France Paris | French Pronunciation

The site does not accept advertising.

LOST YOUR PASSWORD?

Navigation

(LDSMN Official
Donation Page)

French Pronunciation

The greatest difficulty in pronouncing French is knowing which letters not to pronounce. Many French "silent" letters are facultative, being used only to indicate sounds that are pronounced under certain circumstances.

So the student of French really has to first learn the sounds of letters (easy), then when to pronounce them (hard). This document covers the former. A later edition of this document will attempt to explain the latter.

[Consonants] [Non-nasal Vowels] [Nasal Vowels]

Consonants

As mentioned above, many French consonants are not pronounced. However, certain generalizations can be made about how they are pronounced when they are. The following is a list of default sounds made by various French letter combinations:

b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, y, and z are pronounced generally as in English.

is pronounced as s before e, i, y
is pronounced as k before a, o, u

Examples: cette /set/, café /ka fe/

is pronounced as s and only occurs before a, o, u.

Examples: ça /sa/, garçon /gar sõ/

is pronounced as sh

Examples: chaud /sho/, riche /reesh/

tch

is pronounced as ch

Examples: tchèque /chek/, Tchad /chad/

is pronounced as the s in "vision" before e, i, y
is pronounced as a hard g like "garter" before a, o, u

Examples: gendarme /zhã darm/, gaulois /go lwa/

is never pronounced. (See aspirated "h"s.)

is pronounced as the s in "vision"

Examples: joli /zho lee/, janvier /zhã vee ay/

ille

is usually pronounced as y

Examples: bille /bee/, caille /kigh/

Exceptions:

Gilles /zheel/, ville /vil/, mille /meel/

is pronounced as f

Examples: téléphone /tay lay fohn/, phare /far/

is pronounced as k

Examples: quart /kar/, pique /peek/

is pronounced on the uvula (the narrow flap which hangs down in the back of your mouth). The French will forgive you if you use a weakly rolled "r" instead. Remember not to blend your "r" with other consonants (e.g. "tr" is never pronounced as the "tr" in "truck"); you may care to add a schwa (unaccented syllable) before the "r" to avoid blending them.

between vowels is pronounced as "z"

at the end of words is usually silent.

Examples: bise /beez/, très /tray/

is pronounced as s

Examples: laisser /les say/, croissant /crwahs sã:/

is pronounced as t

Examples: thé /tay/, thèse /tez/

is usually pronounced w

Example: watt /wat/ (note: all "w" words are borrowed)

Exceptions: "wagon" /va gõ/ and about eight other words use a v sound.

before most consonants is pronounced as ks
before most vowels is pronounced as gz
before an unaccented "e" is pronounced as ks
at the end of words is unpronounced.

Examples: exciter /ek see tay/, taxe /taks/, examen /eg za me~/, faux /fo/

Exceptions: Bruxelles, Auxerre, and several other town names use "x" pronounced as s. Aix, Aix-les-Bains, Aix-la-Chapelle are all pronounced ex.

as a word is pronounced "ee" or as "y" before words beginning with vowels.

Examples: nous y sommes /noo zee sum/, il y a /eel ya/

Non-nasal Vowels

a and â

are between the a in "cat" (American) and in "father".

Examples: gateau /ga to/, pâté /pa tay/

within words, is pronounced as a short e like in "bed"
at the end of words, is pronounced as a long a like in "late"

Examples: aime /em/, j'ai /zhay/

au, aux, aulx, eau, and eaux

are pronounced as a clipped long o

Examples: beau /bo/, aux /o/, châteaux /sha to/, eau /o/

is pronounced as a short e before two or more consonants
is pronounced as a schwa (represented here by @) before a single consonant followed by a vowel
is pronounced as a long a before "r" at the end of a word
is silent at the end of a word

Examples: dette /det/, tenu /t@ nü/, aimer /em ay/

is pronounced as a long a

Examples: donné /dun nay/, écu /ay kY/

is pronounced as a short e

Examples: très /treh/, mère /mehr/

is pronounced as a short e like in "bed"

Examples: reine /ren/, Seine /sen/

eil

is pronounced as a long a like in "late"

Examples: pareil /pa ray/, vieil /vyay/

eu and eux

are pronounced as a German ö or English er without the "r"

Examples: feu /fö/, leur /lör/

euil, euille, ueil, and ueille

are pronounced as a palatalized German ö but are well approximated by an English oy

Examples: fauteuil /fo toy/, accueil /ak koy/

is pronounced between a short i and a long e

Examples: mille /meel/, vie /vee/

o and ô

are pronounced between an short u and a long o

Examples: comment /kum mã/, hôte /oht/

oi and oix

are pronounced as wah

Examples: oie /wah/, soit /swah/

ou, où, and oux

are pronounced between as a long u or oo

Examples: sou /soo/, roux /roo/

is pronounced as a German ü, like an English long e said with pursed lips

Examples: du /dü/, aperçu /a payr sü/

is pronounced as a diphthong between German ü and English long e, but may be approximated by we

Examples: lui /lüi/, huit /üeet/

Nasal Vowels

Nasal vowels are distinguished by being followed by a single n or m which is not followed by another vowel. There are four nasal vowel sounds in French: /ã/, /i~/, /õ/, /u~/, and a nasal diphthong /wi~/. (Because of limitations of the character set, there is no way to put the tildes on i or u.)

These sounds are written as follows:

/ã/

an, am, en, em

/i~/

in, im, ain, aim, ein, eim

/õ/

on, om

/u~/

un, um

/wi~/

oin, oim

Pronouncing nasal vowels can be a little tricky for Americans since they don't really have any analogous sounds in any English words. However, we do occasionally use nasal vowel sounds. Most commonly, this can be seen in the colloquially response to something not understood:

Speaker 1: [mumble, mumble, mumble]
Speaker 2: "Huh?"

The sound of the "u" in "huh" is usually nasalized by American speakers of English and corresponds to the French /u~/ sound. Variations on this colloquial sound: "Hanh?" "Heh?" resemble the French /ã/ and /i~/ sounds.

The diphthong /wi~/ sounds a bit like the nasalized proverbial whining sound waa (which is not the same sound as the wa of "watt").

Others have suggested that the French nasals resemble English vowels followed by n or ng. This is somewhat true for /ã/ which sounds a bit like the ong in "long" (though not among speakers who say "lawng"); /õ/ which sounds like the o of "loan"; and /u~/ which sounds like the o in "among" or "tongue".

The /i~/ sound is similar to the a of "can't", but not among speakers who extend the vowel out to "caint" or who pronounce it to rhyme with "font".

Obviously, these sounds are best modelled by a native speaker.

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·