To dictate in French on a Mac, open System Settings → Keyboard, go to Dictation, click Edit next to Languages, and select French with your region: France, Canada, Belgium or Switzerland. Start Dictation, then click the language abbreviation next to the cursor, or press the Globe key, and choose French. Punctuation commands are spoken in French ("virgule", "point d'interrogation"), and Apple lists all four French regions for on-device dictation and automatic punctuation.
The steps come from Apple's Dictate messages and documents on Mac in the Mac User Guide for macOS 27. If your screen differs, search System Settings for "Dictation" and look for a Languages row.
How do you turn on French dictation?
- Choose Apple menu → System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
- Go to Dictation and turn it on.
- Click Edit next to Languages and select French with the region you speak, for example French (Canada).
- Stay online while the Mac sets it up. Apple's feature page says on-device dictation "Requires download of speech models."
- In any text field, start Dictation with the Microphone key, your Dictation shortcut, or Edit → Start Dictation, and check that the language shown next to the cursor is French.
If you already type in French, you may find French in the list. Apple's Write in another language on Mac says that when you add an input source, its language is "automatically added to ... your list of Dictation languages (if available)". The keyboard layout and the dictation language are still separate settings: a French AZERTY keyboard does not switch Dictation to French, and English Dictation does not need an English keyboard.
Which French regions does Mac Dictation support?
Apple's macOS feature availability page, checked on 1 October 2026, lists these for French:
| French region | Dictation | On-device dictation | Auto-punctuation | Dictate emoji | More advanced Dictation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
| Canada | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
| Belgium | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
| Switzerland | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
French is one of the better-covered languages: every listed region has every standard Dictation feature. Pick the region that matches your accent and vocabulary rather than defaulting to France.
The last column is Apple's newer "More advanced Dictation", which sits under Apple Intelligence on the same page. On the day we checked, Apple listed it for English regions only, so French dictation works the standard way described here.
On-device means Apple says your Mac can process general text dictation locally. Apple's Dictation guide says the text below the Dictation switch in Keyboard settings tells you whether that applies on your Mac. Is Mac Dictation private? explains what it covers.
How do you say punctuation in French?
Apple publishes a French command list in the France edition of Commandes de dictée de texte sur Mac. The most useful ones:
| Say (French) | Result |
|---|---|
| point | . |
| virgule | , |
| point d'interrogation | ? |
| point d'exclamation | ! |
| deux-points | : |
| point-virgule | ; |
| points de suspension | … |
| guillemet ouvrant | « |
| guillemet fermant | » |
| parenthèse ouvrante / parenthèse fermante | ( ) |
| trait d'union | - |
| nouvelle ligne | new line |
| nouveau paragraphe | new paragraph |
| toutes maj | next word in capitals |
| symbole de l'euro | € |
Two French details worth knowing. First, the quotation commands produce French guillemets, « and », not English quotation marks. Second, the wording differs by edition. The Canadian French page, Commandes de dictée de texte sur Mac (Canada), lists "guillemet" rather than "guillemet ouvrant", "arobas" rather than "arobase" for @, and "signe euro" rather than "symbole de l'euro". If a command is typed out as a word, try the wording in your region's edition.
Since auto-punctuation is listed for all four regions, Dictation adds commas, periods and question marks by itself. Say the command when you want a different mark.
How do you get French accents right?
Apple's command list has no commands for accented letters. Dictation writes whole words, so accents come with the word it recognizes. If an accent is wrong, check whether Dictation picked a different word.
- Ambiguous words: Apple says ambiguous text is underlined in blue. Click it and choose an alternative.
- Typing a fix: on a Mac with Apple silicon, Apple says you can type while you dictate without stopping.
- A single accent: Apple's accent marks page says to press and hold a letter key, such as e, then choose é, è, ê or ë from the menu.
If French accents never appear and words look like English, the active dictation language is probably English. Check the abbreviation next to the cursor.
Can you mix French and English when dictating?
You can set up French and English together and switch between them while you dictate, by clicking the language next to the cursor or pressing the Globe key. Apple's Dictation guide, checked on 1 October 2026, describes choosing the language yourself. It does not describe Dictation detecting a change of language automatically.
Because Apple describes one active language at a time, switch languages for whole English passages, and check one-off English names inside French sentences, which may not come out as you expect. If the Globe key does something else on your Mac, see Mac dictation shortcut.
What about third-party dictation apps?
Apple's Dictation is the place to start for French. It is free and every French region Apple lists has on-device dictation.
SuprFlow's requirements page lists 19 languages, French among them, and its setup asks you to choose a speech-recognition language. We have not tested its accuracy per language and make no accuracy claim for French. How to test SuprFlow with another language gives a short script-based test. SuprFlow costs $125 once and has no free tier, so run Apple's free Dictation through the same test first.
A 10-minute test for your own French
- Write four made-up sentences: two ordinary ones, one with an English name, and one with a date, an amount and a negation. For example: « La réunion avec Jordan Chen a lieu le 14 mai. Le montant est de 2 750 euros, pas 2 570. »
- Dictate them into Notes with your French region active.
- Check accents, the name, the numbers and the "pas".
- Say "guillemet ouvrant" and "guillemet fermant" around a phrase and confirm the guillemets.
- Switch to English with the cursor menu, dictate one English sentence, and switch back.
Questions people ask
How do I dictate in French on a Mac?
Add French under System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → Languages → Edit, start Dictation, and choose French from the language shown next to the cursor.
Does Mac dictation put accents on French words?
Yes, as part of each recognized word. Apple has no separate accent commands. If a word is wrong, click the blue-underlined alternative or retype it; press and hold a letter key to choose an accented letter.
Does French dictation work offline on a Mac?
Apple lists French for France, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland under on-device dictation, after a speech model download. Keyboard settings will confirm whether dictation is processed on your Mac.
Why does Mac dictation type « instead of quotation marks in French?
Apple's French command list maps "guillemet ouvrant" and "guillemet fermant" to « and ». That is the standard French result.
Related guides
- How to use voice to text on a Mac
- Mac dictation commands and punctuation
- Dictate in Spanish on a Mac
- How to test SuprFlow with another language
- Is Mac Dictation private?
- Mac Dictation not working? Causes and fixes
Sources
- Apple — Dictate messages and documents on Mac
- Apple — macOS feature availability: Dictation
- Apple — Commandes de dictée de texte sur Mac (France)
- Apple — Commandes de dictée de texte sur Mac (Canada)
- Apple — Write in another language on Mac
- Apple — Enter characters with accent marks on Mac
- SuprFlow — System requirements