BASIC PRONUNCIATON GUIDE FOR FRENCH

by
Joanne Crease

Forward page 2

Rhythm page 3

Consonants page 4

Final Consonants page 6

Liaisons page 7

Accents page 8

Vowel Sounds page 10

Nasal Vowels page 12

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 FOREWORD

French Pronunciation
(The Basics)

On the following pages I have written guidelines for pronunciation of the

main French sounds. My aim has not been to provide an exhaustive guide
to French pronunciation, but to provide an accessible, first steps guide
for primary teachers with little or no French, who now find themselves in
the position of having to teach French at Key Stage 2. Where possible,
the examples I have included, use vocabulary which will form part of your
lessons. The guide will also prove to be a very useful tool when teaching
phonemes (sound spelling links) as all the main sounds have been clearly
highlighted.

A written guide is probably not the best way to learn how to pronounce
French as it does not allow you to hear the words or allow for variations
in accent. There are many websites on French pronunciation with sound
files which are free. They are well worth looking at and will go into more
detail than I have in this guide.

http://www.frenchtutorial.com/standard/pronunciation/eacute.php

http://www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/french1.html

http://french.about.com//library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation.htm

I do not recommend that anyone should read this guide through and try
to take all the points on board immediately. It is divided up into
manageable sections that initially should be approached individually.
When you feel comfortable with one section, move onto another. The
order in which you decide to approach the sections is not of any real
importance.

Bonne chance!

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 Rhythm

The French language is often described as very musical. The reason for
this is that in French there are no stress marks on words i.e. all syllables
are pronounced at the same intensity (volume). In addition, many final
consonants are liaised into the next word. The lack of stress marks
combined with liaisons is what gives French its rhythm: all of the words
flow together like music. In contrast, English words each have a stressed
syllable, which makes English sound comparatively choppy or staccato.
(I'm speaking purely from a linguistic point of view - this is not a
judgment about which language sounds "prettier.")

Therefore when speaking French it can be helpful to use the image of a

metronome (a device that produces a regulated pulse, usually used to keep
a beat steady in musical compositions). Each syllable which you pronounce
is a regulated beat.

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 Consonants

The majority of consonants in French are pronounced more or less the

same way as in English. However there are some exceptions. Listed
below are the most common exceptions.

Consonant Rule Examples

r The French “r” is far more Sœur - sister
guttural than the English “r”. Très - very
To make this sound the back of Vrai - true
your tongue needs to be at the Treize -thirteen
back of your throat while you Trente - thirty
“gargle” the “r”

h Always silent Homme - man

Heure - hour
Haricot - bean
Hôpital – hospital

ch Almost always pronounced like Chanter – to sing

the English “sh”. (However Chambre - bedroom
there are a few exceptions). Champagne - champagne
Chat - cat
Chien - dog

Common exceptions
Chaos - chaos
Chœur - choir
Choléra - cholera
Psychologie – psychology

th These letters are pronounced Thé - tea

as a hard “t” like the “t” in the Théorie - theory
English word table. Méthode - method
Enthousiasme – enthusiasm

gn  These letters are Champagne - champagne

normally pronounced like Enseigner – to teach
the Spanish “ň” or like Espagnol - Spanish

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 the “ny” in the English
word canyon and the
“nio” in the English word
onion.

 (This is not the case if

Ignition - ignition
the G and the N are in 2
Gnome - gnome
different syllables or
begin a word.
c  The letter “c” before “i” Cinq - five
and “e” is pronounced Centimètre - centimeter
like the English “s”.

 Before “a”, “o” and “u” is

Cahier – exercise book
pronounced like the
Calme – calm
English letter “k”.

ç “C” with a cedilla accent is Français - French

always pronounced like the Garçon - boy
English “s”. Ça va ? – How are you?
Comme ci comme ça – so so

ille  The letter combination Fille - girl

“ille” and the letter Travailler – to work
combination “il” when it Bouteille - bottle
is at the end of a word Oeil - eye
changes the way the
letter “l” is pronounced.
It is pronounced a bit
like the “ya” in the
English word yacht.
Common exceptions
Mille - thousand
 However, there are a
Ville - town
few very common
Belle - beautiful
exceptions to this rule.
Tranquille - quiet
Village – village

qu “q” and “qu” are pronounced Question

like the English letter “k” Cinq

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 j Sounds like a soft “g”, as in je
“measure” j’ai
juin
janvier
juillet

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 Final Consonants

1. At a first glance it may appear that most consonants which come at

the very end of a word are not pronounced.

Chat
Nord
Deux
Vingt

2. Masculine and feminine adjectives are often distinguished from each

other by the addition of an “e” at the end of the feminine adjective which
makes the final consonant pronounced.

Vert verte
Anglais anglaise
Absent absente

However, there are many exceptions. The following general rules will
prove helpful.

3.
D,M, N, P, R, S, T, X are not usually pronounced at the end of a
word.

Common exceptions
 Many words borrowed from foreign languages e.g. tennis, stop,
clown

 Fils, mars, sud, août, autobus, ours, ouest, premier, hier, sur

4.
C, F, K, L, Q, Z are usually pronounced at the end of a word.

e.g. avec, parc, positif, œuf, avril, mal, cinq, gaz

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Common exceptions
Blanc, gentil, chez, riz

5.
B, J, G, V, W are rarely found at the end of words.

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 Liaison

The letters S, X, Z, T, D, N, M, are normally silent at the end of a

word. However, when they are followed by a word which begins with a
vowel they are often pronounced, forming what is know as a liaison.

E.g.

J’ai deux ans

Nous avons
Vous êtes
Mes enfants
Trois amis
Mon idée
Petit ami
Elles sont en France

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 Accents

Apart from “ç” the only other letters which are accented in French are
vowels. Some accents change pronunciation and some do not affect the
sound at all.

Accent Vowels used Pronunciation Examples

with changes
Acute accent é Changes the Allé
(accent aigu) sound to “ay” Été
Répéter
Armée

Dieresis ë Makes a vowel Noël

ï combination into Astéroïd
2 separate Égoïste
syllables, i.e. Coïncidence
makes you Maïs
pronounce them
separately.
Grave accent à No effect on Voilà
(accent grave) è pronunciation à
ì où
ò mère
ù très
(Technically
speaking, it is
placed over the
letter “e” when
the next syllable
is mute.)

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Circumflex â No effect on Maître
accent ê pronunciation. Île
î Pâte
ô (It was used to Hôte
û show that in Old Sûr
French/Latin
the vowel was
followed by an
“s”. It can be
helpful to know
this as English
words which
share the same
ancestry
normally still
have the “s”.
cedilla ç Changes the Ça va
sound of “c” Façade
before “a”, “o” garçon
and “u” from a
hard “k” to a
softer “s”.

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 Vowel Sounds

I feel that vowel sounds are the most difficult to explain in a written
guide to French pronunciation.

This is intended to be a simple but by no means exhaustive introduction

to a very large subject.

How to pronounce it Vowel/vowel Examples

combination
“ay” like the vowel é J’ai joué
sound in bay. ée Je suis allée
er Regarder
(This sound is a little ez Copiez
more tense than the ai J’ai
English “ay” and can be ais Je parlais
achieved by keeping ait Il lisait
your tongue still as you et Et
say “ay”) est Elle est
ei Enseigner

Common exceptions
Nous faisons

es when it is used with

les
mes
tes
ses

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“uh” as in knuckle Je
Me
Te
Se
Le
Ce
Que
De
Ne

This sound can also be

found in the first
syllable of “monsieur”
and the first syllable
of “faisons”

“e” as in let e Belle

è Mère
ê Bête

“ew” as in pew – but u Menu

shorter û Bu

Euh! eu Bleu
Jeu
Dangereux
Deux
Adieu

“oo” as in who ou Où
où Nous
Toujours
Tourner
Jour

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“oh” as in hello eau Au
au Beau
eau
sometimes
o
gros
ô
côte

“ee as in be i Lit
y Stylo
Midi
île
active

a a Madame
Maintenant

e when it comes before

Femme
“mm” and “nn”
Fréquemment

“wa” as in want oi Oiseau

oui Poisson
Oui

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 Nasal Vowels

Usually, when a vowel or vowel combination is followed by either m or n

the vowel is nasalised. When this is the case the m or n serve to mark
the nasalisation and are barely pronounced.

E.g.

Un bon vin blanc

Faim
Train
Bain
Pain
Vin
Prince
Singe
Sympa
Moins
Certain
Chien
Brun
Lundi
Un
Dans
Enfant
Danse
Client
Mon
Bon
Simon

If the m or n is followed by a mute “e” or the 3rd person plural ending

“ent” the vowel is not nasalised.
e.g fine, ils dînent

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If the vowel which immediately follows is not a mute “e” the “m” or “n” is
part of the syllable of this vowel and therefore is not nasal.
e.g. ami, année

The prefixes “em” and “en” are always nasal.

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