Lessons / Leçons: 0 (zéro)
Sounds and alphabet / Des sons et un alphabe

Vowels / Voyelles

a, à, â – as in “cat”: appétit

e – as in “the”: querelle (quarrel) – expect before a double consonant pronounced è as in “left”: mouette (seagull), elle (she) and before x and s, pronounced é as in deny: exact (correct), intéressant (interesting)

é – as in “deny”: été (summer)

è – as in “left”: mère (mother)

ê – as in “left”: pêche (peache)

æ – as in “deny”: Lætitia (girl’s name)

i, ï, î – as in “leave”: image (image)

o, ô – as in “Australia”: orange (orange)

u, ù, û – as in “Uruguay”: rue (street)

And last but not least, -y, which can be vowel or consonant:

y (vowel) – as in “leave”: idylle (romance)

y (consonant) – as in “yell”: voyage (trip)

Slightly more difficult…

ai / ei – as in “left”: français (French), neige (snow)

an / en (also am / em) – as in “can’t ”: anglais (English), lent (slow)

eu – 2 pronunciations:

• between “e” and “u”: deux (two), heureux (happy)

• like “e”: heure (hour), beurre (butter), fleur (flower)

œ, œu – as in “the”: cœur (heart), sœur (sister), œuf (egg)

on – as in “won’t”: pont (bridge)

ou, où – as in “pool”: lourd (heavy)

oi – as in “wallet”: miroir (mirror)

oin – as in “went”: loin (far)

un / in / ein / ain (also um / im / eim / aim )– as in “and”: un (one), interdit (forbidden), peinture (paint), faim (hunger)

Consonants / Consonnes

c has two pronunciations:

c before -a, -o, -u– as in “cat ”: copain (mate)

c before -e, -i, -y – as in “cinema”: citron (lemon)

therefore you have the ç, to be used before -a, -o, -u, to make the sound [s]: garçon (boy)

g has two pronunciations:

g before -a, -o, -u – as in “go ”: gare (station)

g before -e, -i, (y – as in “geld”: girafe (girafe)

to have the sound g as in “go” before -e, -i, -y, you add -u after the -g: guerre (war)

g before -n is pronounced [nie] – as in “knew”: magnifique (splendid)

h is not pronounced. It’s either silent or aspirate. You won’t make a liaison before an aspirate -h.

q is almost always followed by -u, and makes the sound [k] as in “kiss”: queue (tale),

r is pronounced like a very very light Spanish jota: rouge (red)

s alone at the beginning of a word – as in “silk”: sel (salt)

s alone in the middle of a word between 2 vowels – as in “zest”: oser (to dare)

s alone in the middle of a word between a vowel and a consonant – as in “silk”: destin (destiny)

ss (always in the middle of words) – as in “silk”: essayer (to try)

w like v – as in “very”: wagon, unless it is an English word (week-end will be pronounced like in English)

You usually won’t pronounce the final consonant. However, you’ll see a few exceptions, as coq (rooster), os (bone), tong (flip-flap), œuf (egg)…

 

More…

ch – as the English -sh in “shark”: chat (cat)

ill – like the English -y in “yes”: fille (girl)

sc – like ss as in “peace”: ascenseur (lift)

ph – like f as in after: phésnomène (phenomenon)

Exercise / Exercice

The Alphabet / L’alphabet

The French alphabet is the same as the English one, only the name of letters are different.

You want to understand them when someone spells a word or a name.

Text / Texte

Comment ça s’écrit ? - How do you spell it?

Comment ça se prononce ? – How do you pronounce it?

Comment on dit ? – How do you say?

 

A, a	a
B, b	bé
C, c	cé
D, d	dé
E, e	e
F, f	èf
G, g	gé
H, h	ach
I, i	i
J, j	ji
K, k	ka
L, l	èl
M, m	èm
N, n	èn
O, o	o
P, p	pé
Q, q	cu
R, r	èr
S, s	ès
T, t	té
U, u	u
V, v	vé
W, w	double vé
X, x	iks
Y, y	i grec
Z, z	zèd

Extra letters

ç, ç : cé cedille (cedilla)

Œ, œ : e dans l’o

Æ, æ : e dans l’a

Accents / Accents (here on –e, -i)

é : accent aigu

è : accent grave

ê : accent circonflexe

ï : tréma

Exercise / Exercice

 

 

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