- The word takes a capital letter when it is a name that designates a person of French nationality.
- It takes a lower case when it is an adjective relating to nationality.
- It always takes a lower case when it designates the language.
You may have wondered: does "French" take a lowercase or uppercase? Well, it depends on what "French" we speak. And no, it is not a question of differentiating between the French "of origin" and the others: the following rule applies to all languages and nationalities.
Nationality: noun or adjective?
Depending on its position in the sentence, the word "French" can be a noun or an adjective. Let's take these two examples (and too bad for the cliché):
- The French complain all the time.
- French citizens complain all the time.
In the first sentence, the subject is "the French": "French" is a noun.
In the second, the subject is "French citizens": "citizens" is a noun followed by the adjective "French".
As you will have understood, used as a noun, nationality takes a capital letter, but used as an adjective, it does not.
Thus, we will write:
- Brazilians are my friends.
- My friends are Brazilian.
- I saw a Chinese man on TV.
- The Chinese president spoke on TV.
Language
Regarding languages, it's simpler: they never take a capital letter. We will therefore write:
- I speak French fluently.
- I am learning Spanish.
- German is a complicated language.
How to remember it?
If you are afraid of tangling your brushes, just remember the following sentence:
"A Frenchman who speaks French with his French friends."
The first French is a noun, the second a language and the third an adjective. Only the former is capitalized. And to remind yourself, tell yourself that it's normal: it's the first, so it's the strongest.
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