francais

Francais, or français, refers to the French language and to things pertaining to France. In English, the language is called French; the native term français derives from the Latin Francus via the Frankish people. The English and French terms reflect the historical contacts between the Romance-speaking world and Germanic peoples.

Francais developed from Gallo-Romance dialects in northern Gaul and was standardized by the 17th century. The Académie française, founded in 1635, regulates spelling and grammar.

French is an official language in France and in several other countries. It is widely spoken in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (notably Quebec), and many African nations. Major varieties include Metropolitan French, Canadian French, Belgian French, Swiss French, and African French; they are largely mutually intelligible but differ in pronunciation and vocabulary.

The writing system uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics such as é, è, ê, à, and ç. Nouns have gender, and verbs are conjugated across multiple tenses and moods, with agreement between subject, verb, and adjectives.