The World of Languages · Indo-European
French · français
Official on five continents: the language of diplomacy, cuisine and the Francophonie, spoken by more learners than natives.
- 75 million native speakers
- 334 million speakers in total
- Latin script
- FSI Category I · 30 weeks
- Official in 45 countries
Where French is spoken
Tap or hover over a country. Colours show the language's status, based on Unicode CLDR territory data (population estimates mix sources and years).
Top countries by speakers
- FranceOfficial language · 68M (99%)
- Cameroon · CamerounOfficial language · 21M (68%)
- MadagascarOfficial language · 20M (69%)
- United Kingdom · Royaume-UniWidely spoken · 16M (23%)
- Germany · AllemagneWidely spoken · 15M (18%)
- Côte d’IvoireOfficial language · 15M (49%)
- CanadaOfficial language · 12M (30%)
- MaliOfficial language · 10M (46%)
- Algeria · AlgérieOfficial language · 9.4M (20%)
- Tunisia · TunisieOfficial language · 8.9M (74%)
- BurundiOfficial language · 8M (59%)
- NigerOfficial language · 7.6M (29%)
Key numbers
- Native (L1) speakers
- 75 million
- Second-language (L2) speakers
- 258 million
- Total speakers
- 334 million
- Source
- Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia
French at a glance
French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, French and its closest relatives—the langues d'oïl, historically spoken in northern France and southern Belgium—descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. It was influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the Germanic Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Over time, French largely supplanted most regional Romance varieties across France, Belgium and Switzerland. As a result of French and later Belgian colonialism, it was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole, were developed. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
From the Wikipedia article French language (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Name in French
- français
- Family
- Indo-EuropeanClassical Indo-EuropeanItalicLatino-FaliscanLatinicImperial LatinRomanceItalo-Western RomanceWestern RomanceShifted Western RomanceNorthwestern Shifted RomanceGallo-RhaetianOilCentral OilMacro-FrenchGlobal French
- Writing system
- Latin alphabet with accents (é, è, ê, à, ç, ô and others)
- Direction
- Left to right
- Official in
- France, Cameroon, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire, Canada, Mali, Algeria, Tunisia, Burundi, Niger, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, Benin, Congo - Brazzaville, Burkina Faso, Chad, Belgium, Congo - Kinshasa, Guinea, Central African Republic, Switzerland, Gabon, Syria, Réunion, Luxembourg, Haiti, Comoros, Martinique, Guadeloupe, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Vanuatu, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, Mayotte, Seychelles, Mauritius, St. Martin, Monaco, Djibouti, Wallis & Futuna, St. Barthélemy, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Rwanda
- Codes
- ISO 639-3
fra· Glottologstan1290· Q150 - Writing sample
Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…”
Linguistic profile
How hard is French for English speakers?
The US Foreign Service Institute puts French in Category I: about 30 weeks (750 class hours) of full-time study to reach professional working proficiency.
Source: FSI language learning timelines. See all languages ranked: hardest · easiest.
Feature values from the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS Online, CC BY 4.0).
The French script
Latin alphabet with accents (é, è, ê, à, ç, ô and others). Tap a character to hear it (your device reads the letter name or sound).
Standard letters from Unicode CLDR exemplar characters.
Useful French phrases with pronunciation
Numbers 1–10
- un
- deux
- trois
- quatre
- cinq
- six
- sept
- huit
- neuf
- dix
Days of the week
- Mon lundi
- Tue mardi
- Wed mercredi
- Thu jeudi
- Fri vendredi
- Sat samedi
- Sun dimanche
Everyday words
- water eau
- cat chat
- dog chien
- coffee café
- beer bière
- bread pain
- book livre
Phrases and words checked against Wiktionary; days and months from Unicode CLDR. Audio uses your browser's built-in French voice when available.
Dialects and varieties
Metropolitan French
France
The standard taught to learners; “soixante-dix” for seventy and “quatre-vingt-dix” for ninety.
Belgian and Swiss French
Belgium and Switzerland
Simpler numbers: septante (70) and nonante (90). Many Swiss speakers also say huitante (80).
Québécois
Quebec, Canada
“C’est le fun!”, “char” for car, “magasiner” for to go shopping; English loans are often avoided (e.g. “courriel” for email).
African French
West and Central Africa
According to the OIF (the organisation of French-speaking countries), most people who use French every day now live in Africa. Local coinages such as “essencerie” (petrol station, in Senegal) are common.
Hear the dialects
Fun words, untranslatables and false friends
dépaysement
The disorienting feeling of being away from your home country.
flâneur
Someone who strolls through a city, observing it.
retrouvailles
The happiness of meeting someone again after a long time.
esprit de l'escalier
“Staircase wit”: thinking of the perfect reply only after the conversation is over.
False friends for English speakers
| French | Looks like | Actually means |
|---|---|---|
| librairie | library | bookshop |
| actuellement | actually | currently |
| déception | deception | disappointment |
| préservatif | preservative | condom |
Curious facts
- The Académie française, founded in 1635, is the official guardian of the French language.
- French has many silent final letters: “ils parlent” (they speak) sounds just like “il parle” (he speaks).
- After the Norman Conquest of 1066, Norman French was the language of England's court for about 300 years, which flooded English with French words.
- French is an official language of 29 countries and of the UN, EU, International Olympic Committee and many more organisations.
- In France, 70 is “soixante-dix” (sixty-ten) and 80 is “quatre-vingts” (four twenties), a trace of counting in twenties.
Famous French-speaking voices
Singers & musicians
Writers & poets
Film & TV
Other famous figures
Descriptions from Wikidata; photos from Wikimedia Commons under the licences shown.
French culture now
Amélie
2001 film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Lupin (French TV series)
French mystery thriller television series
The Intouchables
2011 French film by Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
Asterix
Series of French comic albums
Call My Agent!
French comedy-drama television series
The Little Prince
1943 novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Learn French on YouTube
Free lessons from teachers and channels with French courses. Videos load only when you press play.
The story of the language
Quick quiz: how well do you know French?
Where to learn French
Learn French
LangMagic's guide to learning French.
LangMagicFrench Content Portal
French videos, with smooth progress from teachers' channels to native content.
LangMagicThe Endless Book
Read text you can understand, in the style of your favourite author and genre. About 30 languages.
LangMagicLangMagic Speak
Speaking lessons built around your topics, from materials you choose.
LangMagicLangMagic Meet
A virtual meeting platform built for language lessons, with follow-up exercises.
FreeWikivoyage French phrasebook
Free travel phrasebook with pronunciation guide
FreeWikibooks: French
Free, open textbook
FreeOmniglot: French
Script, pronunciation and useful phrases
FreeWiktionary: French dictionary
Free multilingual dictionary
Sources
- Speaker numbers: Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia.
- Countries, populations, alphabets, days and months: Unicode CLDR 46.
- Classification: Glottolog 5.3. Grammar features: WALS Online.
- Introduction: Wikipedia, French language (CC BY-SA 4.0). People and culture: Wikipedia and Wikidata. Images: Wikimedia Commons.
- Writing sample: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, from the Unicode UDHR collection. Phrases and words: Wiktionary. Difficulty: US Foreign Service Institute.
- Map: Natural Earth via world-atlas (public domain).