Protips: The little things you learn to pro up your French

In English, adjectives that express demonyms (nationality, ethnicity, etc.) are always capitalised, as are the names of languages. E.g. ‘She is French’, ‘He speaks German’.

In French, however, demonyms are always capitalised whereas languages are not. Compare the following examples:

Les Français sont des râleurs – French people are whiners

Elle parle français couramment – She speaks French fluently

In the first example, the demonym (nationality) is capitalised as it is considered a proper noun, but in the second example it is not capitalised as it refers to the language instead of the people.

When the demonym acts as a modifier (i.e. an adjective), it is capitalised in English but not in French:

Tu savais qu’en fait les frites sont d’origine belge ? – Did you know French fries are actually of Belgian origin?