How to Say the Countries of the World in French

Learning the French names for countries is relatively easy if you are already familiar with the name in English. In most instances, the translation is as simple as attaching something like -ique or -ie to the end of the name. That means that this a very easy French lesson which students of any level can learn.

Les Pays en Français

Below is a list of virtually all of the countries in the world, organized alphabetically from English to French. As you study geography in the French language, you will find it useful to learn how to speak about the countries and be able to use them in sentences.

Remember that you need to use a definite article (the "the," such as le or la) for countries. Some of the countries do not have a definite article because they are islands. Articles are normally not used with islands.

You will also need to know the gender of the country in order to use it in a preposition. Nearly all countries that end in -e are feminine, and the rest are masculine. There are just a few exceptions:

• le Belize
• le Cambodge
• le Mexique
• le Mozambique
• le Zaïre
• le Zimbabwe

In those cases and for countries that use l' as the definitive article, the gender is indicated next to the name.