Published February 22, 2024 • Updated June 4, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Français / française — Meaning and Pronunciation
Français and française can refer to the French language, something from France, or a French person. As an adjective, français is masculine and française is feminine. The word is commonly used to talk about language, nationality, culture, and people from France.
IPA pronunciations of français and française are /fʁɑ̃.sɛ/ and /fʁɑ̃.sɛz/, which sound like “frahn-seh” and “frahn-sehz”.
Français capitalization rules
Language names, nationalities, and groups of people from a given country follow specific capitalization rules in French. The table below shows when français is written with a lowercase letter and when it takes a capital letter.
| Usage | French | Capitalized? |
|---|---|---|
| Language name | le français | No |
| To speak French | parler français | No |
| To learn/study French | apprendre le français, étudier le français (article required) | No |
| Nationality (a Frenchman, a Frenchwoman) | un Français, une Française | Yes |
| The French people | les Français | Yes |
| Adjective | français, française | No |
Example Sentences
1. Language — le français
J’apprends le français en ligne.
I’m learning French online.
2. Adjective — français / française
J’aime beaucoup cet auteur français.
I like this French author a lot.
Martin veut acheter une bagnole française.
Martin wants to buy a French car.
3. A Frenchman / frenchwoman — un Français / une Française
Thomas se marie avec une jolie Française.
Thomas is getting married to a pretty French woman.
Sylvie se marie avec un Français de Paris.
Sylvie is getting married to a Frenchman from Paris.
4. The French (people) – les Français
Les Français sont très fiers de leur patrimoine.
The French are very proud of their heritage.
🌎 Learn how to say 100+ countries, nationalities, and languages in French, with easy-to-follow tables and grammar explanations.
Related words and expressions
- la langue française — the French language
- parler français — to speak French
- apprendre le français — to learn French
- un francophone / une francophone — a French speaker
- la francophonie — the French-speaking world
- Impossible n’est pas français — nothing is impossible
- parler français comme une vache espagnole — to speak very poor French
- à la française — French style
📚 Related lessons
👉 américain (American)
👉 allemand (German)
🚀 Continue learning on FrenchLearner!
👉 French Word of the Day (200+ lessons) »
👉 French verb conjugations »
👉 French vocabulary lists »
👉 French song lyrics »
👉 French grammar lessons »
