The French language is beautiful, but when strung together to paint lovely pictures and create lyrical melodies in French poems, it becomes even more so. This is why the French have always been immensely proud of its poésie (poetry), and the enduring works of great masters such as Victor Hugo, Pierre de Ronsard, Alphonse de Lamartine, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and many others continue to be read today. French poetry covers a lot of topics, from the blissful heights of love to the depths of melancholy and despair it brings. But regardless of whether it talks about the profound or the mundane, French poems evoke a lot of emotions through the use of carefully expressed words that capture different thoughts and moments. The French pride themselves on their world-renowned poésie (poetry). It can be mysterious and full of complicated terminology and romantic pictures. French poets are known for being in tune to their emotions, expertly expressing themselves, and adopting other styles and artistic periods to use in their own poetry. If you’ve read some great books lately, but are ready to dive into a different kind of literary experience, pick up some poetry and start reading. Poetry is accessible, and many classic French poets didn’t write only for the educated—they wrote for everyone. you’ll find that poetry will open a door into French language and culture that you haven’t stepped into before. In addition to enjoying some wonderfully written poems, you’ll also find that reading poetry gives you a great opportunity to improve your French ability. Since poems are often short, they become much more manageable as something you can start and finish in one day. Use this to your advantage and read a short poem each day. Highlight words and phrases that you don’t know and look them up. Ask questions and research the poem: Who was the author? What time period was this from? What was going on politically? What other poets and artists inspired this writer? Did this poem or author inspire any other poets or movements? You’ll be amazed at what you find. Poets like to play with language, and with that habit comes a lot of unfamiliar twists and turns of phrases in addition to unique words. More modern-day poetry offers an opportunity to learn how the French use words and phrases today. Sometimes, older poems might have words that you won’t recognize as modern. Though most older poems you read may have been modernized, if you explore any in their original form, you may need to see a translation for the ancien français (Old French). French poetry offers a fresh, unique view of the culture. Poetry reveals what’s important to French culture, and will show you what matters during different time periods—and how that evolves.

French (français) belongs to the Romance branch of the Indo-European language family. Like all Romance languages, it developed from Vulgar Latin spoken by the Roman invaders. Before the Roman invasion of what is France today, the territory was inhabited by a Celtic people whom the Romans called Gauls. The language of the Gauls had little impact on French. From the 3rd century on, Gaul was invaded by Germanic tribes whose languages had a profound effect on the Vulgar Latin of the region, especially on its vocabulary. In 1539, King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings in France, replacing Latin as the official written language of the country. Following a period of unification and standardization, the language spoken in the 17th-18th centuries became the basis of modern French. From the 17th century on, French enjoyed the status of being the Francemaplanguage of culture and diplomacy throughout the western world. European colonization brought French to the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Status French is spoken in 53 countries, making it one of the most wide-spread languages of the world. It is estimated that the number of first- and second-language speakers of French worldwide is between 220 and 300 million people. It is an official, co-official or de facto national of 29 countries. Countries using French as either a first or a second language are located on four continents. Four of them are in Europe: France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Two are in the Americas: Canada and Haiti. There are also two overseas departments of France: Martinique and Guadeloupe. The rest are former French colonies in Africa and in the islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. French is a major second language in Arabic-speaking Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco. The dispersion of French is due to the political, economic, scientific, and cultural influence of France. Countries in which French is spoken are listed below. Please note that some of the numbers are estimates and do not clearly show the breakdown between first- and second-language speakers. France 66 million official language Canada 7 million official language used in all domains, along with English Belgium 4 million official language, along with Dutch and German Switzerland 1,5 million 1st language and 2.5 million 2nd language speakers official language, along with German, Italian and Romansch Algeria 16 million no official status Italy (Aosta Valley) 95,000 official regional language, along with Italian and Slovenian French Polynesia 184,000 1st language and 2nd language speakers official language, along with Tahitian Gabon 1.24 million official language, the only language of formal education Lebanon 1.9 million 1st language speakers official language along with Arabic New Caledonia 53,000 official language Réunion 2,400 1st language and 161,000 2nd language speakers official language Equatorial Guinea 75,000-100,000 2nd language speakers official language along with Spanish; increasingly used for wider communication Benin, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti,Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Monaco, Tunisia 10,000 – 40,000 official or co-official language Andorra, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Guadelupe, Mali, Martinique, Niger, Rwanda, Seychelles, under 10,000 official or co-official language Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, French Guiana, Guinea no estimates available official or co-official language In addition, there are a number of French-based Creoles spoken today mainly in the Caribbean, in the U.S., and on several islands in the Indian Ocean. They are listed below. Please note that these numbers may be actually higher. Caribbean Amapá Creole 25,000 Brazil Guadeloupean Creole 848,000 Guadeloupe, Martinique Guianese Creole 50,000 French Guiana Haitian Creole 7,389,066 Haiti, U.S. Louisiana Creole 60,000-80,000 U.S. Indian Ocean Morisyen Creole 604,000 Mauritius Réunion Creole 600,000 Réunion Seychellois Creole 72,7000 Seychelles French is one of the official languages of the United Nations (UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union (EU). French is one of the most studied foreign languages. In the US, French is the second most-studied foreign language in schools, after Spanish. Dialects Europe European French is usually divided into two major dialects which, in turn, subsume many regional varieties. Langue d’oil Northern and central varieties of French, including what is today Belgium. One of the dialects of langue d’oil was françien which was spoken in Île de France. It became the basis of standard French. However, it did not become dominant in all of France, even after it became a major international language of culture and diplomacy. Langue d’oc Southern varieties of French including dialects of Switzerland and the Val d’Aosta in Italy, closely linked to Catalan. Canada All Canadian French varieties differ from Standard French in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Canadian French is usually divided into three varieties: Québécois spoken in Québec. It is spoken by an overwhelming majority of Canadian francophones. Franco-Ontariens spoken in Ontario, Western Canada, Labrador and in New England. It is considered to be a very conservative dialect of French. Acadiens spoken by the Acadians in some parts of the Canadian Maritimes. Africa Africa has the largest population of French speakers in the world. African French varieties are spoken in 31 African countries with the number of first- and second-language speakers exceeding 100 million. All African French varieties differ from Standard French in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. They are usually divided into several groups. Varieties of French spoken in Western, Central, and East Africa with an estimated 75 million first and second language speakers; Varieties of French, known as Maghreb French, spoken in Northwest Africa with an estimated 36 million first and second language speakers; Varieties of French spoken in the Indian Ocean (Réunion, Mauritius, and Seychelles) with an estimated 1.6 million first and second language speakers. Structure Although there are many varieties of spoken French, learners of French as a foreign language are usually taught a variety spoken by educated Parisians. Some of the main features of this variety are presented below. Sound system Vowels French has a rich vowel system. In addition to the oral vowels given below, there are four nasal vowels /ɛ, ̃œ̃, ã, ɔ̃). /i/ = ee in beet /e/ = ai in bait /ɛ/ = e in bet /y, ø, œ/ have no equivalents in English. They are pronounced with rounded lips. /ə/ = u in bud /a/ = a in bat /u/ = oo in boot /o/ = oa in boat /ɔ/ = ough in bought /ɑ/ = o in pop Consonants French has a relatively uncomplicated consonant system which is presented below. /p, t, k/ are not aspirated, i.e., they are produced without a puff of air, as they are in English. /ʃ/ = sh in shop /ʒ/ = s in vision /ɲ/ = first n in canyon /ʁ/ has no equivalent in English Stress Stress in French words normally falls on the last syllable. Grammar The grammar of French is historically based on the grammar of Latin. As a result, it shares many features with other Romance languages. Nouns, adjectives, articles, and pronouns French nouns have the following grammatical categories: There are two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine) that are not predictable from the form of the noun. There are two numbers (singular and plural). Nouns are not marked for case. Adjectives agree with nouns they modify in gender and number. There is a definite and an indefinite article, each of which agrees with the noun in gender and number. Definite articles can combine with a number of prepositions, e.g., à + le = au; de + le = du ; à + les = aux; de + les = des. Pronouns are marked for person, gender, and number. They are also inflected to indicate their role in the sentence, e.g., subject, direct object, indirect object. French makes a distinction between the informal second person pronoun tu and the formal vous. Numerals The Standard French counting system is partially vigesimal, i. e., it uses vingt ‘twenty’as a base for numbers 80-99, e.g., quatre-vingts ‘eighty’ literally ‘4 times 20’. This is comparable to the archaic English use of score ‘twenty’, as in fourscore ‘eighty’. Verbs French verbs have the following grammatical categories: There are three regular conjugations. In addition, there are many irregular verbs. Verbs are marked for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular, plural). Verbs agree with their subjects in person and number. There are four simple tenses and five compound tenses. Compound tenses are formed using the auxiliary verbs être ‘to be’ or avoir ‘to have’.The latter is used to indicate the perfective aspect. There are four moods: indicative, conditional, subjunctive, imperative. There are two voices: active and passive. Passive constructions are formed using the auxiliary verb être ‘to be’ + past passive participle. French has a two-part negation, e.g., je ne sais pas ‘I don’t know’, with ne indicating global negation and pas clarifying the type of negation. Word order The basic word order in French is Subject-Verb-Object, but a large number of other orders is possible to indicate topic and emphasis. Word order is further complicated by an interaction among compound verb constructions, object and adverbial pronouns, inversion, imperatives, adverbs, and negative structures. Most adjectives follow the noun, e.g., un chat noir ‘a black cat’. Vocabulary French vocabulary is mostly Latin-based, e.g., frère ‘brother’ from Latin frater. As a result, it shares much of its basic vocabulary with other Romance languages. A study by Walter and Walter (1998) estimated that 12% of common French words found in a typical dictionary such as the Petit Larousse were borrowed from other languages. About 25% of these loanwords are fairly recent borrowings from English (e.g., le rostbif, le week-end). Other languages that have contributed to the French lexicon are Italian, ancient Germanic languages, Arabic, German Celtic, Spanish, Dutch, Greek, Persian and Sanskrit. Below are some common phrases in French. Hello = Bonjour Good bye = Au revoir Please = S’il vous plaît Thank you = Merci Sorry, excuse me Pardon = excusez-moi Yes = Oui No = Non Man = L’homme Woman = La femme Below are numerals 1-10 in French. 1 = un 2 = deux 3 = trois 4 = quatre 5 = cinq 6 = six 7 = sept 8 = huit 9 = neuf 10 = dix Writing The Latin alphabet was a natural choice for the scribes who started writing French texts starting in the 11th century, even though it was less than an ideal fit for a language whose sound system differed substantially from that of Latin. A significant number of changes in the sound system of French during the 14th-16th centuries caused a further divergence between spoken French and its written representation. Despite some attempts to reform French spelling, no major changes have been made over the last two centuries. The orthography of modern French has not changed since 1740. There are three accent marks over vowels: acute over é; grave over á and é; cirumflex over â, ê, î, ô, û. Diaeresis, or two dots over the vowel, shows that each vowel is pronounced separately as in Noël ‘Christmas.’ A cedilla placed below the letter ç indicates that it is pronounced as [s]. There are two ligatures: œ and æ, e.g., . œil ‘eye,’ bœuf ‘beef,’ et cætera ‘et cetera.’ w and k are used exclusively in loan words or foreign names. Take a look at the text of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Did You Know? French words in English English has borrowed many words from French. They are too numerous to list. Below is a short sampling of French loan words related to cooking, and those that occur in common usage. Food bon appétit cuisine du jour blanch sauté fondue purée flambé à la carte à la mode escargot julienne canape Common usage attaché avant-garde c’est la vie chic déjà vu encore en route haute couture matinée née par excellence protégé vis-à-vis Difficulty Language Difficulty (23-24 weeks | 575-600 class hours) How difficult is it to learn French? French is considered to be a Category I language in terms of difficulty for speakers of English. Category 1 languages are those Western European languages that are most cognate with English and that are most typologically similar to it. For instance, Dutch, Afrikaans, Spanish, and Italian belong to Category 1. However, German usually takes longer (30 weeks, 750 class hours), because of its relatively more complex grammar.

Are you desperate to know what “la plume de ma tante” means? Do you adore la vie en rose? Or perhaps you’re yearning for a year in Provence? Whatever your motivation, here’s the lowdown on how hard it is to learn French. How hard is it to learn French? It’s a good question, especially if you’re dying to have a tête à tête with that dishy French baker but the idea of verb conjugation makes you want to put your head in a bucket! Babbel’s expert linguists are here to serve up the easiest bits and guide you past the potential pitfalls of learning French. Superbe, you say? On y va! (Let’s go!) The French Connection You might not have noticed, but as an English speaker you also already speak quite a lot of French due to centuries of linguistic influence. Both Latin and French have had a huge impact on English, and because of this, we share an astonishing number of words. In fact, it’s estimated that around 45% of modern English comes from French — that’s around 80,000 words (that you don’t need to learn)! If I said to you: “The exhibition about avant-garde literature was fantastic, but the croissants in the museum café were magnificent!” would you immediately spot that half of these words are cognates (meaning that they mean the same thing in both languages)? We use French words to describe nearly every aspect of our culture (yes, that’s French) — from economics and politics, to aviation, science, color, music, and architecture. This gives you a healthy head start as far as vocabulary is concerned. Disclaimer! There are both true and false cognates — so although two words look similar, there may be subtle (if not huge) differences in meaning. Be attentive when using attendre (to wait), and don’t mix up your bras (arms) with your bra or your monnaie (loose change) with your money! Tongue-Tied In Toulouse But how are all these words pronounced? It’s likely that the very first hurdle you’re going to meet is the strange cacophony of sounds you hear when a French person opens their mouth. What’s worse is the horrifying speed that French people can speak at. It can be intimidating when you venture into a bar to get a drink and your innocent “Je voudrais un orangina” is met with a lengthy, unintelligible tirade that possibly covers the high price of petrol, the weather in the Dordogne, and the terrible state of the town hall. But who can be sure? You didn’t actually catch anything except “pfff“ and “bof.” Then there’s the other, more common response: the blank stare and raised eyebrow. Tips For Making Pronunciation Easier Well, there are several strategies you can employ. One that’s popular with the British is repeating what you just said, only more loudly (if not indignantly). Another, far better idea, is to spend a little time working on your pronunciation skills before you march into a French café, parched and desperate. Because, honestly, it’s not that hard! As a native English speaker, you may not have ever considered how random English pronunciation is, but if you consider that the OU in “you,” “though,” “thou” and “rough” are all pronounced differently, you start to get the idea. If millions of people successfully learn our bizarrely spelled language every year, chances are you’ll work out the inconsistencies of French pronunciation. Another tip is to increase your exposure to spoken French — and here you have a real advantage. France’s cultural output is énorme, so you’re spoiled for choice. Watching French films and TV with (French) subtitles, as well as listening to songs, podcasts and radio are all great ways to get your ears attuned to the melodies, cadences, and speed of French. And with so many native speakers worldwide, finding a tandem partner is easy! The Swiss French speak a bit slower than their cousins over the border, so it’s worth tuning in to Geneva Live online or even planning a trip to the Alps! Femme Fatale So yes, we do share an incroyable (guess what: incredible) amount of vocab with the French. But aside from pronunciation, there’s another little complication: All of those familiar looking nouns have a grammatical gender! It’s strange but true — French nouns are either masculine or feminine. “Why?” you may ask. The only answer we can think of is: “To make life difficile.” Don’t be disheartened, it’s just a matter of learning the gender and definite article (le/la) when you learn the word — and remember that adjectives must agree with the gender of nouns. There are a few simple rules to follow, and then you’ve cracked it! Conjugate, Conjugate, Conjugate! This is the bit you’ve been dreading: verb conjugation (I can see you looking around now for a place to hide). It’s unfortunate, but French does have rather a lot of tenses. The good news is that some of these are rarely, if ever, used. It gets even easier in spoken French, where conjugated forms often sound the same. Take the present tense of danser (to dance), for example, where the verb forms in je danse / tu danses / il danse / ils dansent (I/you/he/they dance) are pronounced almost identically. If you concentrate on common patterns like this, it’ll be much easier to conjugate and pronounce French verbs. How Long Before I Can Schmooze In Flawless Français? So how long does it take to learn French? Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re going to need time and patience (so, not a week), and “how long” depends on a variety of factors. You will be able to learn a lot in a little time if you dedicate yourself solely to the task, and even more quickly if you move to a French-speaking country. Neither Rome nor Paris were built in a day, however, and to be truly fluent is the task of years. Your best bet is to set yourself mini-goals, reward yourself for each small success, and use all the resources at your disposal: apps, classes, tandem partners, media, and so on. Immerse yourself in la vie française and if you’re lucky enough to have a French mother-in-law, give her a call! So What Is ‘La Plume de Ma Tante’? It turns out that this odd-sounding phrase, which literally means “the feather (quill or pen) of my aunt,” isn’t a secret greeting used by French resistance fighters, but rather was once used to teach and memorize the sounds of the French vowel [a]. It’s also the title of a 1950s Tony Award–winning musical comedy satirizing French society. The lyrics to its theme song are: The pen of my aunt Is on the bureau of my uncle, The paper of my uncle Is on the bureau of my aunt. If you don’t parlez vous français Then this will be Greek to you, If you can’t figure out what the words are all about Just sing la la la la loo Start out by singing la la la la loo and before you know it you’ll be penning your own French satires!

Did you know that French is one of the fastest growing languages in the world and that about half of all French speakers live in Africa? What Is The French Language? French, like Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish, is a Romance language. Romance languages are descended from Vulgar (Common) Latin, which was the everyday language of the Romans. It was spread far and wide by Roman colonists, but following the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, many conquered lands became culturally and linguistically isolated. Vulgar Latin diverged into many different local dialects, which eventually became the Romance languages we know today. French evolved from the Gallo-Romance dialects of northern France and replaced Latin as the state language of France in 1539, when François I made French the official language of administration. Where In The World Is French Spoken? French is the official language in 29 countries, which puts it in second place behind English. The 29 countries are, in alphabetical order: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo and Vanuatu. French is also the procedural language for the EU, the only language used for deliberations at the Court of Justice for the EU, and one of the recognized working languages of the United Nations. How Many People In The World Speak French? The simple answer is “about 300 million,” but this obscures a more complicated profile of the language. Within the 300 million are not only native speakers, but also partial speakers and speakers of numerous French dialects and creoles. Through colonization and diaspora, French is the sixth most widely spoken language in the world, following Mandarin Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic. It’s an official language in countries across five different continents and is also the second most studied language in the world, after English: 120 million students are currently learning French. Atop the 220 million native speakers in the world, there are an estimated 72 million partial speakers, and these numbers are increasing. Owing to population growth in Africa, where approximately 50% of native French speakers live, the total number of French speakers could rise to as much as 700 million by 2050, according to demographers. How Many People In Europe Speak French? Unsurprisingly, France boasts the highest number of native French speakers, although its not the most populous country to have French as an official language: The Democratic Republic of Congo has a population of 77 million, compared to 62 million in France. So how can it be that they have fewer French speakers, you ask? French is somewhat unusual in that it shares official status with other languages in many countries across the world. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was a Belgian colony, there are 28 million French speakers. French was chosen as the official language because of its perceived neutrality, acting as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between the indigenous ethnic groups, the majority of whom speak one of four national languages: Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba and Swahili. Returning to Europe, just under half of the population in Belgium and approximately one in five Swiss nationals speak French as a native language. It’s also widely spoken in Luxembourg. If you add all these French speakers together, you come to around 80 million, which makes French the third most widely spoken mother tongue in Europe after Russian and German. The mathematicians among you will have already established that European French speakers constitute approximately 40% of the global total. How Many People In North America Speak French? Canada’s commitment to bilingualism is written into its Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and both English and French are recognized as official languages. That said, the official status of both languages does differ from province to province. In Quebec, for example, French is the only official language. The province is home to 7 of the 10 million native French speakers in Canada. Nationwide, there are a further 2 million speakers of French as a second language, which means approximately 30% of the population of 36 million is conversant in French. Interestingly, Montreal is also the fourth largest Francophone city in the world. And how many people speak French in the U.S.? Well, according to the Census Bureau, French is the fourth most widely spoken language in the country. It’s worth noting that this includes French in all its varieties: Haitian Creole, for example, is also considered under the same broad umbrella as Quebecois and Cajun. Haitian immigration increased rapidly between 1980 and 2000, and there are now approximately half a million Haitian Creole speakers in the US. In the state of Louisiana, some 200,000 residents speak French at home as a first language, which equates to about 4% of the population. The country of Haiti itself, which is also located in North America, accounts for a further 10 million French speakers. How Many People In Africa Speak French? As we’ve mentioned above, Africa is home to more French speakers than any other continent. Although it is predominantly a second language for most speakers, there are some regions, such as Abidjan in Ivory Coast, where it has superseded local languages. In many instances, the French spoken in the 31 Francophone countries of Africa has diverged from standard French due to contact with indigenous African languages, resulting in the development of new vernacular forms of the language. As in the Democratic Republic of Congo, French is often used as a lingua franca in countries with multiple local languages, and it’s also often employed as the language of administration and higher education. Thanks to massive population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, combined with the continued expansion of education, French has become the fastest growing language in Africa. What About The Rest Of The World? We mentioned that French is spoken across five continents, but we’ve only mentioned three. Although the overwhelming majority of French speakers are in Europe, Africa and North America, there are also pockets of speakers in Asia, the Middle East, South America and Oceania. French Guiana in South America borders northern Brazil and is technically a department of France. It’s home to about quarter of a million people, and is also part of the European Union, with the Euro as its currency. In Oceania, French is the official language of the Pacific island of Vanuatu, and it’s also spoken across French Polynesia, and in the French collectivities of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna. In Asia and the Middle East, the French language remains a trace of France’s colonial past in countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, which were formerly French Indochina, and in Lebanon and Syria. While its formal use has generally been on the decline in these countries, it remains widely studied and spoken among the elderly, elites and in many institutions of higher education. Why Learn French? The sheer number of Mandarin, English and Spanish speakers is the most common justification for studying these languages. With the forecast growth of the language over the next 30 years, the same justification can be used for French. Plus, who wouldn’t want to learn one of the most romantic languages around?