Pronunciation

French letter(s) English Sound
a, à, â ah
é, et, and final er and ez ay
e, è, ê, ai, ei, ais eh
i, y ee
o oh
o shorter and more open than aw in bought
ou oo
oy, oi wah
u ew
u + vowel wee
c (before e, i, y) s
ç (before a, o, u) s
c (before a, o, u) k
g (before e, i, y) zh
ge (before a, o) zh
g (before a, o, u) g
gn nyuh


h silent
j zh
qu, final q k
r rolled
s (between vowels) z
th t
six , dix , and soixante
x ekss, except as s in
in liaisons, like z

Note: French pronunciation is tricky because it uses nasal sounds which we do not have in English
and there are a lot of silent letters. However, if a word ends in C, R, F or L (except verbs that end in -r)
you usually pronounce the final consonant. Their vowels tend to be shorter as well. The French slur
most words together in a sentence, so if a word ends in a consonant that is not pronounced and the
next word starts with a vowel or silent h, slur the two together as if it were one word.

More about Pronunciation

1. The "slurring" that I mentioned is called liaison. It is always made:

• after a determiner (words like un, des, les, mon, ces, quels )
• before or after a pronoun ( vous avez, je les ai )
• after a preceding adjective ( bon ami, petits enfants )
• after one syllable prepositions ( en avion, dans un livre )
• after some one syllable adverbs ( très, plus, bien )
• after est

It is optional after pas, trop fort , and the forms of être , but it is never made after et .

2. Sometimes the e is dropped in words and phrases, shortening the syllables and slurring more
words.

• rapid(e)ment, lent(e)ment, sauv(e)tage (pronounced ra-peed-mawn , not ra-peed-uh-mawn )
• sous l(e) bureau, chez l(e) docteur (pronounced sool bewr-oh , not soo luh bewr-oh )
• il a d(e) bons copains ( eel ahd bohn ko-pahn , not eel ah duh bohn ko-pahn )
• il y a d(e)... , pas d(e)... , plus d(e)... ( eel yahd, pahd, plewd , not eel ee ah duh, pah duh, or
plew duh )
• je n(e), de n(e) ( zhuhn, duhn, not zhuh nuh or duh nuh )
• j(e) te, c(e) que ( shtuh, skuh, not zhuh tuh or suh kuh - note the change of the pronunciation
of the j as well)

3. In general, intonation only rises for yes/no questions, and all other times, it goes down at the end of
the sentence.

4. Two sounds that are tricky to an American English speaker are the differences between the long
and short u and e. The long u is pronounced oooh, as in hoot. The short u does not exist in English
though. To pronounce is correctly, round your lips as if to whistle, and then say eee. The long and
short e are relatively easy to pronounce, but sometimes it is difficult to hear the difference. The long
e is pronounced openly, like ay, as in play. The short e is more closed, and pronounced like eh, as in
bed.


6. And of course, the nasals. These are what present the most problems for English speakers. Here
are the orthographical representations, and approximate pronunciations. Nasal means that you expel
air through your nose while saying the words, so don't actually pronounce the n fully.

My
Representation Pronunciation Orthographical Representation

ahn an apple in, im, yn, ym, ain, aim, ein, eim, un, um, en, eng, oin, oing, oint,
ien, yen, éen
awn on the desk en, em, an, am, aon, aen
ohn my own book on, om

In words beginning with in-, a nasal is only used if the next letter is a consonant. Otherwise, the in-
prefix is pronounce een before a vowel.