FRENCH PRONUNCIATION FOR SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH
E Omutere
Speaking French is more than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar rules, you also need to pronounce the letters correctly. Unless you started learning French as a child, you're unlikely to ever sound like a native speaker, but it's certainly not impossible for adults to speak with a decent French accent. French is spoken by roughly 300 million people in at least 50 countries around the world. Despite its prevalence, however, it is commonly understood to be a complicated language to speak. Although learning to speak French can seem a daunting task, it's useful to observe comparisons between English and French sounds. Many vowels and consonants in these languages can be pronounced similarly. Taking time to study these commonalities will aid you in your improvement of pronouncing French words. As you draw parallels between French and English, you will be ready to attack more challenging sounds inherent only to French dialects.
French, like English, can be very difficult in terms of pronunciation, due to intricacies like silent letters, multiple sounds for a single letter, and endless exceptions to whatever rules you find.
a (ah), b (bay) c (say) d (day) e (euh) f (eff) g (zhay) h (ahsh) i (ee) j (zhee) k (kah) l (elle) m (emme) n (enne) o (oh) p (pay) q (koo) r (air) s (esse) t (tay) u (oo) v (vay) w (doobleh vay) x (eeks) y (ee grek) z (zed)
VOWELS
Vowels include French alphabets as follows with inclusion of English pronunciations and French examples:
Letter(s) LKL English Sound Examples
Vowels in French are pure vowels, i.e. they are not diphthongs as in American English. Americans pronounce a and e with an extra yuh sound at the end, and o and u with an extra wuh sound at the end. You must not do this in French. The distinction between long and short vowels exists in French, but a few American short vowels do not exist ([ɪ] as in did and [ʊ] as in put) so make sure to never pronounce these vowels when speaking (European) French. Also notice that the [æ] sound in cat does not exist in French either.
In French also, each vowel sound represents various different letter clusters grouped together to pronounce a particular sound. For example, [o] in French represents letters/sounds including o, ô, au, and eau. French words that represent these sounds respectively are "orteil" (toe); the "O" sound here is like English "O" as in "oration;" "bôite" (box); the "ô" sound here is like English "wa" in "water;" "beau" (beautiful, handsome); the "au" or "eau" sound here is like English "oa" as in "coat." Each of these groups of letters make the same sounds in English and in French. In English, letter clusters occur as well (the "o" sound of "soar," "tore," "your").
French has three front rounded vowels that do not exist in English, which may take a while to get used to since English only has back rounded vowels. However, they are the rounded counterpart of vowels that do exist in English, so you simply need to round your lips when pronouncing these vowels
The letter u is one of the most difficult sounds in the French language, at least for English speakers, both to pronounce and to distinguish from ou .
In French, ou is pronounced more or less like the ou in "soup." The French u , on the other hand, has no English equivalent - the closest sound is also the ou in soup
In French, ou is pronounced more or less like the ou in "soup." The French u , on the other hand, has no English equivalent - the closest sound is also the ou in soup
Many English speakers tend to say [u] instead of [y] and [ə] instead of [ø] or [œ]. Personally, it is still hard to hear the difference between [ø] and [œ] in fast speech, but It can be distinguished if they are isolated vowels.
Other rules to remember about pure vowels in French:
· -Vowels are pronounced slightly longer when they are in the final closed syllable (a consonant follows the vowels in the same syllable). For example, the vowel [i] in tir is longer than the vowel [i] in tirer because tir is a closed syllable, while ti is an open syllable (and rer is a closed syllable). This is represented with a colon in IPA: long [i] = [i:]
· -The vowel [e] can only occur in open syllables (no consonant follows it in the same syllable) in French. In closed syllables, [ɛ] is used; however, [ɛ] can also be found in open syllables. (This is a major difference with English as [ɛ] can never be found in open syllables at the end of a word.)
· In stressed open syllables, only [ø] is possible. In stressed, closed syllables, only [œ] is possible, unless the syllable ends in [t], [tR], or [z] - in which case, [ø] can occur. In unstressed syllables, whether open or closed, either vowel can occur.
· -Generally, [o] always occurs in stressed open syllables, and [ɔ] occurs in stressed closed syllables. Nevertheless, [o] can also occur in stressed closed syllables, depending on the spelling of the word: when the letter o is followed by [m], [n], [z]; when the letters au are not followed by [R]; and by the letter ô.
· The letters AI in French can be pronounced in one of three ways. The following are general guidelines to the pronunciation of AI (though there are, as always, exceptions):
b) When a verb ends in AI, it is pronounced like É (more or less like the A in "gave").
It is important to distinguish between these two sounds, because they can change the meaning. Je parlai (passé simple) is not pronounced like je parlais (imperfect).
The same phenomenon occurs with je parlerai (future) and je parlerais (conditional), at least according to some French speakers. There have been numerous debates about this on the forum,* but basically it comes down to regional variations: some native speakers pronounce them differently. Anyone who claims that there is no difference simply doesn't pronounce or even hear it.
It is important to distinguish between these two sounds, because they can change the meaning. Je parlai (passé simple) is not pronounced like je parlais (imperfect).
The same phenomenon occurs with je parlerai (future) and je parlerais (conditional), at least according to some French speakers. There have been numerous debates about this on the forum,* but basically it comes down to regional variations: some native speakers pronounce them differently. Anyone who claims that there is no difference simply doesn't pronounce or even hear it.
nasalised vowels
We saw that a nasalised vowel is generally marked by the letter n (or occasionally m) after a vowel, but only in some cases. We mentioned that n marks a nasalised vowel when it occurs on the very end of a word, or before another consonant.
This means there are actually some cases where adding a suffix to a word ending in a nasalised vowel changes the pronunciation, so that the n is pronounced, and the vowel before it potentially changes. This notably happens when the feminine -e ending is added to adjectives and nounds ending in a nasalsed vowel.
Nasal vowels can be a bit tricky to understand in everyday speech, but learning how to pronounce them correctly isn't too difficult. A phrase with all nasal vowels is: un bon vin blanc Examples of 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
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 European French; though this distinction is kept in Belgian and Quebecois French
Adding -e to -ein, -ain
Recall that ein and ain on the end of a word (or before another consonant) are generally pronounced with the nasalised in vowel. However, when an -e is added, -eine and -aine are pronounced with the open e vowel, and the n is pronounced (though not normally the final -e).
plein "full" (masculine)
pleine "full" (feminine)
américain "American" (masculine)
américaine "American" (feminine)
pleine "full" (feminine)
américain "American" (masculine)
américaine "American" (feminine)
Adding -e to -in and -un
When -e is added to a word ending in -in or -un, a similar thing occurs: the n is pronounced, and the vowel is no longer nasalised. In this case, the vowel reverts to its "normal" pronunciation as reflected by the spelling (so an i vowel for -ine and an u vowel for -une).
brun"brown"(masculine)
brune"brown" (feminine)
brune"brown" (feminine)
Addine -e to -on
This case is essentially similar, but in the spelling, the n is usually doubled. The vowel is essentially pronounced as an open o vowel. bon"good"(masculine) bonne "good" (feminine)
The French in vowel
We'll give the name "in vowel" to a vowel that is commonly written in, ain, ein or un. It is generally similar to a French a vowel, but nasalised.
This vowel also occurs in a couple of other letter combinations:
the combination ien is generally pronounced like a "y" sound followed by the in vowel;
the combination oi is generally pronounced like a "w" sound followed by the in vowel.
The French an vowel
What we'll call the French an vowel is commonly written an or en, is pronounced with the mouth in a position for a vowel partway between a and an open o vowel, with the lips unrounded and with the vowel nasalised.
an"year"
grand"big,large."
plan"plan,map"
lent "slow"
grand"big,large."
plan"plan,map"
lent "slow"
The French on vowel
The on vowel, commonly written on, is pronounced with the mouth in a similar position to the close o vowel, but with the vowel nasalised.
on"we"
ton"your","tone"
bon"good"
plomb "lead" (the metal) — Notice how the -b isn't pronounced, and the m marks the nasalisation on the vowel.
ton"your","tone"
bon"good"
plomb "lead" (the metal) — Notice how the -b isn't pronounced, and the m marks the nasalisation on the vowel.
A separate un vowel?
Some French speakers actually have an additional nasalised vowel for cases where the spelling has un. For those speakers, un is pronounced as a nasalised open eu vowel. For such speakers, the words in pairs such as un/hein, brun/brin are actually pronounced differently. It is fair to say, however, that this dinstinction is dying out, and younger French speakers generally use the same in vowel for un.
Semi-Vowels
Semi-vowels can also be called glides or approximants. French has three semi-vowels (sometimes called semi-consonnes in French): sounds created by the partial obstruction of air through the throat and mouth.
IPA Phonetic spelling Sample words General spelling
[ɥ] ew-ee lui, Suisse,nuit,fruit ui
Some words ending in -ille(r) pronounce the l, however: ville, mille, tranquille, distiller, osciller, etc.
[wa] - [a] loi la
[ɥ] - [y] lui Lu
[ej] - [e] pareil paré
[aj] - [a] bail bas
Notice that words ending in -eil or -eille are pronounced [ej], while words ending in -ail or -aille are pronounced [aj].
French Consonants - Consonnes françaises
There are a few things to keep in mind when pronouncing French consonants :
· All but the French R are further forward in the mouth than their equivalents in English.
· The tongue must remain tensed.
· There is no initial aspiration when pronouncing French consonants (see specific letters for more information)
· There is however a slight aspiration after pronouncing French consonants. In English, someone might say soup without opening his mouth at the end of the word, thus "swallowing" the last sound. In French, you must open your mouth to complete the word
The letter C is a lot like the C in English. It can be pronounced in one of two ways:
1. Soft pronunciation - In front of an E, I, or Y the C is pronounced like an S: listen
2. Hard pronunciation - In front of an A, O, U, or a consonant, C is prounced like a K: listen
See lesson on vowels for explanation of hard and soft vowels.
When a C is in front of a hard vowel but has to be pronounced as a soft C, the
When a C is in front of a hard vowel but has to be pronounced as a soft C, the
accent cédille - ç - is added to make it soft. Thus, ç is never found in front of an E or I, because those are soft vowels.
Example:
Example:
In the majority of words with the grapheme ch, the pronunciation is [ʃ], but it is also pronounced [k] in words of Greek origin. It is silent, however, in the word almanach.
ch = [ʃ] ch = [k]
chercher archéologie
réchauffer chaos
chérubin chrétien
architecte écho
catéchisme orchestre
Achille chœur
Pronouncing letters G and J in french?
The French letters g and j are pronounced with a soft jhay sound similar to the s in Asia.
They aren't pronounced the same, they're actually reversed from the english pronounciations. So, french G is said like english J (zhay) and vice versa, french J is pronounced like english G (zhee). "j" in "déjeuner" (to dine) is pronounced as "g" as in English "collage."
Most French H's are mute - that is, they are not pronounced and the word acts as if it begins with a vowel. This means that contractions and liaisons are required. For example, le + homme contracts to l'homme - you can't say "le homme." And les hommes is pronounced with a liaison: [lay zuhm],"hôpital" (hospital), which is pronounced "oh-pee-tal."
The letter h is never pronounced, but you need to remember to distinguish the h non-aspiré from the h aspiré. Most words belong to the first group, but for the words that have an h aspiré, there are two characteristics that make them different: the definite article does not reduce to l' (called elision) but remains le or la and word boundaries are maintained so that sounds do not link (absence of liaison - see below). Most words with an h aspiré are of Germanic origin.
h non-aspiré h aspiré
l'habitude la hache
l'herbe le hall
l'heure le haricot
l'histoire le hasard
l'homme le hibou
l'honneur le homard
l'huile le hockey
Letter R is articulated further back in the throat (with the back of the tongue) and is usually the hardest French consonant for English speakers to pronounce correctly. It is a voiced uvular fricative sound and does not have an effect on preceding vowels the way that English r does. It must remain consistent in all positions, regardless of the other vowels and consonants that may be adjacent to it. The "r" sound, like in "parler," (to speak) for example, of the commonly-known phrase, "Parlez-vous français?" (Do you speak French?) is pronounced from the back of the throat. Some French speakers roll this "r" sound. In English, "r" sounds are never pronounced from the throat, but with practice, you can become adept at guttural articulation.
The graphemes gu and qu can be pronounced three different ways: [g], [gw], [gɥ] and [k], [kw], [kɥ], respectively. The majority of words are pronounced with simply [g] and [k], but the spelling will not tell you which sound to pronounce, so you'll just have to learn them individually.
a. [g] [gw] [gɥ] [k] [kw] [kɥ]
b. anguille jaguar aiguille question adéquat quiescent
c. fatigue iguane ambiguïté qualité aquarium équilatéral
d. guérilla lingual linguiste équivalent square ubiquité
e. distinguer Guadeloupe quartier équateur
Silent Letters
French, like English, is not written phonetically. Vowels can be represented by several different letter combinations and many letters are actually not pronounced. (You can thank early "linguists" who changed the spelling of many French words, with complete disregard to pronunciation, so that it was closer to Latin orthography.)
The final consonant of many words is silent. Sometimes a final c, f, l or r are pronounced though.
Final c, f, l, r silent
blanc cléf outil parler
franc cerf sourcil chercher
tabac nerf gentil habiter
estomac persil fermer
Final c, f, l, r pronounced
bouc œuf fil car
lac sauf avril mer
avec veuf civil pour
donc actif col hiver
Similar to English, final -e in most words is not pronounced. For feminine adjectives and nouns, this generally means that the final consonant of the masculine form will now be pronounced.
Masculine Feminine
vert verte
grand grande
canadien canadienne
boulanger boulangère
chat chatte
As mentioned above, a few silent letters were placed in French orthography for the prestige of being more similar to Latin. Other letters are now silent for other historical reasons (i.e. perhaps the pronunciation changed, but the spelling did not.) The following words all have silent letters:
sept rang fils trop
rompt sang pouls camp
aspect œil saoul chocolat
instinct fauteuil cul crédit
pied ail Renault riz
nid drap sirop nez
Even though most final consonants are not pronounced in French (see below), there are a few exceptions, especially with words ending in -s. In words ending in a consonant + s or -es, the s is silent. However, if a word ends in -as, -ès, -is, -os, or -us, then the s is sometimes pronounced.
final s silent final s pronounced
cadenas atlas
débarras pancréas
accès aloès
exprès palmarès
logis oasis
clos vis
dessous albatros
confus sinus
dehors ours
A few plural nouns change their pronunciations to include silent letters, whereas these consonants are pronounced in the singular form:
un œuf des œufs
un bœuf des bœufs
un os des os
e caduc
La loi des trois consonnes states that [ə] may be omitted in pronunciation as long as it would not cause three consonants to be together. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, and some dialects of French do not delete it anyway (such as in the south of France.) However, this is extremely common in everyday French and English speakers need to be able to comprehend words with dropped syllables.
Phrase-final e is always dropped, except in -le in the imperative. It is also dropped at the end of nouns, articles and verbs. One exception to the three consonant rule is in the case of consonant clusters, such as br, fr, gr, pr, tr, etc. If the e precedes these clusters, and the e itself is preceded by a consonant, then it can be dropped: un refrain = un r'frain
Disappearing e
samedi / lentement / sauvetage sam'di / lent'ment / sauv'tage
sous le bureau / chez le docteur sous l'bureau / chez l'docteur
il y a de / pas de / plus de il y a d' / pas d' / plus d'
je ne / de ne / tu ne je n' / de n' / tu n'
je te / ce que / ce qui j'te / c'que / c'qui
Notice that dropping e in je also results in [ʒ] to become [ʃ] whenever it is found before voiceless consonants, such as [p], [t], [k], etc.
Liaison
A loss of word boundaries in French makes it difficult to comprehend the spoken language for beginning learners. All of the words seem to be linked together without any clear divisions because the syllable boundaries do not correspond to the word boundaries. In many cases, the last consonant from one syllable (which is usually silent) will become the first consonant of the next syllable (therefore, it is no longer silent). This linking between syllables is called liaison, and it may or may not be required and the pronunciation of the consonant may or may not change. Liaison leads to many homonymous phrases, which can hinder comprehension. You must pay attention to the liaisons in verb conjugations as well or you may mistake one verb for another.
The written consonants involved in liaison generally include d, s, x and p. However, the pronunciation of d, s, and x is changed so that they become [t], [z] and [z], respectively. The letter n that is written after nasal vowels becomes the nasal consonant [n]. Peculiarly, the f of neuf is pronounced [v] only before ans and heures and in all other cases, it remains [f]. Remember that h aspiré prevents liaison from happening, i.e. there is no [z] sound between des and haricots.
Examples of Liaison:
Examples of Liaison:
elles arrivent mon amour
ils ont les ours
vieux arbres dans un sac
dix heures très aimable
attend-il ? plus ouvert
grand ami il est allé
There are a few instances when you should always use liaison (liaison obligatoire):
after determiners: un, les, des, ces, mon, ton, quels, etc.
before or after pronouns: nous, vous, ils, elles, les, etc.
after preceding adjectives: bon, mauvais, petit, grand, gros, etc.
after monosyllabic prepositions: chez, dans, sous, en, etc.
after some monosyllabic adverbs: très, plus, bien, etc. (optional after pas, trop, fort)
after est (optional after all other forms of être)
Stress
French is a syllable-timed language, so equal emphasis is given to each syllable. This is quite unlike English, which is a stress-timed language, and which gives emphasis to one syllable in each word - the stressed syllable - and reduces the vowels in the rest of the syllables (usually to [ə] or [ɪ].) All vowels in French must be pronounced fully, and each syllable must be pronounced with equal stress, though the final syllable of each word is generally considered the "stressed syllable."
Listen to these words in English and French and see if you can hear the difference in stress. Stressed syllables in English are marked in bold.
photography - photographie
authority - autorité
nationality - nationalité
passion - passion
education - éducation
regiment - régiment
monument - monument
melodramatic - mélodramatique
Intonation
Intonation in French is slightly different from English. In general, the intonation rises only for a yes/no question, and the rest of the time, the intonation falls. French intonation starts at a higher pitch and falls continuously throughout the sentence, whereas in English, the stressed syllable has a higher pitch that what precedes and follows it.
Listen to these sentences in English and French and see if you can hear the difference in intonation. Bold marks the higher pitch. Notice that even if the intonation pattern seems similar, the syllables with higher pitches are often in different locations. The numbers below refer to the pitch: 1) low, 2) medium, 3) high, 4) extra high.
English Intonation vs. French Intonation
Sentence Type
|
English
|
Intonation
|
French
|
Intonation
|
Yes/No Question
|
Are you leaving?
|
2 - 3
|
Est-ce que vous partez?
|
2 - 3
|
Information Question
|
Where are you going?
|
2 - 3 - 1
|
Où est-ce que vous allez ?
|
4 - 2 - 1
|
Imperative
|
Do it. / Don't do it.
|
(2) - 3 - 1
|
Fais-le. / Ne le fais pas.
|
4 - 2 - 1
|
Exclamation
|
What a surprise!
|
2 - 3 - 1
|
Quelle surprise !
|
4 - 2 - 1
|
Declarative
|
I bought a dress.
|
2 - 3 - 1
|
J'ai acheté une robe.
|
3 - 2 - 1
|
Informal Reductions
In everyday speech, there are other reductions in addition to e caduc. Many of these reductions are made for ease of pronunciation and are considered informal. The most common ones are reducing tu to t' before a vowel and omitting the final syllable of words ending in -re. Listen to these reductions in careful speech and everyday speech:
Informal Reductions in Spoken French
Careful Speech Everyday Speech
tu es t'es
tu as t'as
tu étais t'étais
tu avais t'avais
mettre mett'
notre not'
autre aut'
il y
il y a y a
ils + vowel y'z
elle è
elles + vowel è'z
parce que pasq'
quelque quèq'
puis pis
Other consonants
Many of the consonants in French are very similar to the consonants in English. F, I, M, N, P and T are examples of consonants that translate from English to French.
A few differences include:[p], [t] and [k] are NOT aspirated in French so try not to let that extra puff of air escape from your lips.Consonants that are alveolar in English are generally dental in French. Try to rest your tongue just behind your teeth instead of on the alveolar ridge for [t], [d], [s], [z], [l] and [n]. Examples of other consonants almost similar to English in pronunciation:
(rare in French)
(similar to Spanish J, Arabic KH)
(rare in French)
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