THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR
FRENCH
PRONUNCIATION
How to pronounce French the right way:
1) The stress
2) How to pronounce French vowels
3) All about consonants
4) What are French nasal sounds?
5) All the French-y variations
6) Those flowing, connected sounds & how it's done
7) Accent marks (and the difference it makes)
8) French and English similarities
9) The French Alphabet
1. The Stress
The stress is mostly even except for the last syllable
which is being given a tad bit more of an emphasis.
Check out this example where we will use the word
IMPORTANT. Notice the difference in the stress
between the two:
In English:
im-POR-tant, while in French: ang-por-tahng
See the difference?
2. How to pronounce
French vowels
For the newbie French learner, the difference between
a, à, and â as well as e, é, è, and ê can get head
swimmingly frustrating.
• a and à are both pronounced like ‘ah’ in English. â is
also like ‘ah’, except that it is longer.
• e when placed in the middle of a syllable is
pronounced like ‘ai’ in fair, same as è and ê.
• The rule for pronouncing e: in the middle of a syllable
— ‘ai’ as in fair; at the end of a syllable, ‘er’ as in her;
but when you see it at the end of a word, it is silent.
(example: tasse)
3. All about Consonants
Consonants in French are basically pronounced the
same way as in English.
Here’s an important thing for you to note:
Except for these letters: c, f, l, and r, consonants are usually
not pronounced when it is the last letter of the word. Take
for example the silent last letters in the following words:
passpor(t) and Pari(s)
On the other hand, l and r are pronounced such as in the
following:
hotel and professeur
4.What are French nasal sounds?
These nasal sounds are quite distinctive of the French language and
are characterized by the following:
1. It is produced by blocking air from leaving the mouth and released instead
through the nose.
2. These sounds are ‘voiced’ which means the vocal cords vibrate to create the
sound.
English language has three nasal sounds too, namely the m sound,
the n sound, and the ng sound.
Try saying the words sing, sang, song and sung and notice the
following:
• the letter g is given very little value in the standard pronunciation,
• as you pronounce the words, air is blocked when the back of your tongue presses
against the soft palate.
5. All the French-y variations
• er (when at the end of a word with two or more
syllables) and ez are both pronounced like ‘ay’.
• As an exception to the C,F,L,R consonants pronunciation
rule presented earlier, L when used in the
syllables ail and eil, are generally silent.
• For sure you’re quite familiar with the gn sound
already. Especially if you’re the lasagna-eating type.
6. Flowing, connected sounds & How it's
done Y
If a word that begins with a vowel or a silent H follows a word which -
ends in a consonant, the consonant is linked to the beginning of the
second word. VA
Simply stated, IF: RI
1st word — ends in a consonant
2nd word — begins with a vowel or silent H
AT
Result: the consonant in the end of the first word is
automatically linked to the beginning vowel of the second IO
word.
NS
To illustrate, let us make use of these examples:
1. nous avons – the 1st word ends with the consonant s while the 2nd word
begins with a vowel.
7. Accent marks
French makes use of three main accents, and
these are:
• the acute accent (é) or l’accent aigu which can
be found in the letter e.
• the grave accent (è) or l’accent grave which can
be found in the letters a, e, and u; and
• the circumflex (ê) or l’accent circonflexe which
can be found in any vowel.
8. French and English similarities
Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t really a huge gaping
difference between English and French pronunciation. In
fact, most syllables are pronounced as though they are a
part of an English word and are each given an equal stress.
• ng (italics) must never be pronounced; these letters
merely indicate that the preceding vowel has
a nasal sound.
• er (r italics) do not pronounce the r; this syllable sounds
like er in ‘her’.
• zh sounds like s in ‘measure’.
• ü no equivalent in English; round your lips and
say ‘ee’.
• o sounds like o in ‘not’.
• oh sounds like o in ‘note’.
9. The French Alphabet
The French Alphabet also contains 26 letters of the ISO
basic Latin-script alphabet. It is basically similar to that of
the English alphabet except for K and W which aren’t
always used. The pronunciation is also a bit different.
Here’s a little example.
If your name is JANEY, it is spelled out as ‘zheel – ah – en – er – ee-grek’.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself when you can’t fully grasp
the pronunciation rules after a few hours of practice. It
takes time to learn how to pronounce French words
properly – months, in fact. Besides, it’s extremely rare to
see a foreigner with a 100% correct pronunciation. But
does it really matter? France is a hugely multicultural
country and the French people are quite familiar (and
accepting!) with a wide range of accent. So don’t beat
yourself to a pulp, and just keep practicing until you start
to pull off French quite nicely.” - Native French Speakers
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