evolang.
Browse
About
French · Culture · A2 to C1

The regions of France: l’Hexagone, Paris and la province, and the people of each region

L’Hexagone · tap a region
A simplified tile map of the 13 regions of mainland France, laid out roughly north to south.
Capitale régionale · Paris Île-de-France eel duh FRONSS
les Franciliens · the peoplela baguette · the Paris loaf
Paris and its suburbs: almost one French person in five lives here.
JeIvisliveen Île-de-France.in Île-de-France
zhuh vee on eel duh FRONSS · “I live in the Paris region.”Regions take en: en Bretagne, en Normandie.

Short answer: mainland France is called l’Hexagone for its six-sided shape. It has 13 regions, split into 96 départements with numbers you see on post codes and number plates (75 is Paris). Everywhere outside Paris is la province. The people of a region or city have their own name, a demonym: les Bretons, les Marseillais. Overseas France, les Outre-mer, adds five more regions.

Numbers on everything

Le 75, le 13, le 69: départements by number

French people often name a département by its number: Il habite dans le 93 (he lives in Seine-Saint-Denis). The numbers came from alphabetical order in 1790, so 01 is Ain and 75 is Paris.

Naming the people

Un Breton, une Bretonne

Demonyms follow the same gender rules as adjectives (describing words): add -e for a woman, and sometimes double the last consonant. Use a capital letter for the people, a small letter for the adjective: les Bretons but la cuisine bretonne.

Placea mana womanPattern
Parisun Parisienune Parisienne-ien → -ienne: double the n
Marseilleun Marseillaisune Marseillaise-ais → -aise: just add -e
Bretagneun Bretonune Bretonne-on → -onne: double the n
Lyonun Lyonnaisune Lyonnaise-ais → -aise
Normandieun Normandune Normandeadd -e; the d is now heard
Niceun Niçoisune Niçoise-ois → -oise
Saint-Étienneun Stéphanoisune Stéphanoisefrom the Latin name: learn it
The capital and the rest

Paris et la province

France is unusually centred on its capital, and the language reflects it. These words come up whenever the French talk about where they live.

Paris
JeImontego-upà Paris.to Paris
zhuh MONT a pa-REE · “I’m going up to Paris.”
Métro,metroboulot,workdodo.sleep
may-TROH, boo-LOH, doh-DOH · “Commute, work, sleep: the Paris grind.”
Ilhehabitelivesen banlieue.in suburb
eel a-BEET on bon-LYUH · “He lives in the suburbs.”
La province
JeIdescendsgo-downen province.to the provinces
zhuh day-SON on pro-VANSS · “I’m going down to the provinces.”
JeIrentrego-backau pays.to-the home-region
zhuh RONTR oh pay-EE · “I’m going back home (to my region).”
C’estit’sla Francethe Franceprofonde.deep
say la FRONSS pro-FOND · “It’s deep rural France.”
Les Outre-mer

La Guadeloupe, la Réunion, la Guyane

Five overseas regions are as French as Brittany: they use the euro, vote in French elections and are part of the EU. Islands take à or en in irregular ways, so learn each with its preposition.

Keep going

Related guides

Four more stops on the tour of France, each carrying on from a section above.

  1. 1
    From the tile mapRegional French →Accents and words region by region: septante in the east, chocolatine in the south-west.
  2. 2
    From the cheese of each regionFood culture →The full Sunday meal, the cheese board and the apéro.
  3. 3
    From the département numbersNumbers →Read every number, from 01 to the 2A of Corsica.
  4. 4
    From les Outre-merThe francophone world →French on five continents, from Québec to Dakar.