French Affective Accent

English speakers can emphasize one word in a sentence just by pronouncing it with more stress or by saying it more loudly, but this sort of word stress does not exist in French. (See my lesson on French rhythm.) Instead, the affective accent, explained below, and the tonic accent can be used to emphasize what the speaker wants to say.

There are three ways to pronounce the French affective accent:

1) Elongate the first or second consonant sound of a word
Note that any liaison or enchaînement at the beginning of the word counts as the first consonant sound.

   C'est formidable !  [say ffor mee dabl]
   That's great!

   Quel idiot !  [ke lli dyo]
   Quel idiot !  [ke li ddyo]
   What an idiot!

   C'est incroyable !  [say tteh(n) krwa yabl]
   C'est incroyable !  [say teh(n) kkrrwa yabl]
   That's incredible!


2) Pause before the word
This option cannot be used between words connected by enchaînement or a required liaison.

   C'est | incroyable !  [say | eh(n) krwa yabl]
   That's incredible!

   Vous êtes | géniaux !  [vu zeht | zhay nyo]
   You are great!

   Quelle idée | extraordinaire !  [ke lee day | ek stra or dee nayr]
   What an extraordinary idea!

   C'était | magnifique !  [say tay | ma nyee feek]
   It was magnificent!


3) Pause between each syllable of the word

   For | mi | dable !  [for | mee | dabl]
   Great!

   Im | po | ssible !  [eh(n) | puh | seebl]
   Impossible!

   C'était ma | gni | fique !  [say tay ma | nyee | feek]
   It was magnificent!

Pronunciation key

	a	father
	eh	bed
	ee	meet
	u	fool
	uh	sun
	(n)	nasal n
Another way to provide emphasis in French is with the tonic accent.