The 10 Most Amazing French Language Fun Facts

Do you think that the French language is unique? We certainly do!

There are many fun facts about French that everyone knows, such as their typical 'r' sound, nasal sounds, genders, or pronunciation, to name a few. But that's not it!

Apart from these well-known interesting facts, there are at least twice as many that you should know.

We've rounded up the 10 French language fun facts which show you how amazing French is.

Let's get started.

Fact #1 French As An Official Language in 29 Countries

French is one of the most spoken languages in the world. There are more than 220 million speakers all over the planet.

On every continent in the world, there are countries where French is the official language.

Besides France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, there are many French-speaking countries in Africa, such as Congo, Senegal, Djibouti, or Madagascar.

There are also several countries, such as French Guinea, which is a dependent entity but where French is spoken as a primary language.

French is also one of the languages of the European Union, the fourth most spoken one.

Fact #2 French is Spoken in the USA

Believe it or not, French is widely spoken in the USA.

It is the fourth most spoken language and the second most taught, after Spanish.

More than a 1.5million Americans claim French as their native language and between 6 and 11 million speakers claim it as their second language they speak fluently.

The main states where French is mostly spoken are Louisiana, Florida, New York, California, and New England.

How cool is that?

Fact #3 French is Romantic Romance Language

French wasn't always spoken in France.

The territory where France is now was settled by the Gauls, which was part of a Roman Empire where people spoke Latin. Gauls are probably familiar to you thanks to the comic books and movies and Asterix, brave Gaul, and his friend Obelix.

Over time, especially after the fall of the Roman Empire, Vulgar Latin, which was spoken among the simple people, developed and started to divide depending on the places their speakers lived.

So, slowly from Latin, French appeared but it wasn't declared as the language of France until the French revolution.

Fact #4 Ballet is French

If you want to practice ballet, you have to learn French.

Ballet was formalized in France and very quickly has spread to the rest of the world.

However, words and phrases that are connected to the ballet remained in French.

So, while you practice ballet, you might practice the words such as 'jambe,' 'plié,' and 'enjambé' since they describe different ballet positions.

Fact #5 French Cuisine Words Are Worldwide Used

No person in the world hasn’t heard of the delicious French cuisine, if not tried at least one French dish.

‘La soupe,’ ‘le restaurant,’ ‘la crème,’ ‘chef,’ ‘blanchet’ are just some of the words French food culture gave us.

‘Coq au vin,’ Soupe à l'oignon,’ or ‘Chocolate soufflé’ are one tiny part of the French cuisine that spread to every country on the planet.

There are also so many yummy French idioms about food that you would use even if you don’t speak the language.

Fact #6 French Pronunciation is Not The Same Everywhere

Some say that French pronunciation can be divided into European French, Canadian French, and African French.

That would be ideal, but things aren't the way they seem at first sight.

Just like in London there are many different pronunciations and accents and they differ even more from the one spoken in Oxford, in France for example, even in Paris, it is the same.

Parisian French is very sophisticated, in Marseille, their pronunciation is thicker, while in Lyon, you can hear the classic French accent.

Fact #7 Letters Don’t Sound As They Are Pronounced

Some letters like the letter ‘h’ aren’t pronounced at all. But they are regularly written.

Another odd letter is ‘z.’ When you pronounce it alone, it is something like ‘zedd.’ In words, however, it is pronounced just like in English. On the other hand, when you have this letter in verb conjugation,  you pronounce it differently.

Amusing, isn’t it?

Fact #8 The Most Common Letter in French is E

This even sounds logical, the most common letter you can find in French words is ‘e.’

 Have you ever thought about that? 

Words, such as ‘je,’ ‘elle,’ ‘merci’, etc.

E is everywhere!

Can you find a word, any word in French, that doesn't include the letter e?

Pretty hard, huh?

Moreover, four accent marks can be used in this letter, which is more than with any other letter.

Fact #9 English Words Are French And Vice Versa

Even if you don't speak French, you already have a decent amount of French vocabulary.

Now you must be wondering that you are too tired or you didn't understand that right.

No, you've read that perfectly right.

Manz English words we use are actually French, such as ‘brunette,’ ‘silhouette,’ or ‘café.’

There are even more. If you are curious to know which of the English words are French, take a look at the following article.

121 Most Common French Words Used in English

Fact #10 Only Math Geniuses Can Count in French

If you want to count in French, you have to be good at math, maybe even genius.

When you come to 70, counting becomes math. 70 is ‘soixante-dix,’ which can be translated as ‘sixty-ten.’ And then you continue counting ‘soixante-onze,’ ‘soixante-douze,’ which is ‘sixty-eleven’ and ‘sixty-twelve.’

If you think that’s challenging, keep counting up to 80. In French, ‘eighty is quatre-vingts,’ which is translated as ‘four-twenties.’ When you continue counting, ‘eighty-five’, for example, is ‘quatre-vingts-cinq’ or literally translated  ‘four-twenties-five.’

Do you think eighty and co. are difficult? Continue counting up to ninety. Ninety is ‘quatre-vingts-deux’ or in English, ‘four-twenties-ten.’

Think about it this way. When you succeed in counting in French without a mistake and fast, you will also learn to quickly use math operations as well.

 

Now, what do you think about French?

Does it seem even more interesting than before?

And all those lessons with French tutors now get a completely new dimension, don’t they?

We bet you have a lot of questions you would like to know about the French language.

 

So go ahead, don’t be shy. Book a lesson with French tutors, find out many other amusing facts about the French language, and feel free to share them with us in the comments below!