French Phrases: Names of school subjects in French

Here are the names of the most common subjects studied in French schools. Names of languages are masculine and names of sciences are generally feminine.

Note: as in England, various weird and whacky initials have appeared in French education system over the years for names of various school subjects. At GCSE or SAT level, you generally don't have to learn all these various initials. The most useful and widely used in ordinary secondary schools are probably EPS and SVT.

Also available:
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tronc commun	tʁõ kɔmæ̃	core subjects
allemand	almɑ̃	German
anglais	ɑ̃gle	English
art	aʁ	art
biologie	bjoloʒi	biology
chimie	ʃimi	chemistry
enseignement scientifique	ɑ̃sɛnjmɑ̃ sjɑ̃tifik	general science, =dual-award science
EPS1	øpeɛs	PE, sport and physical education
espagnol	ɛspanjɔl	Spanish
français	fʁɑ̃se	French
géo(graphie)	ʒeogʁafi	geography
grec	gʁɛk	greek
histoire	istwaʁ	history
histoire-géo(graphie)	istwaʁʒeo	humanities, history and geography
IGC2	iʒese	=ICT
langue vivante	lɑ̃g vivɑ̃t	modern language
latin	latæ̃	latin
mathématiques	matematik	mathematics
physique	fizik	physics
religion	ʁəliʒjõ	religion, religious studies
SES3	ɛsøɛs	economic and social sciences
STI4	ɛstei	industrial sciences
STL5	ɛsteɛl	laboratory sciences
ECJS6	øseʒiɛs	=PSE, civil education
SVT7	ɛzvete	biology, earth sciences

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Notes:
1. éducation physique et sportive
2. informatique, gestion et communication
3. sciences économiques et sociales
4. sciences et technologies industrielles
5. sciences et technologies de laboratoire
6. éducation civique, juridique et sociale
7. sciences de la vie et de la terre

Grammar: talking about school subjects

In general, when talking about an individual school subject, French speakers always use the article le, la or l' with the name of the subject. So for example:

However, the article is not generally used:

• with the preposition en;
• in compounds with de (prof de..., cours de...), or with "quantitive" expressions (peu de..., beaucoup de...); un cours de mathématiques;
• in lists of subjects.

For example:

See also:
 educational establishments in French
 French phrases for talking about school and education

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