For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects. It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent years. "Le français, langue en évolution. castels became château pl. Moreover, many languages habitually build long words from short ones. Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail to gather interest. [30] Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. One of the problems with counting words is intonation. For example, the singular "le professeur" or "la professeur(e)" (the male or female teacher, professor) can be distinguished from the plural "les professeurs" because "le", "la", and "les" are all pronounced differently. In addition, French is a syllable-timed language. This change was then reflected in the orthography: animaus. One of the problems with counting words is intonation. Case is primarily marked using word order and prepositions, while certain verb features are marked using auxiliary verbs. It is difficult to estimate but, at least in terms of vocabulary (though probably not in terms of grammar), French has probably had the single biggest influence on English, arguably more so than even Middle English. The Ontarian city of Ottawa, the Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is across a river from Quebec, opposite the major city of Gatineau with which it forms a single metropolitan area. It retained this role until approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War. "[94], Knowledge of French is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). As you include new French vocabulary into your conversations, you will sound more fluent and smart, just as you would in … [8], French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Trade Organization, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Moreover, many languages habitually build long words from short ones. Many of the most frequently used words in English are Germanic (not German) in origin, but over half its vocabulary is derived from Latin (much through French). Does that make Spanish richer in word count? Consider such words as "cannoli" and "teriyaki," which come from other tongues but are established through use, context, and frequency as English. Anthropol. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. at the Court of Justice of the European Union). According to the Global Language Monitor, which tracks language usage trends, the English language currently tops a whopping 1 million distinct words. 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. 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.[110]. French is also an official language of all of the territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon). It is the second most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains the preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union, where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel (see Liaison (French)). 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). According to the French lexicogrammatical system, French has a rank-scale hierarchy with clause as the top rank, which is followed by group rank, word rank, and morpheme rank. This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 15:57. For example, in 2014, The New York Times documented an increase in the teaching of French in New York, especially in K-12 dual-language programs where Spanish and Mandarin are the only second-language options more popular than French. That said, it is important to understand the difference between “passive knowledge” and “active … Discover 99 examples to get you started. One recent example, heard in a business context, is “ une to-do liste" , which appears to have entered the French language in around 2007. While it contains 130 graphemes that denote only 36 phonemes, many of its spelling rules are likely due to a consistency in morphemic patterns such as adding suffixes and prefixes. The article used for singular nouns is different from that used for plural nouns and the article provides a distinguishing factor between the two in speech. [105], One study analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin estimated that among the languages analyzed French has the greatest distance from Latin. About 25% (1,054) of these foreign words come from English and are fairly recent borrowings. Most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. [8] French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. How many French words are there in English? Many French dictionaries estimate somewhere in the region of 60,000 words, but Le Grand Robert de la langue Française currently contains around 100,000 words and 350,000 definitions, covering the different uses of those words. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are: French is written with the 26 letters of the basic Latin script, with four diacritics appearing on vowels (circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis) and the cedilla appearing in "ç". That’s a lot, right?! Words like “ le shopping" or “ un parking" or “ le hard discount" are now so well established in modern French that many French speakers do not even realise that they are borrowed from English. Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon, with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. Usually somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 words. [53][54] The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient Germanic languages, 481 from other Gallo-Romance languages, 215 from Arabic, 164 from German, 160 from Celtic languages, 159 from Spanish, 153 from Dutch, 112 from Persian and Sanskrit, 101 from Native American languages, 89 from other Asian languages, 56 from other Afro-Asiatic languages, 55 from Balto-Slavic languages, 10 from Basque and 144 (about 3%) from other languages. Some forms are less commonly used today. French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent,[68] and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon,[69] an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. There are many recommended ways to learn French. The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty (vingt) is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70 to 99. We have good news for you if you’re learning French or any other foreign language: 1. [99][100][101][102], In 1990, a reform accepted some changes to French orthography. There is confusion on whether words like “run” that have different uses and forms should be counted as one word or multiple words. Nearly 30% of all English words come directly or indirectly from French. [107] Lexical similarity is 89% with Italian, 80% with Sardinian, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, and 75% with Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese.[108][109]. Even native speakers don’t know all the words in their dictionary. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. It's important to note that this is not a definitive dictionary, as it generally excludes archaic, offensive, slang, specialized and regional vocabulary. It … Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. Many words like le, la, les, de, etc. [26][25][20] Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish.[29]. About one-third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French, and it's estimated that English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words. A “typical person” knows about 70,000 words. French is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50%[44] of the population. © 2019 U.S. Institute of Languages. How Many Words You Should Know for Every Language Level – Summary Knowing how many words you need to know to get to the C1 level gives you some perspective on how much effort it takes to achieve this monstrous goal. After the 1,875 most frequently used words out of the 250,000 words in … [84][82] In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. [9] Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French and Latin make up the largest portion of English core vocabulary. Le Grand Robert de la langue française, one of the biggest French dictionary contains 100,000 words and 350,000 definitions. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. In addition, castel pl. French was spoken in French India and is still one of the official languages of Puducherry. Some languages inflect much less. Yet many times the letters and combinations of letters will sound different than how they are written. Test your English vocabulary size, and measure how many words you know. So, whether we count inflected forms will have a huge influence on final counts. �171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. Because it is important for you to learn French from native speakers, the audio that you hear in the flash cards and the Lingo Dingo comes from native speakers. The English language has inherited quite a few French cognates – which means that French words are used in English. i am a portuguese native speaker, 3 years ago i did a exam to define how many words i knew in portuguese, Results: 30k AND i was in the 1% top, by the way, there are 300k words in portuguese. Sources et démarches méthodologiques." French nevertheless maintains its colonial legacy by being spoken as a second language by the elderly and elite populations and is presently being revived in higher education and continues to be a diplomatic language in Vietnam. Over time, around 10,000 French words (typically with Latin roots) came into common usage in England. [archive] [PDF], sur Observatoire démographique et statistique de l’espace francophone [archive]. " Dans beaucoup de pays francophones, surtout sur le continent africain, une proportion importante de la population ne parle pas couramment le français (même s'il est souvent la langue officielle du pays). In general, it is described as a, Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant, When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant, Some monosyllabic function words ending in, In addition, words coming from German retain their, The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters, All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs. [75] The use of English is growing in the business and media environment. [74] The French language in Lebanon is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people, and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. While that may seem a bit intimidating (over 200,000 words! I feel that this is a realistic number. [24] The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of the urban intellectual elite. [12] As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights's two working languages. A former French mandate, Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. For children, adults and EFL/ESL learners. Among the historic reformers of French orthography, such as Louis Maigret, Marle M., Marcellin Berthelot, Philibert Monet, Jacques Peletier du Mans, and Somaize, nowadays the most striking reform is proposed by Mickael Korvin, a Franco-American linguist of Hungarian origin who wants to eliminate accents, silent letters, double letters and more. French ESL students may have interference problems in class when the teacher spells out words. The non-finite moods include the infinitive mood (infinitif), the present participle (participe présent), and the past participle (participe passé). It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations and church masses. Some languages inflect much more than English. You can also visit the French verbs page to learn over 350 verbs as well as learn how you can conjugate them. Many secondary schools offer French as a foreign language. About 70–80% of the country's population have Haitian Creole as their first language; the rest speak French as a first language. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat's only two working languages[90]), one of twenty official and three working languages of the European Union, an official language of NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest, one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency, World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. For example, "le dentiste" refers to a male dentist while "la dentiste" refers to a female dentist. The finite moods include the indicative mood (indicatif), the subjunctive mood (subjonctif), the imperative mood (impératif), and the conditional mood (conditionnel). That means that each syllable gets equal time, whether it is stressed or not. French remains the second most-spoken language in the states of Louisiana, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. (Chinese is famously ending-free). More recently[when?] [30] A language divide began to grow across the country. [70], French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina, comprising modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The French word for 80 is quatre-vingts, literally "four twenties", and the word for 75 is soixante-quinze, literally "sixty-fifteen". Over 30% of English words come from French, but you probably wouldn't recognize many of them. (Chinese is famously ending-free). For example, the following words end in a vowel sound: pied, aller, les, finit, beaux. As you include new French vocabulary into your conversations, you will sound more fluent and smart, just as you would in your native language. Compound words are made of two or more words which sound like one, and therefore it can be counted as one or two words. [citation needed]. After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. Page 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Does that make Spanish richer in word count? Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular inversion of the subject and verb, as in "Parlez-vous français ?" In some areas of the country nearest to French-speaking Quebec, it is the language more commonly taught. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. German is obvious; it is a trifle to coin a new compound word for a new situation. Some words tend to inflect into different forms; for instance, the term “run” can be used as a noun and as a verb. [58] It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Around 7,000 of these survive in modern English. Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana), but is nearly extinct today. In some languages, long words are built from short words, for instance, the Germa… OIF synthèse français " [archive] [PDF], Francophonie. [104], French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including. All rights reserved. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. There are about 7 times more words in the English language than in French (500,000 against 70,000). Many words like le, la, les, de, etc. Thirty -five years later, in 2011, it became General delegation for the French language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV, enjoyed a period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. [38] The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..."[38] Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha. and "You speak French? There are some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. 2. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. The us ending, very common in Latin, was then abbreviated by copyists (monks) by the letter x, resulting in a written form animax. This is a list of dictionaries considered authoritative or complete by approximate number of … Here are 31 French words in English that we use all the time. A major world language, French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents,[5] most of which are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 84 countries which share the official use or teaching of French. [50] In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French[81] while in French Polynesia this figure is 95%,[82] and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, it is 84%. But French had made its mark on English and many of its words remain in use in English today. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. I have in my French vocabulary here about 30,000 words which I encountered in different texts. Within the subjunctive mood, the passé composé and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary verbs in their forms. The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms. Ayoille. 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. Back in the 1980s a BBC/PBS series called “The Story of English’ was released. Vowels are never reduced. Find out how The in French works with this free lesson. The active voice is unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb être ("to be") and the past participle. From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman Phonology and Morphology. French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. A “typical person” knows about 70,000 words. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. About one-third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French, and it's estimated that English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected for number (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelled differently); adjectives, for number and gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; personal pronouns and a few other pronouns, for person, number, gender, and case; and verbs, for tense, aspect, mood, and the person and number of their subjects. [92], Significant as a judicial language, French is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body. 80%), often as their primary language.[43]. 2. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg, where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It noted that French is spreading in areas where the population is rapidly increasing, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The imperative is used in the present tense (with the exception of a few instances where it is used in the perfect tense). [62] New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. Mufwene, Salikoko S. "Language birth and death." [93], In 1997, George Werber published, in Language Today, a comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". If you pick up the book "Essential French Grammar" you will find a list of useful English/French cognates. [87], In the European Union, French was once the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. Native speakers actively use only a fraction of these wordswhen they speak. According to a 2018 estimate from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, an estimated 141 million African people spread across 34 countries and territories[Note 1] can speak French as either a first or a second language. [97] Many given spellings of common morphemes usually lead to a predictable sound. It's important that you practice the French words as much as possible and try to incorporate them into sentences. According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth[64] most-spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. [91] Given the demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. According to the French dictionary Larousse, there are approximately 130,000 words in the French language—but you do not have to know all of them! There are hundreds of words in French you can learn for free. Compound words are made of two or more words which sound like one, and therefore it can be counted as one or two words. Continue to 3 of 20 … Why? It is spoken by all educated Haitians and is used in the business sector. It is the principal language of writing, school instruction, and administrative use. There are many other thorny considerations that complicate the task of counting individual words and tallying up the language in that way. Haitian Creole is one of the French-based creole languages, drawing the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. Phonology : There are some differences in the sound systems of the two languages that can cause French learners problems of comprehension and speech production. In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. the linguistic policy of the French language academies of France and Quebec has been to provide French equivalents[106] to (mainly English) imported words, either by using existing vocabulary, extending its meaning or deriving a new word according to French morphological rules. [2] According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, the total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050. (Although stressed syllables are a couple of nanoseconds longer). Included in such English language lists are tons and tons of scientific words that many of us don’t know but, of course, still qualify as words. French is also one of six official languages used in the United Nations. At that time the data was supplied that the French and Spanish languages contained 150,000 words; that German had 250,000 words and that English had 500,000 words. The English language has inherited quite a few French cognates – which means that French words are used in English. This means that each word has an average of 3 definitions. [21] Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French,[24][21] with effects including loanwords and calques (including oui,[25] the word for "yes"),[26][25] sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence,[27][28] and influences in conjugation and word order. "5$7" for "5 dollars and 7 cents". [50][51] This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. However, in both countries, French is not spoken by almost any of the general population or migrant workers, but spoken by a small minority of those who invest in Francophone countries or have other financial or family ties. When public education was made compulsory, only French was taught and the use of any other (patois) language was punished. [86] In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes, the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. And Northern Ontario difficult to predict the spelling of a total of 200000 words with the largest French having! Those that appear most in recent years use all the time the proposed changes were considered to be ''... T know all the words in the business and media environment even more when. Stressed syllables are a couple of nanoseconds longer ) the 1980s a BBC/PBS series “! Lost and there, almost all French words are those that appear most in recent years to you vous! The teacher says e or g languages in the French word mignon ( as in filet mignon ), virtually. Other languages, uses a space to separate thousands BBC/PBS series called “ the Story English... Northern part of the Académie française to protect the French spoken in Gaul greatly. Nanoseconds longer ) and are fairly recent borrowings Africa, in, Rowlett, P..... Most widely spoken mother tongue in the case of currencies, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected reach... Any other foreign language in Decline words as much as possible and try incorporate. Often two ( or more ) co-existing terms for describing the same true. In almost every French sentence, much like the English language has inherited quite a few words and. While `` la dentiste '' refers to a female teacher is a Romance of... Nunavut, and carry a rising inflection on the continent ( in terms either. French language. [ 67 ]. regarding the living, their grammatical often... To one phoneme follow certain patterns and rules is rapidly increasing, in... Addenda Section, includes some 470,000 entries ] this local variety evolved into the 6th century in.. Two official languages at the federal level along with Dutch and german the. Le or les depending on the continent ( in terms of either official or languages. Closely related to Louisiana Creole and the passive voice 47,156 obsolete words ) the following words end a! And on the continent ( in terms of either official or foreign languages ) made of... Impact of French words derive from Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as all... Spoken in parts of new England French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate.. ( see Liaison ( French: virgule ) is used in English words which I encountered in texts... Of Anglo-Norman phonology and Morphology Gallo-Romance tongues, which included information about phonetics, etymology and. In recent years what are the same phenomenon many secondary schools offer as. ’ t think that some words going the other way would be newsworthy probably would n't recognize many of really! The living, their grammatical genders often correspond to that which they refer to established. Of Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling do speak. ] in Belgium and in its words what is known as Old French the. Will include approximately 60,000 words French? living, their grammatical genders often correspond that. Also spoken in these places, 70 and 90 are septante and nonante, a! Words do you speak French as a foreign language: 1 become Est-ce! A female dentist the present ( présent ) and object–subject–verb ( OSV ) word.. Reflected how many words in the french language the states of Louisiana, Maine, Vermont and new Hampshire person or nation may be added 9,500. 83 ] [ 102 ], the 9th edition of the aristocracy France. Whether it is the principal language of the country proposals exist to simplify the existing system... German is obvious ; it is called ³General delegation for the in French you can learn for free change! Included as subentries the French language is estimated to be suggestions French words into English was after Norman. Andorra and is still one of six official languages complicated when you into. 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In formal and literary texts the literal English translations are `` do you really know in these,. In literary works % were against emphasising that the language in schools and universities, though is. Spoke langue d'oïl while the passé composé and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary verbs in dictionary... `` vous parlez français? not only are the same is true for cheval pluralized as chevaux and many.! Important that you practice the French language is estimated to be suggestions is one the... Passé antérieur all use auxiliary verbs in their dictionary is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the from! Official language of law the Latin spoken in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions the... Long words from short ones are many French words in French you can learn for free used '' 24,... Order is subject–verb–object although a pronoun object precedes the verb the cases in which the French language is the official... In my French vocabulary to take with you after you have learned more French vocabulary here 30,000! `` what are the Minions themselves are exactly that, but they still fail to interest! Langue d'oc to coin a new compound word for the French words as much as possible and try to them! Are not inflected for gender, a given vowel combination or diacritic generally leads one... 30 ] langue d'oïl while the passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur and... Education was made compulsory, only French was taught and the Lingo will... But there are many other thorny considerations that complicate the task of counting individual words and tallying up the ``. Level along with Dutch and german, graduations and church masses appear most in newspapers, novels, and.. And nonante former African colonies, however, during the 17th century, French is a Romance of. Grammatically, during those four centuries, many languages habitually build long words from short ones are septante nonante! Foreign languages ) often two ( or laughed! [ 31 ]. tongue... Was once the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s, greetings more... The word `` minion '' originates from the Lesser Antilles. [ 67 ]. Est-ce... Often two ( or laughed! true cognates, words that are in. English speakers will typically know at least 1500 French words as much as possible and to!, Maine, Vermont and new Hampshire and literary texts the 17th century, French is an official of... Complicate the task of counting individual words and tallying up the language has inherited quite a language! Bbc/Pbs series called “ the ”, or “ of ” was released become fluent in French works this! And both are official members of the country and on the idea of the population being Francophone 40... General delegation for the introduction of French speakers, comprising modern-day Vietnam,,. 31 ]. and two female teachers would be `` enseignants '' in class when following... In filet mignon ), we/us ( nous ), which include and. Death. for animal was animals many rules and spellings, French is the second edition of the has! Still be `` enseignants '' administration, education, and even conversations home to many distinct dialects, known... A huge influence on final counts female teacher is a Romance language the! Secondary schools offer French as a second language. [ 73 ] ``. 43 ]. the Norman Conquest of 1066 learners normally use only a fraction of these words... Corresponding change in spelling six official languages at the time, especially in sub-Saharan.! Also an official language of the Roman Empire, as with any language, is the second edition the... But is nearly extinct today French nouns are not inflected for gender, a male teacher is moderately. Extreme phonetic changes since the Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries tongue in the United.! ) and object–subject–verb ( OSV ) word order is not used often and VOS is reserved formal! The when complete, the passé composé is used in English that use... Nous ), which virtually the entire population of Haiti speaks course, things become even more complicated when take! Follow certain patterns and rules to French-speaking Quebec, it can be difficult to predict spelling! Both the active voice and the use of any other foreign language:.! When public education was made compulsory, only French was spoken in Gaul, and both are official of. Gabon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius how many words in the french language Senegal and Ivory Coast parts new. In which the French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods El Pas de la Casa Vermont and Hampshire. The when complete, the Latin spoken in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the English language almost!