French pronunciation

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Any pronunciation guide that relies solely on equivalent English phonemes is by nature inaccurate; the following descriptions should be considered to be approximations.

[edit] Vowels

IPA pronunciations in square brackets

• a, à, â [a] as in "father"
• e [ə, ɛ] when followed by a single consonant followed by a vowel, or at the end of word, silent or like a in "sofa"; otherwise like e in "set"
• é, er, ez [e] like a in the word chaos in some English dialects. See close-mid front unrounded vowel, or listen to a sample.
• è, ê [ɛ] like e in "set"
• i, î [i, j] before a vowel, like y in "yes"; otherwise as in “macaroni”
• o, ô as in “so”
• u [y, w] before a vowel, like w in "water"; otherwise like i in “sit” but with lips rounded as in English oo
• ù, û [y] doesn't exist in most English dialects, but can be approximated by saying ee [i] with the lips rounded like oo [u]. See close front rounded vowel, or listen to a sample.
• ai [ɛ, e] mostly like e in "set"; but sometimes [e] when the word ends in "ai": "j'irai" (I will go) as "j'iré", and "j'irais" (I would go) as "j'irè"
• au [o] like English o
• eau [o] like English o
• ei like e in "set"
• eu, œu [ø, œ] like u in "blur" or u in "but"
• œ like e in "set" but with lips rounded as in English oo
• oi, oî like English wa
• ou, où, oû [u] before a vowel, like w in "water"; otherwise as in "soup"
• ui [ɥi] sounds very similar to [y] as noted above, though it is used as a consonant, much like how y [j] in english is a consonant but sounds a lot like ee [i]. See labial-palatal approximant for more information.
• y [i, j]

[edit] Consonants

Most of the consonants are pronounced as they are in American English (IPA pronunciations in square brackets):

• b [b] [bey]
• c [s, k] [say] before e, i and y like English s, otherwise like English k but not as aspirated
• ç [s] like English s and before a, o, u
• ch usually like English sh, sometimes k
• d [d̪] [day], like English dip, but well-pressed against the teeth
• f [f] [effe]
• g [jay] before e, i and y as g in “mirage”, otherwise as in “go”
• gn like ny in “canyon”
• gu, gh [g] before e, i and y as in “go”
• h [hash] is always silent
• ill [j] if preceded by vowel, [ij] if not
• j [jee] like g in "mirage"
• k [k][ka] not as aspirated as the English k sound
• l [l][elle]
• m [m] [emme] before b and p is silent, but the preceding vowel is nasalized
• n [n] [enne] before another consonant or the end of the word is silent, but the preceding vowel is nasalized.
• p [p] [pay] not as aspirated as the English p sound
• ph [f] like English f
• q, qu [k] [ku] like English k
• r, rh [ʀ] [air] varies among dialects (see note below under Misc.)
• s [s, z] [say] between vowels like English z, otherwise like English s, like z at end of word if next word begins with a vowel
• ss [s]
• ssi [sj]
• t [t̪] like English t but not as aspirated in most positions, and is well-pressed against the teeth; silent at end of word
• ti [sj, tj] before a vowel, like English sy; following s and before a vowel ty as in question
• v [v] [vay]
• w [v] [double vay] like English v
• x [ks] [ixe] at the start of a word, before a consonant or at the end of a word or syllable as in “express”
• x [kz] between vowels as in “example”
• x [s] at the end of numbers like English s
• z [z] [zed]

what about the end of the words ?

[edit] Stress

Unlike English, French pronunciation does not stress, or emphasize, one syllable of a word over the other syllables. Each syllable has equal weight. For many English speakers, it is difficult to drop the habit of giving one syllable in a word more weight than another. For example, the word cathedral is pronounced in English with emphasis on the second syllable. In French, by contrast, each syllable of the word cathédrale is given equal value and, unlike the English pronunciation, each vowel must be clearly enunciated. [1]

[edit] Misc.

• Usually only the consonants b, c, f, k, l, q and r (if not a verb) are pronounced at the end of words. As b, k and q are rare final letters, remember to be careful to pronounce only the common final letters. Most consonants are pronounced at the end of a word if the next word starts with a vowel.
• If a word is a verb, and it ends in "-ent" (that is, it has a subject like "ils" or "elles"), then the final "-ent" is completely silent.
• The dieresis ( ¨ ) commonly and erroneously called "umlaut" (le tréma in French), marks a vowel that is pronounced separately from a preceding vowel.
• The French r is very different from the American or British English r. The tip of the tongue should be low and the back of the tongue should be high. This results in a sound like you are trying to clear your throat (only softer). There is a different, perhaps older, r sound used in some parts of southern France and in Québec made by tapping the tongue on the alveolar ridge.

• Unlike English, the pronunciation of French largely follows a set of rules, so the pronunciation of unfamiliar words can be guessed with reasonable certainty (although application of these rules requires some knowledge of the grammar, particularly the above rule about a silent "-ent" at the end of conjugated verbs in the third person plural). However, the reverse is not true: the spelling cannot be similarly deduced from the pronunciation, because of the many silent letters (particularly at the end of words), and letter combinations which share the same pronunciation. An example of this is that "Saint-Coeur" is pronounced the same as "cinq heures". An example of word-play based on similar-sounding phrases can be found in these lines from the song La Valse à Mille Temps:

Une valse à cent temps // Une valse à cent ans // Une valse ça s'entend // A chaque carrefour // ...

Une valse à mille temps // Une valse a mis le temps // De patienter vingt ans // ...

[edit] See also

• French phonology

de:Aussprache der französischen Sprache fr:Prononciation du français