French is the leid that's spak in Fraunce, Canadae (Quebec, New Brunswick), Soothren Belgium, Luxembourg (alang wi German and Letzebuergisch) an Wastren Swisserland (La suisse Romande). It wis spreid tae Africae, Sooth Aest Asie an pairts o the New Warld throu French colonisation. French is a Romance leid, meanin that it comes frae the Laitin leid. Like maist Romance leids, its nouns haes masculine an feminine gender.

French
français
Pronunciation[fʁɑ̃sɛ]
Native taeFraunce, now worldwide
(See geographical distribution below)
Native speakers
~150 million (2017)[1]
An estimated 274 million total speakers (L1 plus L2) (2014)[2][3]
Early forms
Latin (French alphabet)
French Braille
Leid codes
ISO 639-1fr
ISO 639-2fre (B)
fra (T)
ISO 639-3fra
Linguasphere51-AAA-i
  Regions where French is the main leid
  Regions where it is an offeecial leid
  Regions where it is a second leid
  Regions where it is a minority leid

History

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In times bygane the Celtic fowk bydit in whit the day is Fraunce. In thae days the land wis cried Gallia or Gaul. Romans invadit Gallia an makkit pairts o it intae Roman provinces. Syne Romans spak the Laitin, the local fowk learnt the Laitin an stertit tae spaek it. Thair ain leid, Gaullic, wisna aften spak, altho the leids o Celtic oreegin is spak the day in some airts the like o Brittany.

Early Influences

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The muckle pairt o French vocabulair comes frae Latin. Wirds are lent tae Latin till now, if they're lackin in the common leid.

We ignor hou Gauls leid haes impregnatit French leid. Mebbe a hunderd o wirds, as char/charrue (car/pleuch), mouton (mutton/sheep), crème (cream), an som ithers that come frae Latin uise o Gallis wirds. An for its impact on pronounciation, we dinnae ken till whit it is.

The Fransick (the Germanic leid o Dauntoners o Fraunce in the Early Middle-Eige), as a superstrate, haes gi'en aloot o important wirds (gris (grey), blanc (white), blond, bleu (blou), etc.)

  • The Laitin leid wis chyngin, an in medieval Fraunce it chynged intae twa leids or byleids: langue d'oc an langue d'oil, meanin "leid o oc" an "leid o oil", frae the wirds meanin "aye" in the twa leids. The northren fowk bydin aboot Paris spak langue d'oil, an the soothren fowk bydin aboot Toulouse spak langue d'oc. The French leid o the day comes frae langue d'oil, speceifically the accent o Touraine. Langue d'oc, nou cryed Occitan, is aye spak bi some fowk in soothren Fraunce.

Contemporary an modren history

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In dark blue the kintras whaur French is gey well an aften spoke, in licht blue whaur it is jast a simple cultural leid, wi ithers.
  • In 1539, Villers-Cotterêts ordonancy, signit bi François Ist imposes French as official leid o the Kinrick.

Fraunce haes been the kintra wi the seicont biggest empire o the XIXt an XVIIIt centuries, jast efter England. Sae the cultural an lingueestic inheritance o French is gey important warldwide.

  • French is, for example, the leid that spread maist speedy in the African continent (as official or fremmit leid). French is teachit in aloot o varsities aw aroond the warld. French is the seicont maist studied leid in European schuils. Syne Romanie an Bulgaria enterit in European Union in Januar 2007, French is mair studied than German in Europe. See, French is ane o the maist studied leids o the warld, but som fowks deplore it is lesser teachit year efter year, acaus o the pouer o globalization an "American Imperalism".

Verb Examples

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tae be: être (présent)

Pronoun + verb
Je suis
Tu es
Il est
Nous sommes
Vous êtes
Ils sont

tae gang: aller (passé simple)

Pronoun + verb
J'allai
Tu allas
Il alla
Nous allâmes
Vous allâtes
Ils allèrent

tae dae: faire (imparfait)

Pronoun + verb
Je faisais
Tu faisais
Il faisait
Nous faisions
Vous faisiez
Ils faisaient

Manger (tae eat)

Je mange
Tu manges
Il mange
Nous mangeons
Vous mangez
Ils mangent

Tae eat (imperfect form)

Pronoun + verb
Je mangeais
Tu mangeais
Il mangeait
Nous mangions
Vous mangiez
Ils mangeaient

References

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  1. "Ethnologue: French". Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  2. "French language is on the up, report reveals". 6 November 2014.
  3. http://www.francophonie.org/Welcome-to-the-International.html Archived 2014-04-01 at the Wayback Machine Organisation internationale de la Francophonie