How many French words

are there in English? How

did they get there?
Nearly 30% of all English words come directly or
indirectly from French.
English speakers will typically know at least 1500 French words
without needing to study the language.
How did they get there?
Because the last successful invasion
of England was undertaken by the
French.
THIS IS ALL HIGHLY SIMPLIFIED, BUT......
In 1066, William the Bastard
(also known as William the
Conqueror), invaded England
in pursuance of his claim to
the English crown. The
invasion succeeded, and
William was crowned William
I of England, overthrowing
the preceding line of English
The new monarch placed
French noblemen in
positions of authority
and wealth throughout
England, and French
became the language of
the ruling class (the
English being pretty
thoroughly repressed). It
was nearly 200 years
before a descendant of
William could manage
Unlike the Romans, the Normans introduced a legal and
enough English to administrative system written in their own language. This
address Parliament. was Anglo-Norman, a French dialect. 
As a result of this, the
language of the country
became an amalgam of the
older English (which was
basically Germanic) and the
French of the new rulers. The
two languages existed side by
side and terms from both came
into the modern English; the
squires had to communicate
with their serfs, after all. And
gradually the French nobles
became English, and the
English took a fair bit of
French into their language.
French became incorporated
into the language.
Latin is also an influence; as the language of the Church (then the source of
most education) it also influenced English. Since French is closely related to
the Latin languages of Southern Europe, this blurs the picture: some words
we may think of as French have Latin roots, and may have entered English
as Latin or as French words.
This is in fact something which contributes to the richness of English: we
have two words for many things. The Germanic 'kuh' and the French 'boeuf'
both come into English: and we have Cows in the fields and Beef on our
plates. The two inheritances can provide different meanings, or different
nuances.
Over time, around 10,000 French words (typically with Latin roots)
came into common usage in England. Around 7,000 of these survive in
modern English.
 The Normans also had
an enormous impact in
key areas of vocabulary:
particularly politics
(coup d’état), legal
language (jury, verdict) ​
and ​diplomacy(chargé
d’affaires).
Their legacy includes 1,700 cognates (words identical in the French &
English).
Many of these cognates are easily translated. Au contraire, for example,
may sound more glamorous than on the contrary but there is no
difference in terms of meaning. Some French words and phrases do,
however, capture a precise nuance not available in English.
Why have so many French words survived into
modern English?
English has overtaken French as the primary
international lingua franca, spoken as second
language in a truncated form sometimes known as
global English or Globish. Despite this dominance,
French vocabulary still has the caché words of
being associated with learning, culture and
luxury: haute couture, haute cuisine, chic,
elegance etc.