...
  67. ↑ "Questions de langue: Nombres (écriture, lecture, accord)" (in French). Académie française. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015. Pour les dates (et les nombres en général) entre 1000 et 2000, il y a concurrence entre deux lectures : mille six cent trente‑cinq ou seize cent trente‑cinq.
    Aucune de ces formes ne peut être considérée comme fautive. Cependant, dans l’usage courant, on dit plutôt     onze cents, douze cents, etc. : onze cents francs, seize cents euros, tandis que dans la langue écrite, et notamment dans un texte juridique, administratif ou scientifique, on préférera les formes : mille cent, mille deux cents, etc.
  68. ↑ "Questions de langue: Nombres (écriture, lecture, accord)" (in French). Académie française. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015. Vingt et cent se terminent par un s quand ils sont précédés d’un nombre qui les multiplie, mais ils restent invariables s’ils sont suivis d’un autre nombre ou de mille. On dira ainsi : deux cents euros mais deux cent vingt euros ; quatre‑vingts hommes mais quatre‑vingt‑deux hommes. Ils restent également invariables lorsqu’ils sont employés comme adjectifs numéraux ordinaux : page deux cent ; page quatre‑vingt ; l’an mille neuf cent.
    En revanche, vingt et cent varient devant millier, million, milliard, qui sont des noms et non des adjectifs numéraux : deux cents millions d’années ; trois cents milliers d’habitants.
  69. ↑ "Ne". Dire, Ne pas dire. Académie française. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2014. On néglige trop souvent de faire entendre l’adverbe ne, en faisant de pas l’unique marque de négation : Je veux pas, je sais pas. Cette habitude, répandue dans le langage parlé, est une véritable faute.
  70. ↑ "Pas". Trésor de la langue française informatisé. Analyse et traitement informatique de la langue française. Retrieved 30 May 2014. − Pop. ou très fam. [Avec suppression de ne]

Further reading

External links

For a list of words relating to French language, see the French language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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