In today’s lesson we’ll cover the adjective for “French” in French: français / française. We’ll also look at the name for the French langauge (le français), as well as the words for a Frenchman (un Français), a French woman (une Française) and the French people (les Français).
français / française
French
Français, française
Word origin
The modern French word français (French) comes from the Middle French françois and Old French franceis, which in turn comes from the Latin franciscus (the Frank, Frenchman).
Example sentences
As mentioned, when talking about French in the context of the langauge name, français is written in the lowercase and must be preceded by the definite aritcle, le (the).
J’apprends le français en ligne.
I’m learning French online.
When discussing the French language but not in the context of learning or studying, the definite article is not needed. Hence, “Vous parlez bien français” (You speak French well).
The next two sentences provide examples of the masculine and feminine adjectives for French: français and 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.
For these next two examples, français(e) must be capitalized: un Français (a Frenchman) and une Française (a French woman). The verb se marier means “to get married” and always appears in the reflexive form.
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.
When referring to French people or the French population as a whole, use the capitalized les Français.
Les Français sont très fiers de leur patrimoine.
The French are very proud of their heritage.
Related lessons
- Américain – American
- Allemand – German
- Country names, nationalities, languages
- Pays – country
- Paris, Parisian
- Franc, franche – honest
References
