French

Introduction Quick Pronunciation Guide

Stress
As an aid to pronunciation, words have been divided into syllables. Since all French syllables have approximately the same amount of stress each syllable with equal emphasis and put a slightly stronger emphasis on the last syllable of a word group.

Consonant
In French, final consonant are usually silent, except for final C, R, F, and L (as in CaReFuL), which are usually pronounced.

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

B, d, f, k, l m, n p, t, v, z
c (before e, i, y)

Same as English

SS (S at beginning of word)

(seegahr)

Cigare

( before a, SS (S at o, u) beginning of word)

Garon (garssohn)

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

C (before a, o, u) G ( before e, i, y) Ge (before e, i ,y) G (before a, o, u)

Comme

(kohm)
Rouge

S as in pleasure S as in pleasure G

ZH

(roozh) (mahn-zhon)
Gant (gahn) Mangeons

ZH

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

Gn

Nyuh as in onion
Always silent

NY

(oh-nyohn)

Oignon

H
S as in pleasure J K Qu,final q R Say the R at the top back of the mouth as if you were gargling K R ZH

Htel (oh-tehl)
Je (zhuh) Cinq (sank) Rue (rew)

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

SS
S

S
Beginning of word Next to consonant Between vowels

SS
S SS Z T

Poisson (pwah-ssohn)
Six (sees) Disque ( deessk) Poison (pwah-zohn) Th (tay)

Th

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

S in these word only

SS

(swah-ssahnt)
X X KSS

Six (seess), dix (deess), soixante

(ehkss-eh-lahn)
Exemple

Excellent

GS

(ehg-sahn-pluh)

 Note: when combined with a word beginning with a vowel or h, x has a Z sound. Before a word beginning with a consonant, it is silent.

Vowels

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

a, ,

A as in yacht or A in after A as in day

AH

La (lah)

, final er, final ez, et e+2 consonants e + + final pronounced e, ,

AY

(mew-zay)
Sept (seht)

Muse

E as in ever

EH

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

Sometimes like E of early with no R sound EE as in meet Y as in Yes O as in love

UH

Le (luh)

i (), y i + vowel or ll O + final pronounced consonant

EE EE

le (eel) Famille

(fah-mee) Homme (ohm)

OH

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

O, o before se, o last sound in word, au, eau OU Oy, oi U

O as in open

OH

Au (oh)

OO as in Tooth WA as in watch Round lips and say E and U at the same time

OO WA

O (oo)
Trois (trwah)

EW

Du (dew)

French Letter

English Sound

Symbol

Example

U + vowel

WEE as in wee

WEE

Huit (weet)

Nasal Sound
Nasal sound are produced through the mouth and the nose at the same time. Nasal sound occur when N or M follows a vowel in the same syllable. There is no nasal sound for: VOWEL + NN VOWEL + MM VOWEL + N + VOWEL VOWEL + M + VOWEL

a. b. c. d.

 NOTE : n means there is a nasalized pronunciation of the N sound. The tip of the tongue does not touch the roof the mouth
French Letter AN, AM, EN, EM IN, IM, AIN, AIM English Sound Similar to on Similar to an Symbol AHN AN Example

France (frahnss) Pain (pan)

IEN

Similar to yan of Yankee

Similar to on of Long Similar to un of Under

YAN

Bien (byan)

ON, OM UN, UM

OHN UHN

Bon (bohn) Un (uhn)

Liaison and Elision

Liaison and elision are two linguistic devices that add to the beauty and fluidity of French language. Liaison means linking. In French, the final consonant of a word is usually not pronounced. Sometimes, however, when final consonant of one word is followed by a beginning vowel of H of the next word, liaison occur. Example : Nous arrivons (noo zah-ree-vohn)

 With the following words in French, the final vowel is dropped if the next word starts with a vowel or H. the dropped vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. This is called elision. Example: la auto = lauto (loh-toh) le homme = lhomme (lohm)

Accent Marks

 There are five different accent marks in French that may be used to change the sounds of letters. To differentiate between the meanings of two words whose spellings are otherwise the same To replace an s that was part of the word many centuries ago in old French.

 An accent aigu () is seen only on an e (). produces the sound (ay), as in day. An accent grave () is used with a (), e (), and u (). On an e, an accent grave produces the sound of (eh) as the e in the English word met. It doesn't change the sound of the a () or u (). An accent circonflexe may be used on all vowels: , , , , . The vowel sounds are longer for and , are slightly longer for , and are imperceptible on and .

 A cdille () is used only on a c (). When the c comes before a, o, or u, it means that you pronounce the letter as a soft c (the sound of s). A trma (..) occurs on a second vowel in a series. This accent indicates that the two vowels are pronounced separately, each having its own distinct sound: Hati (ay-ee-tee), Nol (noh-ehl).

Lets practice