Naissance de la langue française

Modern French dates from about the year 1300, but where did it come from? Learn about the birth of the French language in this 5-part series of bilingual articles about the development of French over the centuries.*

After listening to the audio, click any word for the English translation and links to related grammar lessons.

Note: The tenses in this French article and its English translation don't match! In French, we use the present tense to describe historical stories like this to evoke a sense of immediacy, whereas in English, we commonly use the past tense - learn more about historical French tenses.


Listening:

 

 

*The Development of French

  1. Birth of the French language
  2. Dialects and regional languages
  3. Middle French
  4. Classical French
  5. Modern French

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Click any word in the text to see its translation and related grammar lessons.

Thinking...