French language

Writing system

French is written using the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and two ligatures (æ, œ).

Related Topics:
Latin alphabet - Circumflex - Acute accent - Grave accent - Diaeresis - Cedilla - Ligature

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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. However, some conscious changes were also made to restore Latin orthography:

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• Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum)
• Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem)

As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone. 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: nez, pied, aller, les, lit, beaux. The same words followed by a vowel, however, sound the consonants: beaux-arts, les amis, pied-à-terre.

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On the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable sound, and the Académie française works hard to enforce and update this correspondence. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme.

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The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.

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• grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). Over an e, indicates the sound {{IPA|/ɛ/}}.
• acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound {{IPA|/e/}}. Often indicates the historical deletion of a following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter.
• circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û): Over an e or o, indicates the sound {{IPA|/ɛ/}} or {{IPA|/o/}}, respectively. Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension, it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to owe"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu).
• diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. Diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses) and in modern editions of old French texts. Since the 1990 orthographic rectifications, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) was moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe. Words coming from German retain the old Umlaut if applicable but uses French pronounciation, such as capharnaüm(mess).
• cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced {{IPA|/s/}} when it would otherwise be pronounced /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with c = {{IPA|}} before e), je lançai "I threw" (c would be pronounced {{IPA|}} before a without the cedilla).

The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words (sœur "sister" {{IPA|/sœʁ/}}, œuvre "work " {{IPA|/œvʁ/}}, cœur "heart" {{IPA|/kœʁ/}}, cœlacanthe "Coelacanth" {{IPA|/selakɑ̃t/}}), sometimes in words of Greek origin, spelled with an οι {{IPA|/oj/}} diphthong which became oe in Latin, pronounced {{IPA|/e/}} in French (and other Romance languages): œsophage {{IPA|/ezɔfaʒ/}}, œnologie {{IPA|/enɔlɔʒi/}}. It may also appear in œu digraph (or œ alone in œil "eye"), in words that were once written with eu digraph (which could be read {{IPA|/y/}} or {{IPA|/œ/}}, depending on the word): bœuf "ox" {{IPA|/bœf/}} (Old French buef or beuf), mœurs {{IPA|/mœʁ/}} "custom", œil "eye" {{IPA|/œj/}}, etc. In these cases, the Latin etymon must be spelled with an o where the French word has œu: bovem > bœuf, mores > mœurs, oculum > œil.

Related Topics:
Romance languages - Digraph

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Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.

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Some common phrases

• French: français {{IPA|/fʁɑ̃.sɛ/}} ("fran-seh")
• hello: bonjour {{IPA|/bɔ̃.ʒuʁ/}} ("bon-zhoor")
• I love you. : Je t'aime. ("jhe tem")
• My name is _____: Je m'appelle _____ ("zje-ma-pelle")
• good-bye: au revoir {{IPA|/o ʁə.vwaʁ/}} ("o-ruh-vwar")
• please: s'il vous plaît {{IPA|/sil vu plɛ/}} ("sill voo pleh")
• thank you: merci {{IPA|/mɛʁ.si/}} ("mairr-see")
• you're welcome: de rien (Literally: It's nothing) {{IPA|/də ʁjɛ̃/}} ("duh ryeh"), je vous en prie, il n'y a pas de quoi (France); bienvenue {{IPA|/bjɛ̃.v(ə).ny/}} ("byeh-venuh") (Quebec)
• that one: celui-là {{IPA|/sə.lɥi la/}} ("su-lwee la"), colloq. {{IPA|/sɥi la/}} ("swee la"), or celle-là (feminine) {{IPA|/sɛl la/}} ("cell-la")
• how much?: combien? {{IPA|/kɔ̃.bjɛ̃/}} ("kom-byen")
• English: anglais {{IPA|/ɑ̃.glɛ/}} ("ahng-gleh")
• yes: oui {{IPA|/wi/}} ("wee"), colloq. ouais (seldom written) {{IPA|/wɛ/}} ("way")
• no: non {{IPA|/nɔ̃/}} ("non")
• I'm sorry: Je suis désolé(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine); {{IPA|/ʒə sɥi de.zo.le/}} ("zhahn swee deh-zo-leh"), colloq. {{IPA|/ʃsɥi de.zo.le/}} ("shswee deh-zo-leh"). Pardon ("par-dohn")
• I don't understand: Je ne comprends pas. {{IPA|/ʒə nə kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃ pa/}} ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa"), colloq. Je comprends pas {{IPA|/ʃkɔ̃.pʁɑ̃ pa/}} (with dropping of "ne") ("shcomprahn pa")
• Where are the toilets? : Où sont les toilettes ? {{IPA|/u sɔ̃ le twa.lɛt/}} ("oo son leh twa-let")
• Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin ("chin"), Santé {{IPA|/sɑ̃.te/}}("san-teh") or À la vôtre {{IPA|/a la votʁ/}} ("a la votr")
• Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? {{IPA|/paʁ.le vu ɑ̃.glɛ/}} ("par-leh voo ang-gleh") OR "Vous parlez anglais ?" {{IPA|/vu paʁ.le ɑ̃.glɛ/}} ("voo par-leh ang-leh")
• Excuse me : Excusez-moi ("eh-skyu-zay mwa")
• Good night : Bonne nuit ("bun nwee")
• Hi !: Salut ! ("sal-oo")
• I'm tired : Je suis fatigué(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine) ("jhe swee fah-tee-gay")
• Are you coming ? : Est-ce que vous venez ? (or with close friends and relatives: tu viens?)
• I'm thinking about it : J'y pense. ("jhee pahnss")
• I'm going to the grocer's: Je vais à l'épicerie. ("jhe vay a lay-pee-ser-ee")
• We're going to school: On va à l'école. (colloquial) ("ohn va a lay-cohl")
• She's so pretty. : Elle est si jolie. ("el ay see jho-lee")
• Our neighbors to the South : Nos voisins du sud ("noh vwah-zen due sued")
• Could you help me ? : Pourriez-vous m'aider ? ("poo-ree-ay voo may-day")
• May I help you ? : Puis-je vous aider? ("pwee-jha voo zay-day")
• It's the best of worlds : C'est le meilleur des mondes. ("say le may-yuhr day mohnd")
• Go to bed ! : Va te coucher ! ("vah te coo-shay")
• I'm watching TV. : Je regarde la télé. ("jhe re-gard lah tay-lay")
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. ("wee-kee-pay-dee-ah, lahns-ee-kloh-pay-dee lee-bruh")
• I am the state. : L'État, c'est moi. ("leh-tah seh-mwa")