Beginning French Pronunciation

The basics of French pronunciation

 
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. This site contains numerous lessons which explain the rules and exceptions of French pronunciation in great detail, which is great for advanced students but can be very confusing for beginners. Therefore, this lesson is an attempt to simplify French pronunciation, to make it easier for you to get started, even if you don't know how every letter combination is pronounced in every situation. While at some point, you will need to study more in-depth lessons on pronunciation, for the time being, this simplified pronunciation chart can help you get a good idea about how to pronounce new words.

Whenever possible, I have provided English words which use the same spelling. Failing that, I used French terms used in English, but if you don't know how to say these à la française, you will need to look them up in order to get the correct pronunciation. Failing either of these, I used an alternate spelling - these words are in [brackets] and the letters which make the relevant sound are in bold. When there is no real English equivalent, the nearest sound, if any, is explained in (parentheses) - for these letters and letter combinations, you should look really at the in-depth lessons. The LKL column indicates how I write that sound when spelling out pronunciation in other lessons. The letters and letter combinations are linked to detailed lessons, while the examples are hyperlinked to sound files in .wav format.

Letter(s)	LKL	English Sound	Examples
A	a	father	quatre, un ami
AI	ay	pain	le lait, frais
AU	o	taupe	chaud, mauvais
B	b	baby	bonbons, bas
C	k	can	café, sucre
	s	ceiling	ceinture, nièce
Ç	s	façade	ça va, caleçon
CH	sh	champagne	chapeau, anchois
D	d	dad	la douane, mardi
E, EU	eu	de trop	le, un feu
É	ay	fiancé	été, génial
È, Ê, EI	eh	bête noire	exprès, une tête
EAU	o	eau de toilette	beau, l'eau
F	f	fat	février, neuf
G	g	gag	gants, une bague
	zh	mirage	il gèle, aubergine
H		hour	hiver, un hôpital
	(always silent in French)
I, Ï, Î	ee	naïve	dix, un lit
J	zh	déjà vu	le jambon, déjeuner
K	k	keep	un kiosque, le ski
	(rare in French)
L	l	little	fleurs, mille
M	m	mom	Madame, comment
	(n)	(nasal vowel)	le parfum, embouteillage
N	n	noun	neuf, noir
	(n)	(nasal vowel)	un, le pain
O	o	solo	le dos, rose
OI	wa	foie gras	boire, trois
OU	u	soup	douze, nous
P	p	paper	un père, la soupe
PH	f	phone	une pharmacie, téléphoner
Q	k	pique	quinze, la banque
R	r		rouge, une ceinture
		(similar to Spanish J, Arabic KH)
S	s	sassy	le sucre, un poisson
SC	sk	scold	les escargots
	s	science	les sciences
T	t	tight	la tarte, latomate
TH	t	[tea]	le thé, le théâtre
TI	s	[silly]	attention
U	u	[food]*	tu, une jupe
UE	weh	suede*	saluer, la Suisse
UI	wee	cuisine*	une nuit, fruit
		*Approximation - see lesson on U
V	v	verve	vert, un avion
W	v		un wagon
		(rare in French)
X	ks	express	exprimer, taxe
	gz	example	le xérès, un exemplaire
Y	y	yogurt	le yaourt, les yeux
Z	z	zone	la zone, la zizanie

 

French Pronunciation     Listen + Repeat French Alphabet     French Accents     French for Beginners French terms in English     Differences between French + English

  

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