French pronunciation
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To listen to a short French text, see our Sounds of the World project.
French pronunciation very different from English, and unfortunately the spelling is not too phonemic...
Let's start letter by letter:
A, À, Â /a/ like the English U in "cut" (short) or the English A in "father" (long)
B /b/ like the English B in "ball"
C (before E, I or Y) /s/ like the English S in "set"
C (other positions) /k/ like the English K in "ski" (not aspirated)
Ç /s/ like the English S in "set"
D /d/ like the English D in "down"
É /e/ closed E, like the German EE in "See"
This is similar to the English AY as in "hay", but it is a pure vowel, not a diphthong.
Ê /ε/ like the English E in "get"
È /ε/ like the English E in "get" or longer
E /ə, ε/ like the English O in "action" (unstressed) or like the letter Ê in stressed syllables
F /f/ like the English F in "fall"
G (before E, I or Y) /ʒ/ like the English S in "measure"
G (other positions) /g/ like the English G in "get"
H silent
I, Î /i/ like the English EE in "feet" or shorter
J /ʒ/ like the English S in "measure"
L /l/ like the British English in L "laugh"
That's the kind of L from many other European languages.
M /m/ like the English M in "much"
N /n/ like the English N in "nut"
O, Ô /ɔ, o/ like the British English O in "pot" (short) or like the German OO in "Boot" (long)
The short form is like Spanish O, the long form is a closed pure vowel.
P /p/ like the English P in "spit" (not aspirated)
QU /k/ like the English K in "ski" (not aspirated)
R /[[IPA: �?|�?]]/ voiced uvular fricative, similar to Spanish J, like the R in German and Hebrew
S /s, z/ like the English S in "set" at the beginning or end of a word, like the English Z in "zoo" in medial position
T /t/ like the English T in "stone" (not aspirated)
U, Û /y/ like the German Ü in "Füße" or shorter
This sound is the rounded variant of the English EE in "feet" or the front vowel variant of the English OO in "loop".
V /v/ like the English V in "vase"
X /gz, ks, s, z/ like the English X in "exist" at the beginning of a word, like the English X in "fax" in medial position, sometimes like the letter S
Y /i/ like the English EE in "feet" or shorter
Z /z/ like the English Z in "zoo"
And now for the most common letter combinations:
AI /ε/ like the letter È (usually long)
AU /o/ like the letter O (usually long)
CH /ʃ/ like the English SH in "ship"
ER /e/ like the letter É at the end of a word
EU /œ, ø/ like the German Ö in "Hölle" (short) or the ÖH in "Höhle" (long)
The short sound is similar to the English I in "girl", the long one is slightly more open than the English EE in "feet", but rounded (just like the OO in "loop" is rounded).
EZ /e/ like the letter É at the end of a word
GE (before A, O or U) /ʒ/ like the English S in "measure"
GN /ɲ/ like the English NI in "onion"
GU (before E, I or Y) /g/ like the English G in "get"
IE /i/ like the English EE in "feet"
LL /j/ like the English Y in "yes"
OI /wa/ like the English word "one" without the N sound
OU, OÙ /u/ like the English OO in "loop" or shorter
PH /f/ like the letter F
RH /[[IPA: �?|�?]]/ like the letter R
TH /t/ like the letter T'
Last but not least, the nasal vowels:
AM, AN, ANT /ɑ̃/ is a nasal variant of the English A in "father"
EM, EN, ENT /ɑ̃/ is a nasal variant of the English A in "father"
IM, IN, INT /ε̃/ is a nasal variant of the English E in "get"
OM, ON, ONT /õ/ is a nasal variant of the closed French O sound.
UN, UN, UNT /ε̃/ is a nasal variant of the English E in "get"
A few notes to cover other pronunciation rules:
- Every word is stressed on the last syllable, unless the last syllable has a weak E /ə/.
- S, T, X and Z are usually silent at the end of a word.
- When preceded by a vowel and succeeded by a consonant or nothing, M or N are not pronounced. They only indicate the nasal quality of the preceding vowel.
- If a word ends in E (not É!), this vowel is weak or silent, and the preceding consonant is pronounced.
- A diaresis/trema (Ë or �?) indicates that two vowels are pronounced distinctly rather than following the special pronunciation rules. GUË is pronounced /gy/.
To listen to a short French text, see our Sounds of the World project.
To get sound files with the pronunciation of many French words, visit http://shtooka.moostik.net/dico-fr/
