Lessons / Leçons
0 (zéro) Sounds and alphabet / des sons et un alphabet 1 (un) Greetings and courtesies / salutations et politesse 2 (deux) Introduction / présentation 3 (trois) être et avoir / to be and to have 4 (quatre) Négation et question / negation and question 5 (cinq) Chiffres, nombres et ordinaux / Figures, numbers and ordinals 6 (six) Le corps / body 7 (sept) Description / description 8 (huit) Sentiments, qualités et météo / feelings, goodness and weather 9 (neuf) Mouvements et DIRECTIONS / motion and directions 10 (dix) Le temps - Time 11 (onze) Plus belle que toi - more beautiful than youLessons / Leçons: 0 (zéro)
Sounds and alphabet /
Des sons et un alphabe
Pronunciation / Prononciation
Vowels / Voyelles
Consonants / Consonnes
Exercise / Exercice
The Alphabet/ L’alphabet
Accents / Accents (here on –e, -i)
Exercise / Exercice
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
Pronounce the following words
araignée, saperlipopette, vin, western, gorge, saphir, champagne, foin, poire, cendre, chanter, vanille, profond, court, lettre, faire, baleine, mur, rond, pain, sang, âgé, aspirateur, blague, assis, œuf
(spider, gad!, wine, wine, western (films), throat, sapphire, champagne, hay, pear, ash, sing, vanilla, deep, short, letter, doing, whale, wall, round, bread, blood, old, Hoover, joke, sit, egg)
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
Épelez vos nom et prénom à voix haute (Spell your first name and surname aloud).
Essayez avec quelqu’un d’autre d’épeler et d’écrire ce que vous entendez (Try with someone else to spell and write down what you hear).
French is still the universal language of love. This is the main reason why the number of people wishing to learn how to speak, read, and write French fluently continue to rise.