French
français
Pronunciation	[fʁɑ̃sɛ]
Native to	France
Region	Francophonie (French-speaking world) (geographical distribution below)
Native speakers	300 million speakers  (2019) An estimated 300 million French speakers (L1 plus L2; 2019)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Western Romance Gallo-Romance Oïl French
Early forms:	Old French Middle French French
Dialects	Tourangeau
Writing system	Latin (French alphabet) French Braille
Official status
Official language in	43 countries  Botswana  Belgium  Benin  Burkina Faso  Burundi  Cameroon  Canada  Central African Republic  Chad  Comoros  Congo  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Djibouti  Equatorial Guinea  Eswatini  France  The Gambia  Ghana  Gabon  Guinea  Haiti  Kenya  Ivory Coast  Luxembourg  Lesotho  Liberia  Malawi  Madagascar  Mali  Monaco  Niger  Nigeria  Namibia  Rwanda  Senegal  Seychelles  Sierra Leone  Switzerland  Tanzania  Togo  Uganda  Vanuatu  Zambia  Zimbabwe Administrative/cultural  Algeria  Cambodia  Laos  Lebanon  Mauritania  Mauritius  Morocco  Tunisia  Vietnam 15 dependent entities  Aosta Valley (Italy)  French Guiana  French Polynesia  Guadeloupe  Jersey  Louisiana (United States)  Maine (United States)  Mauritius  Martinique  Mayotte  New Caledonia  Quebec (Canada)  Réunion  Saint Barthélemy  Saint Martin  Saint Pierre and Miquelon  Wallis and Futuna Numerous international organisations
Regulated by	Académie française (French Academy) (France) Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Board of the French Language) (Quebec)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	fr
ISO 639-2	fre (B) fra (T)
ISO 639-3	fra
Linguasphere	51-AAA-i
Regions where French is the main language      Regions where it is an official language     Regions where it is a second language      Regions where it is a minority language
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French (French: français, pronounced "Fronce-eh") is a Romance language that was first spoken in France. It is also spoken in Belgium (Wallonia), Luxembourg, Canada (Quebec), Switzerland (Romandy) and with many different countries in Africa (Francophone Africa). About 220 million people speak French as a native or a second language. It has also been one of the roots of other languages such as the Haitian Creole language. Like the other Romance languages, its nouns have genders that are divided into masculine (masculin) and feminine (féminin) words.