What Are the French Names of Countries, Nationalities, and Languages?

Saying the French names of countries around the world is fairly easy once you memorize the names and practice pronouncing them. Here, we provide a vocabulary lesson that should be quite easy, because French names for countries are similar to what you would call a country in English. The only tricky part in saying a country's name in French is making sure you use the correct prepositions, which change with the gender of the country or continent you're discussing.

Beyond learning various countries' names in French, this lesson will show you how French people describe the nationality of a country's residents and the names of the primary languages spoken in countries around the world. Plus, below, you'll review the French names of the world's continents. 

Note that the additional letters required to make nationalities and adjectives feminine are indicated in parentheses after the relevant words. Finally, wherever you see a little speaker after a name, you can click on the name and hear the word pronounced.

The Continents (Les Continents)

There are seven continents of the world (seven is the prevailing convention at present, while some countries list six continents and others, five).

Notice the similarities between the English and French names of countries. The French adjectives are also similar to what is spoken in English; when speaking French, you can use these adjectives to describe the residents of each continent.

Languages and Nationalities (Les Langues et Les Nationalités)

Our list of country names in French would be an extremely long one if we were to include all the countries in the world, so we only included a small selection in this lesson. Our list is designed to give you an idea of how countries, nationalities, and languages are translated between English and French (it's an indicative list, not a comprehensive list of countries). That said, we do have a comprehensive list of the French names for the world's countries, which you will do well to review.

For nationalities, the proper noun and adjective are the same, except the proper noun is capitalized, while the adjective is not. Thus: un Américain but un type américain.

You'll also note that the masculine adjective for many of these countries is spelled and pronounced just like the languages. 

Only the primary languages for each country are included in the list, though many countries have citizens who speak many languages. Also, note that the names of the languages are always masculine and are not capitalized.