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, so to pronounce it correctly,
round your lips as if to whistle and say eee at the same time. The long and short e are relatively easy to pronounce,
but sometimes it is difficult to hear the difference. The long e is pronounced like ay, as in play. The short e is
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.
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
In words beginning with in-, a nasal is only used if the next letter is a consonant. Otherwise, the in- prefix is pronounce