Languages › French French Pronunciation of the Double L Print Tom Merton / Getty Images French Pronunciation & Conversation Vocabulary Grammar Resources For Teachers By ThoughtCo Team Updated on February 24, 2019 In French, the double L is sometimes pronounced like an L and other times like a Y. How do you know when to pronounce it each way? This lesson explains the general rules and the inevitable exceptions. Rules for Pronouncing LL As a general rule, the double L after A, E, O, U, and Y is pronounced like an L: une balle, elle, mollement, une idylle, etc. If there are exceptions to this, I've never found them. Read More How to Pronounce the Letter 'I' in French By ThoughtCo Team In words with I followed by LL, the rules are a bit more complicated. The double L is always pronounced like a Y in letter combinations with vowel + ILL: aill (e.g., taille) eill (oreille) euill (feuille) œill (œillet) ouill (grenouille) ueill (cueillir) uill (juillet) And LL is pronounced like a Y in words such as fille, la Bastille, Millau, and chantilly. However, there are also many words in which the double L is pronounced like an L (follow links to hear the words pronounced). This is the complete list: un bacille - germ, bacillus billevesées - nonsense un billion - trillion capillaire - capillary un codicille - codicil distiller - to distill une fibrille - small fiber (fibrillaire, fibrillation)* un krill - krill Lille - town in northern France lilliputien - Liliputian mille - thousand (un millénium, millier, etc.) un mille - mile (le millage) milli- (prefix) un milliard - billion (un milliardaire, le milliardième, etc.) un million - million (un millionaire, le millionième, etc.) osciller - to oscillate, swing un/e pupille* - ward of the state une pupille* - pupil une scille - scilla une spongille - spongilla tranquille - calm, tranquil un verticille - verticil un vexille - vexillum une ville - town (une villa, un village, etc.) une zorille - zorilla The (parentheses) indicate derivations which are also pronounced like an L. *These words may be pronounced either way. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Team, ThoughtCo. "French Pronunciation of the Double L." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/french-pronunciation-of-the-double-l-1369571. Team, ThoughtCo. (2023, April 5). French Pronunciation of the Double L. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-pronunciation-of-the-double-l-1369571 Team, ThoughtCo. "French Pronunciation of the Double L." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-pronunciation-of-the-double-l-1369571 (accessed March 28, 2024). copy citation