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 |
| x |
ekss, except as s in six,
dix, and soixante
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.
|
