Knowing the names of countries in French is essential for a beginner. Not only will it allow you to speak about yourself properly, but also it will let you understand your speaker when they introduce themselves.
In France, especially in big cities like Paris, Mareseille or Nice you will come across people of different origins and nationalities. It will be easier for you to understand them if you know the names of the countries they are coming from.
What you need to know about the names of countries in French is that they normally come with a definite article (masculine or feminine). However, they are often dropped, depending on the context and the sentences in which they are used.
For a beginner, it is better not to bother with masculine / feminine of countries in French, for now. If you want to learn more about it, you could read this lesson.
Notice that in a sentece like "I live in France": J'habite en France, there isn't any article, that is, there is no le or la or les.
However, you need to say J'habite au Japon. / J'habite aux Etats-Unis. / J'habite au Canada.
You just cannot say J'habite en Japon, or J'habite en Etats-Unis. It is just the ways it is and the simplest way is to accepted it and learn by using these sentences.
Here is the lesson with some of the most popular country names. There is also a map and a and an exercise to print with it.
You may write in comments where you live using the sentence above and the name of the country below.
Names of Popular Countries in French
English |
French |
English |
French |
Spain |
Espagne |
Poland |
Pologne |
Portugal |
Portugal |
Sweden |
Suède |
Iceland |
Islande |
Turkey |
Turqie |
Ireland |
Irlande |
France |
France |
England |
Angleterre |
Norway |
Norvège |
Scotland |
Ecosse |
Ukraine |
Ukraine |
Morocco |
Maroc |
Romania |
Roumanie |
Algeria |
Algérie |
Bulgaria |
Bulgarie |
Tunisia |
Tunisie |
Finland |
Finlande |
Germany |
Allemagne |
Belarus |
Biélorussie |
Austria |
Autriche |
Switzerland |
Suisse |
Italy |
Italie |
Netherlands |
les Pays-bas / Hollande |
Greece |
Grèce |
Belgium |
Belgique |
Russia |
Russie |
Hungary |
Hongrie |
Japan |
Japon |
China | Chine |
The U.S.A |
Les Etats-Unis |
Canada | Canada |
Exercises
Click on the image below to get this exercise in PDF version. It is 1€ only and this way you will help simple-french create new content.
Where’s the other countries?
Do you have some specific countries in mind ?
yeah where r they