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Language

French

Romance Languages

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family, natively spoken in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Canada and much of Francophone Africa.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
fra 2
Speaker Count
312,000,000 2
Ethnologue total figure combining native and second-language speakers, 2012-2024.
Status
Living 2
Wikipedia article on French: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27.
Attested From (Year)
from 842 6
Region
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Francophone Africa, Canada, and other Francophone locations 2
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Official Language 2
Wikipedia 'French language': French is an official language in 26 countries; checked 2026-09-27.
Browse and compare
Word Order
SVO 3
Tone
Not Tonal 4
Difficulty for an English Speaker
Category I 5
French
Filter Results5 entries

Acadian French

French

Belgian French

French

Cajun French

French

Quebec French

French

Swiss French

French
Connections

Ancestor Of

Acadian French, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Acadian French
Belgian French, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Belgian French
Cajun French, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Louisiana French
Haitian Creole, Languages

Haitian Creole is a French-lexifier creole language, textbook-classified as descending from (colonial) French.

Quebec French, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Quebec French
Swiss French, Dialects and Varieties
Source Wikipedia: Swiss French

In Family

Indo-European, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: French Language

Written In

Latin Script, Scripts
In the Other Atlases

Cases Where Used

Concordat of 1801

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Congo

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Laudato Si'

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Saint-Domingue

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Caribbean

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Edict of Fontainebleau

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Edict of Nantes

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Guianas

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Law of 9 December 1905 on the Separation of the Churches and the State

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

West Africa and the Caribbean

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Boxer Protocol

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Camp David Accords

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Charter of the United Nations

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, WikipediaLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen de 1789), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human and civil rights document from the French Revolution; the French title can be translated in the modern era as "Declaration of Human and Civil Rights".
Edict of Nantes

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Entente Cordiale

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Kyoto Protocol

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Napoleonic Code

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Napoleonic Code, WikipediaLead
Quote, Lead
(French: Code Napoléon), officially the Civil Code of the French (French: Code civil des Français; simply referred to as Code civil)
North Atlantic Treaty

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Outer Space Treaty

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Paris Agreement

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Peace of Ryswick

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Rome Statute

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Statute of Westminster 1275

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Statuto Albertino

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Amiens

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Campo Formio

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of London (1915)

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Paris (1856)

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Portsmouth

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of San Francisco

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Tlatelolco

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Utrecht

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Universal Declaration of Human Rights, WikipediaArticle text
Quote, Article text
The Declaration was officially adopted as a French document, with official translations in English, Chinese, Russian and Spanish, all of which are official working languages of the UN.
Washington Naval Treaty

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Bretons

Also in Society and Culture Atlas: used in this subject.

Métis

Also in Society and Culture Atlas: used in this subject.

Original Language Of

Jules Verne

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Karen Blixen

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Le Cid

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Leconte de Lisle

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Leconte de Lisle (Wikipedia)Biography, major collections
Quote, Biography, major collections
Poèmes antiques (1852), Poèmes barbares (1862), Poèmes tragiques (1884)
Leo Tolstoy

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Leon Damas

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Leopold Sedar Senghor

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Leopold Sedar Senghor (Wikipedia)tier 2
Les Fleurs du mal

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Les Misérables

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Machado de Assis

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Madame Bovary

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Madeleine de Scudéry

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Madeleine de Scudéry (Wikipedia)Infobox: language
Quote, Infobox: language
French
Maigret Sets a Trap

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Manifesto of Surrealism

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Marcel Proust

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Marguerite Duras

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Marguerite Yourcenar

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Mariama Bâ

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Maurice Leblanc

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Maurice Maeterlinck

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Maurice Maeterlinck (Wikipedia)Lead, wrote in French
Quote, Lead, wrote in French
was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French
Memoirs of Hadrian

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Michel de Montaigne

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Michel Houellebecq

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Molière

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Nausea

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

No Exit

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Notebook of a Return to My Native Land

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Oscar Milosz

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Oscar Milosz (Wikipedia)Lead, language
Quote, Lead, language
was a French language poet
Oscar Wilde

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Pablo Neruda

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Paul Verlaine

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Paul Verlaine (Wikipedia)Lead, third paragraph
Quote, Lead, third paragraph
exploiting the characteristics of the French language
Père Goriot

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Phèdre

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Pierre Corneille

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Pietr the Latvian

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Pigments

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Rhinoceros

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Robert Brasillach

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Robert Brasillach (Wikipedia)Bibliography
Quote, Bibliography
1939 Les Sept Couleurs (The Seven Colors), nominated for Prix Goncourt 1939.
Salammbo

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Samuel Beckett

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Simone de Beauvoir

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

So Long a Letter

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Stendhal

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Stéphane Mallarmé

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Stéphane Mallarmé (Wikipedia)Lead section [original-language]
Quote, Lead section [original-language]
was a French poet and critic
Swann's Way

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Tartuffe

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Book of the City of Ladies

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Chanson de Geste

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Wikipedia: Chanson de gesteLead paragraph
Quote, Lead paragraph
appears at the dawn of French literature
The Count of Monte Cristo

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Showing 151 to 200 of 224 in Original Language Of, page 4 of 5.

Located In

France

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.

Found In

Africa

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Europe

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

North America

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Glottolog: French (Glottolog languoid stan1290)
GlottologEndangerment, AES status
Quote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: French Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family.
  • Infobox, ISO 639-3
    fra
  • Infobox, Speakers (Total)
    312 million (2012-2024)
  • Article text
    The first method counts all native speakers in countries considered natively Francophone (France, Monaco, and the Francohpone regions of Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada).
  • In Family: Indo-European, Infobox, Language family
    Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latinic Romance Italo-Western Western Romance Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Romance Gallo-Rhaetian Arpitan-Oil Oil Francien zone French
View the Source
3. WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures): French / Order of Subject, Object and Verb (WALS datapoint)
WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures)Datapoint page
Quote, Datapoint page
Feature: Order of Subject, Object and Verb by Matthew S. Dryer Value: SVO
View the Source
4. WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures): French / Tone (WALS datapoint)
WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures)Datapoint page
Quote, Datapoint page
Feature: Tone by Ian Maddieson Value: No tones
View the Source
5. Effective Language Learning: Language Difficulty Ranking
Effective Language LearningForeign Service Institute categories list
Quote, Foreign Service Institute categories list
Category I: 23-24 weeks (575-600 hours) Languages closely related to English Afrikaans Danish Dutch French
View the Source
6. Omniglot: French language, alphabet and pronunciation
OmniglotWritten French
Quote, Written French
French first appeared in writing in 842 AD, when it was used in the Strasbourg Oaths.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Quebec French
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Quebec French, Article text
Quote, Ancestor Of: Quebec French, Article text
Quebec French either evolved from this language base and was shaped by the following influences (arranged according to historical period) or was imported from Paris and other urban centres of France as a koiné, or common language shared by the people speaking it.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Louisiana French
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Cajun French, Infobox
Quote, Ancestor Of: Cajun French, Infobox
Louisiana French is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Belgian French
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Belgian French, Lead sentence
Quote, Ancestor Of: Belgian French, Lead sentence
Belgique) is the variety of French spoken mainly among the French Community of Belgium, alongside re
View the Source
Wikipedia: Acadian French
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Acadian French, Lead sentence
Quote, Ancestor Of: Acadian French, Lead sentence
rench (French: français acadien, acadjonne) is a variety of French spoken by Acadians, mostly in the
View the Source
Wikipedia: Swiss French
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Swiss French, Lead sentence
Quote, Ancestor Of: Swiss French, Lead sentence
se or suisse romand) is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known
View the Source
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