Pronunciation of the French Alphabet157

Pronunciation of vowels

The French alphabet has 16 vowels, which are pronounced as follows:

a - like the "a" in "father"
e - like the "e" in "bet"
é - like the "a" in "day"
è - like the "e" in "bed"
ê - like the "e" in "meet"
i - like the "i" in "sit"
î - like the "ee" in "feet"
o - like the "o" in "boat"
ô - like the "o" in "door"
u - like the "oo" in "boot"
ù - like the "oo" in "boot" (but shorter)
y - like the "ee" in "meet"
eu - like the "eu" in "fleur"
oi - like the "wa" in "water"
ou - like the "oo" in "boot" but rounded
an - like the "an" in "sang"
en - like the "an" in "sang" but nasalized
in - like the "in" in "sing" but nasalized
on - like the "on" in "song" but nasalized
un - like the "un" in "sung" but nasalized

Pronunciation of consonants

The French alphabet has 18 consonants, which are pronounced as follows:

b - like the "b" in "boat"
c - like the "c" in "cat" (before e, i, or y) or like the "k" in "kite" (otherwise)
d - like the "d" in "dog"
f - like the "f" in "fish"
g - like the "g" in "go" (before e, i, or y) or like the "k" in "kite" (otherwise)
h - silent
j - like the "j" in "jump"
k - like the "k" in "kite"
l - like the "l" in "love"
m - like the "m" in "man"
n - like the "n" in "nose"
p - like the "p" in "pen"
q - like the "k" in "kite", followed by a "w" sound
r - like the "r" in "red" but rolled
s - like the "s" in "sun" (before e, i, or y) or like the "ss" in "kiss" (otherwise)
t - like the "t" in "ten"
v - like the "v" in "van"
w - like the "w" in "water"
x - like the "x" in "box"
z - like the "z" in "zebra"

Pronunciation of diphthongs

The French alphabet also has a number of diphthongs, which are two vowels pronounced together as one syllable. The most common diphthongs are:

ai - like the "ai" in "aisle"
ei - like the "ei" in "eight"
oi - like the "oi" in "oil"
ou - like the "ou" in "out"
au - like the "ow" in "cow"
eu - like the "eu" in "feud"

Pronunciation of nasal vowels

Nasal vowels are vowels that are pronounced with the air flowing through the nose. The four nasal vowels in French are:

an - like the "an" in "sang"
en - like the "an" in "sang" but nasalized
in - like the "in" in "sing" but nasalized
on - like the "on" in "song" but nasalized
un - like the "un" in "sung" but nasalized

Pronunciation of liaison

Liaison is the linking of the final consonant of a word to the initial vowel of the following word. This is done to make the speech more fluent. For example, the phrase "les enfants" is pronounced as "lez‿ɑ̃fɑ̃" instead of "lez‿ɑ̃fɑ̃".

Pronunciation of elision

Elision is the dropping of the final vowel of a word before a word that begins with a vowel. This is done to avoid hiatus, which is the occurrence of two vowels next to each other. For example, the phrase "je aime" is pronounced as "ʒ‿ɛm" instead of "ʒə‿ɛm".

Pronunciation of enchaînement

Enchaînement is the linking of the final consonant of a word to the initial consonant of the following word. This is done to make the speech more fluent. For example, the phrase "il fait" is pronounced as "ilfɛ" instead of "il‿fɛ".

2024-11-01

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