French Pronunciation

How to pronounce French vowels and consonants

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French Pronunciation / La prononciation

For a more in-depth look at French pronunciation, try to the French Phonetics tutorial.

French Vowels
IPA	Phonetic spelling	Sample words	General spellings
[i]	ee	vie, midi, lit, riz	i, y
[y]	ee rounded	rue, jus, tissu, usine	u
[e]	ay	blé, nez, cahier, pied	é, et, final er and ez
[ø]	ay rounded	jeu, yeux, queue, bleu	eu
[ɛ]	eh	lait, aile, balai, reine	e, è, ê, ai, ei, ais
[œ]	eh rounded	sœur, œuf, fleur, beurre	œu, eu
[a]	ah	chat, ami, papa, salade	a, à, â
[ɑ]	ah longer	bas, âne, grâce, château	a, â
[u]	oo	loup, cou, caillou, outil	ou
[o]	oh	eau, dos, escargot, hôtel	o, ô
[ɔ]	aw	sol, pomme, cloche, horloge	o
[ə]	uh	fenêtre, genou, cheval, cerise	e

[ɑ] is disappearing in modern French, being replaced by [a]. Vowels that do not exist in English are marked in blue.

 

French semi-vowels
IPA	Phonetic spelling	Sample words	General spelling
[w]	w	fois, oui, Louis	oi, ou
[ɥ]	ew-ee	lui, suisse	ui
[j]	yuh	oreille, Mireille	ill, y

French nasal vowels
IPA	Phonetic spelling	Sample words	General spelling
[ã]	awn	gant, banc, dent	en, em, an, am, aon, aen
[ɛ̃]	ahn	pain, vin, linge	in, im, yn, ym, ain, aim, ein, eim, un, um, en, eng, oin, oing, oint, ien, yen, éen
[œ̃]	uhn	brun, lundi, parfum	un
[õ]	ohn	rond, ongle, front	on, om

[œ̃] is being replaced with [ɛ̃] in modern French

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.

French Consonants
ex + vowel	egz	examen, exercice
ex + consonant	eks	exceptionnel, expression
ch (Latin origin)	sh	architecte, archives
ch (Greek origin)	k	orchestre, archéologie
ti + vowel (except é)	see	démocratie, nation
c + e, i, y; or ç	s	cent, ceinture, maçon
c + a, o, u	k	caillou, car, cube
g + e, i, y	zh	genou, gingembre
g + a, o, u	g	gomme, ganglion
th	t	maths, thème, thym
j	zh	jambe, jus, jeune
qu, final q	k	que, quoi, grecque
h	silent	haricot, herbe, hasard
vowel + s + vowel	z	rose, falaise, casino
x + vowel	z	six ans, beaux arts
final x	s	six, dix, soixante (these 3 only!)

There are a lot of silent letters in French, and you usually do not pronounce the final consonant, unless that final consonant is C, R, F or L (except verbs that end in -r).

Liaison: French slurs 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. S and x are pronounced as z; d as t; and f as v in these liaisons. Liaison is always made in the following cases:

• after a determiner: un ami, des amis
• 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.

Silent e: 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 /ʀapidmɑ̃/ /ɑ̃tmɑ̃/ /sovtaʒ/
• sous l(e) bureau, chez l(e) docteur /sul byʀo/ /ʃel dɔktoʀ/
• il y a d(e)... , pas d(e)... , plus d(e)... /yad/ /pad/ / plyd/
• je n(e), de n(e) /ʒən/ /dən/
• j(e) te, c(e) que /ʃt/ /skə/ (note the change of the pronunciation of the j as well)

Stress and Intonation: Stress on syllables is not as heavily pronounced as in English and it generally falls on the last syllable of the word. Intonation usually only rises for yes/no questions, and all other times, it goes down at the end of the sentence.

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