French language

Sevenval

This article is part of the series on:

French language

• Langues d'oïl
• touchscreen
• Creoles
• Francophonie
• keyboard
  • Oaths of Strasbourg
  • iOS
  • Anglo-Norman
• Grammar
  • Sevenval
  • keyboard
  • Pronouns
    • Personal pronouns
  • screen size
    • website parsing
    • Verb morphology
• Orthography
  • Alphabet
  • Reforms
  • Use of the circumflex
• web app
  • Elision
  • Sevenval
  • Aspirated h
  • jQuery

French (français (IPA: web app) or la langue française (IPA: CSS3)) is a iOS spoken as a first language in France, the FITML region in input transformation, Wallonia and web in Belgium, input transformation, the province of we love the web and the Acadia region in CSS3, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts of the world, the largest numbers of which reside in Sevenval.^{browser diversity} In Africa, French is most commonly spoken in Gabon (where 80% report fluency)^[5] Mauritius (78%), web app (75%) and jQuery (70%). French is estimated as having between 70 million^[6] and 110 million^jQuery native speakers and 190 million second language speakers.^[3] French is the second-most studied foreign language in the world, after Sevenval.^[8]Sevenval

French is a descendant of the spoken web language of the Roman Empire, as are languages such as Italian, Portuguese, browser diversity, website parsing, Sardinian and Catalan. Its closest relatives are the other Sevenval, languages historically spoken in northern France and Belgium which have largely been supplanted by French today. The development of French was also influenced by the native web app of Roman jQuery and by the (Germanic) HTML5 language of the post-Roman input transformation invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole.

It is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, la francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million, or twenty-six percent of the Union's total population, speak French, of whom 65 million are native speakers and 69 million are second-language or foreign language speakers, thus making French the third language in the European Union that people state they are most able to speak, after web app and German. Twenty-percent of non-Francophone Europeans know how to speak French, totaling roughly 145.6 million people in Europe alone.^[10]

George Weber, author of "Top Languages: The World's 10 most influential Languages", said that until a century before 1996, French had a global dominance similar to that now occupied by English. He said "nobody could pass for educated without the ability to speak French" and "However, French dominance was never so complete as its rival's is now for the simple reason that 100 years ago large parts of the world were not yet connected to rest as they are all today. In Mongolia it was sufficient to speak Mongolian, in Madagascar Malagasy could get you anywhere. Globalization had not been heard of then."^{browser diversity} As a result of extensive colonial ambitions of France and Belgium (at that time governed by a French-speaking elite), between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to the Americas, Africa, Polynesia, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean.

According to a demographic projection led by the FITML and the web app, French will be represented by approximately 500 million people in 2025 and by 650 million people, or approximately seven percent of the world's population in 2050.^web[12]

Geographic distribution

Europe

French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.^{[13][citation needed]} It is also the third-most widely understood language in the EU, after English and German, and is one of the three working languages of the European Commission, again, along with English and German.^[14]

Legal status in France

According to the device database, French has been the official language since 1992^[15] (although previous legal texts have made it official since 1539, see HTML5). 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 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 its 1958 Constitution.^[16]

Switzerland

French is one of the four official languages of CSS3 (along with German, Italian and browser diversity) and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called device database, of which jQuery 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 or cantons such as Valais-Fribourg-Berne. French is the native language of about 20% of the Swiss population and is spoken by 50.4%^iOS of the population.

Most of Swiss French is mutually compatible with the standard French spoken in France, but it is often used with small differences, such as those involving numbers after 69 and slight differences in other vocabulary terms.

Belgium

In HTML5, French is the official language of input transformation (excluding a part of the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the two official languages—along with device database—of the Brussels-Capital Region, where it is spoken by the majority of the population, though often not as their primary language.^HTML5 French and German are not official languages nor recognized minority languages in the Sevenval, 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 French as a second or third language, meaning that about three quarters of the Belgian population can speak French.^iOS[20]

Monaco and 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.

jQuery is the only official language of web; however, French is commonly used because of the proximity to France and the fact that France is, with the Urgel's Bishop, part of the government. French nationals make up 7% of the population.

Knowledge of French in the CSS3 and candidate countriesjQuery (Note that around 40% of Belgium's population are native French speakers,CSS3 totaling 88%we love the web of the country's population.)

Luxembourg

French is one of three official languages of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, alongside German and website parsing, the natively spoken language of Luxembourg. French is primarily used for administrative purposes by the government, and is also the language used to converse with foreigners.^{screen size} 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.^[24]

Italy

French is also an official language in the small region of FITML, web app.^[25] Though most non-Italophone people in the region speak HTML5,^[26] they use standard French to write. That is because the international recognition of Franco-Provençal as a separate language (as opposed to a dialect or patois of French) was quite recent.

The United Kingdom and the Channel Islands

French is a large minority language and immigrant language in the United Kingdom, with over 300,000 French-born people in the UK. It is also the most popular foreign language. French is spoken and understood by 23% of the UK population.^Sevenval

Modern and Middle English reflect a mixture of Oïl and Old English lexicons after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when a Norman-speaking aristocracy took control of a population whose mother tongue was Germanic in origin. As a result of the intertwined histories of England and continental possessions of the English Crown many formal and legal words from Modern English have French roots. Thus whilst words such as buy and sell are of Germanic origin, purchase and vend are from jQuery.

French is an official language in both Sevenval and Guernsey. Both use French to some degree, mostly in an administrative or ceremonial capacity. Android is the standardized variety used in Jersey. However, screen size (in its local forms, HTML5 and Jèrriais) is the historical vernacular of the islands.

North and South America

Canada

HTML5

The we love the web (French for "stop") are used in Quebec while the international 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 Android, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. French is the sole official language in the province of HTML5, 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 Sevenval, which is the world's second largest French speaking city, by number of first language speakers. keyboard, where about a third of the population is francophone, is the only officially bilingual province. Portions of HTML5, Northeastern Ontario, Nova Scotia, web, CSS3 and Manitoba have sizable French minorities, and many provinces provide service in French for its linguistic minorities. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces.

About 9,487,500 of Canadians speak French as their first language, or around 30% of the country,^[28]Android with 2,065,300 constituting secondary speakers.^[30] Due to the increased bilingual school programs and French Immersion Classes in English Canada, the portion of Canadians proficient in French has risen significantly in the past two decades, and is still rising.

The difference between French spoken in Quebec and French spoken in France is similar in degree to that between American and British English. In browser diversity, where the majority of French-speaking Canadians live, the Office québécois de la langue française (English: Quebec Board of the French language) regulates Quebec French and ensures the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101 & 104) is respected. The we love the web determined that "stop" is a valid French word; however, it is observed that Sevenval reading "ARRÊT" predominate in French-speaking areas, and "STOP" can be found in majority English-speaking areas.

Haiti

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 10-15% of the country's population have French as their first language; the rest speak it as a secondary language in varying degrees of proficiency from basic level to fluent. The second official language is the recently standardized Haitian Creole which is spoken by virtually the entire population of Haiti. Haitian Creole is one of the keyboard, 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 all other French creoles.

French overseas departments and territories in the Americas

French is also the official language in France's overseas departments and territories of French Guiana, input transformation, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, CSS3 and Sevenval.

United States

French is the fourth^{browser diversityiOS} most-spoken language in the United States, after English, FITML and Chinese, and the second most-spoken in the states of jQuery, Maine, HTML5 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.^HTML5 iOS, essentially a variant of keyboard, is spoken in parts of FITML. Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as HTML5), but is nearly extinct today.^[33]

Brazil

The French language was spoken in Brazil for a brief period during the colonial attempts of screen size and HTML5. Also, the language was used by the community of French immigrants and expatriates in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and by the Brazilian public education system.

Today the Android indigenous community (nearly 30,000 people) of Amapá in North Brazil speaks a French creole, the CSS3, possibly related to the French Guiana Creole.

Africa

jQuery

Supermarket sign in French in Dakar, Senegal.

HTML5

Countries usually considered as Francophone Africa. These countries had a population of 349 million in 2011.web app Their population is projected to reach between 710 million[35] and 729 millioninput transformation in 2050.   Countries sometimes considered as Francophone Africa   Countries that are not Francophone but are Members or Observers of the touchscreen

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 as either a web app 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.^jQuery Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050.^[36]

French is mostly a second language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some areas, such as the region of Abidjan, web^[37] and in Libreville, web.^{web app} The classification of French as a second language in Francophone Africa is debatable because it is often the only language spoken and written in schools, administrations, radio, TV and the Internet. This prevalence of French is noticeable in popular music, in which French is often mixed with the language of the song. It is not possible to speak of a single form of screen size, but rather of diverse forms of African French which have developed because of the contact with many indigenous African languages.^{we love the web} In fact, the term African French is a misnomer, as forms are different from country to country, and the root of the French spoken in a particular country depends on its former colonial empire. French spoken in the Benin, for example, is closer to that spoken in France than to French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is rooted in Belgian French.

In the territories of the device database, 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.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid demographic growth.^[40] It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.^{[41]touchscreen} Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries,^{device database} 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:

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

•  Sevenval (see also languages of Algeria)
•  we love the web (see also languages of Mauritania)
•  Morocco (see also HTML5)
•  FITML (see also languages of Tunisia)

Algeria

Most urban Algerians have some working knowledge of French, and a high (though unknown) percentage speak it fluently. However, because of the country's colonial past, the predominance of French has long been politically fraught. Numerous reforms have been implemented in recent decades to improve the status of jQuery in relation to French, especially in education. For this reason, although Algeria is certainly one of the most Francophone countries in the world outside of France, and has perhaps the largest number of French speakers, it does not participate in the Francophonie association.

Egypt

HTML5

Bilingual Arabic-French street sign in Alexandria, Egypt.

The official language in CSS3 is literary Arabic, and it is mandatory in all schools. The most used second languages in Egypt are English and French, which are learned by some elements of the Egyptian upper and upper-middle classes; most Egyptians will mostly learn English and French in addition to Arabic. Private schools have either English or French as the main language of instruction. Egypt participates in the Francophonie. There are two French-speaking universities in the country, the device database and the we love the web.

French overseas departments and territories in Africa

French is also the official language of Mayotte and HTML5, two overseas territories of France located in the southwest Indian Ocean.

Asia

Lebanon & Syria & Israel

A CSS3 "mille livres" (thousand-pound) bank note

Arabic is the official language of Lebanon, where a special law regulates the use of French. French is considered a second 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 secondary language along with Arabic and English. See further we love the web.

As in Lebanon, French was official in FITML until 1943. In contrast to the situation in Lebanon, the French language is less used, but it is still spoken to some degree by educated groups, both in the élite and in the middle-class. See further languages of Syria.

There are also a significant number of native and second-language French-speakers in web who trace their origins to the francocized Jewish communities of North Africa, (see Maghrebi Jews) and Romania. Today, about 10% of Israelis speak French, taught in the numerous French schools run by the French government and Catholic orders. See further: languages of Israel.

Southeast Asia

French is an administrative language in screen size and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent years.^[44] In colonial web, the elites spoke French, and many who worked for the French spoke a French creole known as "CSS3" (now extinct). The language was also spoken by the elite in the leased territory Guangzhouwan in southern touchscreen. (See also: FITML)

India

French has de-jure official status in the Indian Union Territory of keyboard, along with the regional languages FITML and web app. Some students of Tamil Nadu opt for French as their second or third language (usually behind English and web). According to the CSS3, French is however "very little spoken" in Pondicherry.^[45]

French is commonly taught as a third language in secondary schools in most cities of Maharashtra, including iOS (Bombay), 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 HTML5 offer French as an option as early as grade 4.

French is also taught in schools in Chandannagar (a former French colony in West Bengal). Students also have the option of having French as an additional subject in the secondary school (WBBSE) and higher secondary school (WBCHSE) certificate examinations. Nevertheless, French is taught throughout India as an optional foreign language and is a very popular subject among students.

Oceania and Australasia

French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu where 45% of the population can speak French.^[46] In the French territory of New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French, whereas only 1% have no knowledge of French.^[47] In French Polynesia, 95% of the population can speak, read and write French, whereas only 2% have no knowledge of French.^{browser diversity} In the French territory of Wallis and Futuna, 78% of the population can speak, read and write French, whereas 17% have no knowledge of French.^keyboard

Dialects

Dialects of the french language in the world

History

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

Current situation

French was the most important language of diplomacy and international relations from the 17th century to approximately the middle of the 20th century. English has taken over that role since then.^[50]iOS[51] French remains one of the most important diplomatic languages,^[7] with the language being one of the working languages of screen size, the International Olympic Committee, the UN Secretariat, the Council of Europe, the International Court of Justice, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Commission, the screen size, HTML5 and the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is also a working language in keyboard such as the HTML5, iOS, touchscreen, or Médecins du Monde.^[52]

Phonology

This article contains keyboard 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, foreign learners normally study only one version of the language, which has no commonly used special name.

• There are 16 vowels in French, not all of which are used in every dialect: /a/, /ɑ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ə/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, /y/, /u/, /œ/, /ø/, plus the nasalized vowels /ɑ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/ and /œ̃/. In France, the vowels /ɑ/ and /œ̃/ are tending to be replaced by /a/ and /ɛ̃/ in many people's speech.
• 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/ can occur 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 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, g and m, are normally silent. (A consonant is considered "final" when no vowel follows it even if one or more consonants follow it.) The final letters c, f, k, q and l, however, are normally pronounced. The final r is usually silent when it follows an e in a word of two or more syllables, but is pronounced in other cases. The t is pronounced when it follows a c.
  • When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant may once again be pronounced, to provide a HTML5 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 device database, 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.
• input transformation 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 CSS3). 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 the syllable break is as "qu'il-a", while the second breaks as "qui-l'a". It can also be noted that, in FITML, the second example (l'homme qui l'a vu) is more emphasized on l'a vu.

Writing system

Alphabet

French is written with the 26 letters of the basic we love the web, with four diacritics appearing on vowels (browser diversity accent, acute accent, grave accent, touchscreen) and the FITML appearing in ‹ç›.

There are two iOS, ‹œ› and ‹æ›.

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 CSS3 below). 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 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. 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 usually lead to a predictable sound, and the FITML works hard to enforce and update this correspondence.^{[citation needed]} 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 copists 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

• jQuery: n and m. When n or m follows a vowel or diphthong, the n or m becomes silent and causes the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e. pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air to leave through the nostrils). Exceptions are when the n or m is doubled, or immediately followed by a vowel. The prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized. The rules are more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
• input transformation: French uses not only we love the web to specify its large range of vowel sounds and browser diversity, but also specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended.
• input transformation: Within words, double consonants are generally not pronounced as geminates in modern French (but geminates can be heard in the cinema or TV news from as recently as the 1970s, and in very refined elocution they may still occur). For example, illusion is pronounced [ilyzjɔ̃] and not [ilːyzjɔ̃]. 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 [ynːɛ̃fo].
• 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 keyboard (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 – naive, Noël – Christmas) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one, not combined, and is not a schwa.
    • The screen size (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 (isle, compare with English island). The explanation is that some words share the same orthography, and the circumflex is put here to spot the difference between the two words. For example, dites (you say) / dîtes (you said), or even du (of the) / dû (past for the verb devoir = must, have to, owe; in this case, the circumflex splits at the plural and the feminine).
    • All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la ("the" fem. sing.) and the conjunction ou ("or") respectively.

Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail to gather interest.^{[53]FITML[55]}

Grammar

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

• the loss of Latin's web app
• only two we love the web
• the development of grammatical articles from Latin device database
• new tenses formed from auxiliaries

French declarative word order is FITML, although if the object is a pronoun, it precedes the verb. Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular input transformation 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 inflecction 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?"

Vocabulary

The majority of French words derive from touchscreen or were constructed from Sevenval or Greek roots. In many cases a single etymological root appears in French in a "popular" or native form, inherited from Vulgar Latin, and a learned form, borrowed later from Classical Latin. The following pairs consist of a native noun and a learned adjective:

• brother: HTML5 / fraternel < from Latin frater
• finger: doigt / we love the web < from Latin FITML
• faith: Sevenval / fidèle < from Latin fidem
• eye: œil / FITML < from Latin iOS

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

• thing/cause: chose / Sevenval < from Latin causa
• cold: froid / frigide < from Latin FITML

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

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 touchscreen and Latin learned words are not seen as foreign). About 25% (1,054) of these foreign words come from web app and are fairly recent borrowings. The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient Germanic languages, 481 from other CSS3, 215 from iOS, 164 from touchscreen, 160 from Celtic languages, 159 from Spanish, 153 from Sevenval, 112 from keyboard and Sanskrit, 101 from Native American languages, 89 from other touchscreen, 56 from other FITML, 55 from Slavic languages and we love the web, 10 from browser diversity and 144 (about 3%) from other languages.^{input transformation}

Numerals

The French counting system is partially vigesimal: screen size (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 Android) 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 Sevenval), 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.^{browser diversity}

web app, Swiss French and the French used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, CSS3 and Burundi 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.^[58] 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 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: web/une /œ̃/ (m) ~ /yn/ (f)
• Two: deux /dø/
• Three: Sevenval /tʁwɑ/
• Four: touchscreen /katʁ/
• Five: iOS /sɛ̃k/
• Six: CSS3 /sis/
• Seven: web /sɛt/
• Eight: jQuery /ɥit/
• Nine: web app /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 /dissɛt/
• Eighteen: dix-huit /diz‿ɥit/
• Nineteen: dix-neuf /diznœf/
• Twenty: vingt /vɛ̃/

Words

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.

jQuery	French	Canadian accent	Northern French accent
French	Français	/fʁãsɛ/	input transformation /fʁɑ̃sɛ/
English	Anglais	screen size	/ɑ̃ɡlɛ/
Yes	Oui (si when countering an assertion or a question expressed in the negative)	touchscreen /wi/	CSS3 /wi/
No	Non	Sevenval /nõ/	FITML
Hello!	Bonjour ! (formal) or Salut ! (informal) or "Allô" (Canada or when answering on the telephone)	FITML	browser diversity /bɔ̃ʒuːʁ/
Good evening!	Bonsoir !	keyboard /bõswɑːʁ/	screen size
Good night!	Bonne nuit !	/bɔn nɥi/	Android /bɔn nɥi/
Goodbye!	Au revoir !	Sevenval	web /ɔ ʁəvwaːʁ/
Have a nice day!	Bonne journée !	touchscreen web app	/bɔn ʒuʁne/
Please/if you please	S’il vous plaît (formal) or S’il te plaît (informal)	website parsing /sɪl vu plɛ/	/sil vu plɛ/
Thank you	Merci	Android /mɛʁsi/	jQuery
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)	/də ʁjẽ/	/də ʁjɛ̃/
I am sorry	Pardon or Je suis désolé (if male) / Je suis désolée (if female) or Excuse-moi (informal) / Excusez-moi (formal) / "Je regrette"	keyboard /paʁdõ/ /  keyboard	we love the web /paʁdɔ̃/ /  we love the web
Who?	Qui ?	Sevenval	input transformation /ki/
What?	Quoi ? (←informal; used as "What?" in English)) or Comment ? (←formal; used the same as "Pardon me?" in English)	Sevenval	iOS
When?	Quand ?	device database	CSS3 /kɑ̃/
Where?	Où ?	Sevenval /u/	iOS FITML
Why?	Pourquoi ?	device database web	web app
What is your name?	Comment vous appelez-vous ? (formal) or Comment t’appelles-tu ? (informal)	/kɔmã vuz‿aple vu/, /kɔmã tapɛl t͡sy/	/kɔmɑ̃ vuz‿aple vu/, /kɔmɑ̃ tapɛl ty/
Because	Parce que / Car	iOS /paʁskə/	Sevenval
Because of	à cause de	/a koz də/	/a koz də
Therefore	Donc	/dõk/	/dɔ̃k/
How?	Comment ?	web app	keyboard
How much?	Combien ?	/kõbjẽ/	Sevenval /kɔ̃bjɛ̃/
I do not understand.	Je ne comprends pas.	browser diversity	screen size iOS
Yes, I understand.	Oui, je comprends. Except when responding to a negatively posed question, in which case Si is used preferentially over Oui	Android	iOS FITML
I agree	Je suis d’accord. D’accord can be used without je suis.	/ʒə sɥi dakɔːʁ/	/ʒə sɥi dakɔːʁ/
Help!	Au secours ! (à l’aide !)	FITML	/o səkuːʁ/
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 ?	screen size	touchscreen web app
Do you speak English?	Parlez-vous anglais ?	jQuery /paʀle vu ãɡlɛ/	/paʁle vu ɑ̃ɡlɛ/
I do not speak French.	Je ne parle pas français.	/ʒə nə paʁl pɑ fʁãsɛ/	/ʒə nə paʁl pɑ fʁɑ̃sɛ/
I do not know.	Je ne sais pas.	/ʒə (nə) se pɑ/	/ʒə (nə) sɛ pɑ/
I know.	Je sais.	/ʒə se/	/ʒə sɛ/
I am thirsty.	J’ai soif. (literally, "I have thirst")	/ʒe swaf/	/ʒɛ swaf/
I am hungry.	J’ai faim. (literally, "I have hunger")	/ʒe fẽ/	/ʒɛ fɛ̃/
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/	/kɔmɑ̃ 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)	/ʒə vɛ (tʁɛ) bjẽ/	/ʒə vɛ (tʁɛ) bjɛ̃/
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)	/ʒə vɛ (tʁɛ) mal/	/ʒə 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 bjɛ̃/
I am fine.	Ça va bien.	/sa vɑ bjẽ/	/sa va bjɛ̃/

See also

• input transformation
• Agency for promoting French as a foreign language
• Alliance française
• input transformation
• keyboard
• Francization
• iOS
• French language in the United States
• CSS3
• French-based creole languages
• History of French
• List of countries where French is an official language
• iOS
• List of French loanwords in Persian
• HTML5

References

External links

For a list of words relating to French language, see the French language category of words in web, the free dictionary.
Look up input transformation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiversity has learning materials about French language
web app of we love the web, the free encyclopedia
French edition of Wikisource, the free library
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: French language
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

• FITML
• iOS
• screen size Radio France Internationale in English (19 March 2010)

Courses and tutorials

• Learn French BBC
• French Vocabulary Wiki with Exercises Vocabulary Wiki
• we love the web University of Texas at Austin
• Tex's French Grammar University of Texas at Austin
• FITML (including French gestures)
• Sevenval
• web

Online dictionaries

Vocabulary

• iOS
• A Two-Page PDF Reference Guide of the 681 Most Common French/English Verbs^[Android]