French Language > Pronunciation

Pronouncing French: a Minimalist Approach

If your primary goal is to learn how to read French (as may be the case if you are working through my French for Reading Knowledge course), and not so much to converse in it, then you do not need to reach a high level of oral production of the language. However, my opinion is that you should nonetheless aim for a basic understanding of the French writing system and for a certain minimal correctness in reading it aloud. A reasonable goal, it seems to me, is that your French pronunciation should be good enough that a native speaker of the language will understand what you are saying.

My reasons for recommending this minimal effort:

1. It will be easier to memorize vocabulary items if you you have an idea of what the words sound like. ¹
2. Also, knowing basic rules of pronunciation will help you make sense of French versification (if you want to read poetry).
3. Finally, knowing the basics of how to pronounce French will make you feel more comfortable in situations we all find ourselves in from time to time, in which one is obliged to speak French words aloud (fancy dinner parties, conversations with academics).

In what follows I will cover a few principles and point to some useful links. In places I may go into more detail than you feel you need. Take what is useful to you, forget the rest.

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I. A Very Little History

You can skip this section, but it does help (I fancy) to explain the current writing system.

A. Monophthongs Gone Amuck

A monophthong is a “simple” or “pure” vowel; that is, you don’t change the shape of your mouth (essentially the position of the tongue and lips) while you are pronouncing it. In a diphthong there is a (single) change, but the whole is experienced (by speaker and listener) as one sound. For example, here are three diphthongs in American English:

• “eye,” the pronoun “I,” “mite”: [aɪ̯], also transcribed as [aj] or [aʲ]
  • The “breve” ( ̯ ) under the ɪ shows that it is a secondary element; the primary element is the first sound, [a]. ²
• “how now, brown cow?”, “mouse”: [aʊ̯], also written [aw] or [aʷ]
  • The main element is, once again, the first sound [a], followed by a [ʊ̯].
• “use,” “fusion,” “new“: [ɪ̯u] or [ju] or [ʲu]
  • Here the secondary element comes first, followed by the main element.

As Latin changed into (proto-)French, a few diphthongs were lost (i.e., simplified into monophthongs); then, moving into medieval French, a great number of new diphthongs and triphthongs were produced, which account for the series of vowels you still see in the current spelling: {eau, au, ai, ei, ou, eu, … }. Subsequently, moving from medieval into modern French, virtually all of these complex vowels were (re-)simplified into monophthongs—but their spelling stayed pretty much as it was around, say, the year 1100. Hence the present situation, in which you have a variety of ways of representing a single vowel. For example:

• the sound [o] can be written: {o, ô, au, eau}
• the sound [e] can be written: {e, é, ai}
• the sound [ø] can be written: {eu, œ, œu}

…and so forth. The number of alternate spellings for a single sound is further increased by the next two features.

B. Weakening and Disappearance of Final Consonants

As early as the twelfth century a consequential change was initiated in the pronunciation of French. The language began shifting from a mostly tonic accent ³ to a mostly pitch accent; furthermore, accentually speaking the words in a phrase began being treated as if they were one word, with only one accented syllable per phrase. (See sections IIE and IIF below.) As a result, consonants at the ends of words became subject to the same kind of weakening that occurred in the interior of words and to disappearance in newly formed consonant clusters.

More or less concurrently a final –s (such as the –s that eventually became the sign of the plural of nouns and adjectives) had the effect of “swallowing” a preceding consonant. Eventually, the preceding consonant ceased being pronounced in all positions (that is, even when the final –s wasn’t present); in addition, at length the final –s itself fell out of pronunciation.

These developments account (at least in large part) for the fact that, in modern French, by and large final consonants are not pronounced.

C. The Unaccented Final –e

Unaccented final -e is (for the most part) not pronounced. One of its principal functions is to signal that a final consonant, otherwise not pronounced, is in this case to be pronounced:

• The masculine adjective abstrait is pronounced [abstrɛ] (i.e., no final t); however:
• The feminine abstraite is pronounced [abstrɛt], with the final T distinctly sounded. ⁴

When it comes after a vowel or a series of vowels, a final unaccented –e adds nothing whatsoever (other than yet another spelling for the same sound):

• -eue sounds the same as -eu [ø]
  • bleu and bleue, both pronounced [blø]
• –ée sounds the same as -é [e]
  • désiré and désirée, both pronounced [dezire]
• -ie sounds the same as –i
  • parti and partie, both pronounced [parti]
• -ue sounds the same as –u [y]
  • vu and vue, both pronounced [vy]

…and so forth.

D. The Bottom Line

As a result of these factors, modern French has a disproportionately large number of homophones (words that sound the same). For instance, the following series of words are all pronounced the same:

• paix (peace), paie (pay), pet (fart), all pronounced [pɛ]
• foi (faith), foie (liver), fois (time-repetition), all pronounced [fwa]
• saut (jump), sceau (seal), seau (pail), sot (fool), all pronounced [so]
• air (air), aire (area), erre (wanders), ère (era), all pronounced [ɛʀ]

The French writing system, with all its oddities, serves the important function (along with the usual one of communicating without sound) of keeping words separate that would otherwise be quite indistinguishable. A regular exercise in French schools, the dictée (dictation), helped preserve and insure this function. —If you’re curious about dictées, you can find many of them on YouTube. Here’s one with very simple syntax and basic vocabulary (the same on YouTube):

Another well-known language with the same problem (huge number of homophones), but to an even greater degree: Classical Chinese. As with French, so in Chinese the writing system helps to keep homophones apart.

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II. Some Very Good Advice

Listed here are some counsels that will help you on your way to correct pronunciation of French. For practice modeling yourself on actual French speakers, check out my Recommended Sites for French Pronunciation.

A. Learn the IPA Phonetic Symbols for French

You might balk at the idea of learning yet another foreign writing system, but here you would be wrong. In the case of a language like French, in which there is a significant gap between the spoken and the written forms of words, ⁵ the I.P.A. (= International Phonetic Alphabet) is a godsend, indeed a practical necessity. The whole point of the IPA is the strict correspondence of one symbol to one sound. Thus, whenever (thanks to silent letters, homographies, and what not) the pronunciation of a French word has you baffled, a phonetic transcription can straighten everything out. Most French-English dictionaries (including those online) use these symbols to give the phonetic equivalent of each word, usually at the head of the entry. ⁶

Whenever you are uncertain about the pronunciation of a French word, you can find the IPA phonetic transcription of it in almost any French dictionary, digital or physical.

A correct phonetic transcription will also reveal when, in a phrase, letters normally pronounced fall out (élision) and letters normally not pronounced ARE pronounced (liaison), two features of French phonology I have avoided mentioning so far (see point II.E.2 below.)

This Français interactif page gives you the symbols (most of them, anyway ⁷) with recordings. (The same page also discusses élision and liaison.) You can also find a list of the symbols (complete, this time) with recordings at this ThoughtCo. page. I also recommend your downloading this French Pronunciation Guide, borrowed from I no longer know which elementary French textbook: for each sound, it gives all possible French spellings and closest English equivalents. A similar list, more complete, is this other downloadable pdf: IPA (MTBooth) from Trudie Maria Booth, French Phonetics.

Such lists of phonetic symbols are also helpful in providing a convenient inventory of the sounds of French.

B. Learn a Few Divergent Consonant Spellings

Most letters for French consonants have a value similar to their value in English. Exceptions:

• { ch } normally has the same value as English “sh” [ʃ], as opposed to its normal English value [tʃ]. It can also have the value [k] in most (but not quite all) words of Greek origin.
  • choix [ʃwa] (choice), versus English “choice” [tʃɔɪs]
  • archipel [arʃipɛl], architecte [arʃitekt], archevêque [arʃvɛk]; compare archéologie [arkeoloʒi]), etc.
• { g } before a front vowel (i or e), and { j } always, has the value of [ʒ], as opposed to English [dʒ].
  • juge [ʒyʒ], versus English “judge” [dʒʌdʒ]
• { gn } has the value [ɲ], the same as Spanish “ñ” (señor). In English we have the sound in a word borrowed from Spanish: “canyon,” and in a word borrowed from French: “cognac.”
• { h } represents a sound [h] that has disappeared from modern French; so: no sound at all. In words beginning with an initial h-, it is only the following vowel that is heard: hôtel [otɛl], heaume [om]. However, there is the following distinction: in words of Latin origin beginning with h- (which is to say, the majority), liaison and élision (see E.2 and E.2.e below) will occur as if the h- were not there: un hôtel [œ̃ no tɛl], l‘hôtel [lo tɛl]. In contrast, Germanic words, introduced later into the language (at which time the initial h- of these words was still being pronounced), even today do not allow liaison and élision: un heaume [œ̃ om], le heaume [lə om]. ⁸ Intervocalically -h- tells you to pronounce the vowels on either side of the -h- separately. (For h occurring in ch, see above.)
• A double -ll- when preceded by an i, also a final -il preceded by another vowel, most often has the value of a “yod,” IPA symbol [j], a sound we have in English and represent as a consonantal “y”: “year, yippee, yo-yo.” In French, however, the sound mostly occurs at the end of a syllable, not at the beginning of a word.
  • {-ille } : bille ([a] marble) [bij], brille (shine – verb) [brij], famille [famij], fille (girl, daughter) [fij]; Corneille (French playwright) [kɔrnej]
    • But note these exceptions: mille (thousand) [mil], ville (city) [vil], tranquille [trɑ̃kil]
  • {-ill-} + another vowel : maquillage (make-up) [makijaʒ]; Condillac (French philosopher) [kɔ̃dijak]
  • a vowel plus {-il } : travail (work – noun) [travaj], bétail (cattle) [betaj], Créteil (a town in the suburbs of Paris) [kretej]
• { qu } has the value of [k], as opposed to English [kw]. Similalry, { gu } usually represents a simple [g]. Final -que and -gue normally have the values [k] and [g].
  • quarantine [karɑ̃tin], quête [kɛt]; guarde [gard], guindé (stiff, awkward) [gɛ̃de]
  • moustique (mosquito) [mustik], pique (prick) [pik]; fatigue [fatig], Rodrigue [rɔdrig]
• { th }, frequently of Greco-Latin origin, represents the sound [t].
  • théâtre [teatr], thon (tuna) [tõ], thermomètre [tɛrmɔmɛtr]

(About r, see below.)

C. Learn the Vowel Sounds That Aren’t English-Similar

Many French vowels are close enough to English ones that they won’t cost you much (or possibly any) effort. In points 1 and 2 that follow, I discuss the vowels that DO require some effort.

1. The Front, Rounded Vowels

French has a famous series of front, rounded vowels for which there are no equivalents in English. The tongue is in the same position as for vowel sounds we do have in English , but which we pronounce with extended lips, whereas these special French vowels are made with rounded lips.

• [y], written as u ⁹
• [œ], written as eu, œu
• [ø], written as eu, œu

I recommend that you strive at least to approximate these sounds, the hardest of which is the [y]. You might try out these clips for the purpose: [y], [œ], [ø].

2. Learn the Nasal Vowels

There are four of them, according to me (others say there are only three). In English, we also have nasal(ized) vowels: whenever we have a vowel followed by a nasal consonant, we nasalize to some extent the preceding vowel. What French has done is: leave off pronouncing the nasal consonant, but retain the the nasal quality of the vowel.

• [ɑ̃]
• [õ]
• [ɛ̃]
• [œ̃]

You can find examples on this Français interactif page (but watch out: the tilde ˜ is missing in a a few places over the œ and the ɛ). And here is a good YouTube clip.

I give here some tips on getting the hang of these nasal vowels. All four involve lowering the velum, or soft palate (see this nifty language file on The Organs of Speech), and letting air go through the nose, which we do in English too for the nasal consonants. With the latter, however the air flow through the mouth is completely cut off, and the air exits only through the nose. The trick with the French nasal vowels is to let the air pass simultaneously through the mouth and the nose. Supposing you can figure out how to do that, here are some further tips for the shape of the mouth for each vowel.

• [ɑ̃]
  • Start with the broad [ɑ] sound, as in “father” (American pronunciation), and nasalize (lower the velum).
• [õ]
  • You will often see this sound transcribed with an “open O” symbol [ɔ] rather than a “close O” symbol [o]. The shape of the mouth for this nasal vowel, however, is actually closer to an [o] than an [ɔ] (see below on the distinction between open and close vowels). Also, it is important for English-speakers to contrast the [õ] as sharply as possible from the [ɑ̃], and starting from an [ɔ] will make it harder to do so.
• [ɛ̃]
  • Americans have, in my experience, a singular reluctance to pronounce this sound. ¹⁰ It is not so very far removed, however, from some things we do say in English with no problem at all. Think of saying “angry” or “ant” or the first syllable of “amplitude,” and draw out the “an/m-” so that you never actually close your mouth on a consonant. The resulting sound will be close enough to [ɛ̃].
• [œ̃]
  • [œ] is already a sound that is not so easy for English-speakers, and adding the nasal element compounds the problem. Try pronouncing “Hum” or “Um” and prolong the vowel, so that you never actually close your lips on the “m.”

D. Learn the Vowel Spellings

Knowing how to pronounce the vowels is very good. Now, as to their spelling…

1. UN-Learn, If Possible, the Disastrous Great Vowel Shift

Do any other instances of English exceptionalism (including Brexit) compare in regrettable consequences with the Great Vowel Shift? It began in the 14th century and was largely (but not entirely) over by 1700; its effect was to shift our “long” vowels a step upwards. (This web page has a nice chart showing the changes and their chronology.) As a result, the letters of the Roman alphabet that we use in English for these long vowels have a radically different value from what these same letters mean in all other languages that use this alphabet, as well as from what they mean in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).

So, if you’re going to learn the values these letters have in French (or in the IPA, or in any other language that uses the Roman alphabet): think of how Chaucer would have pronounced them, and try to imitate him. Most importantly:

• “i” never means [aʲ]
• “e” never means
• “a” never means [e]

2. Learn the Various Values of the Letter E

There are three, for all of which there are similar sounds in English: “close E” [e], “open E” [ɛ], and the sound variously referred to as the e caduc, ¹¹ “mute E” (e muet), or “unstable E” (e instable) (this last, because the sound sometimes falls out of pronunciation): [ə]. You need to learn how these different values of E are represented in writing (I refer you again to the French Pronunciation Guide; see also this language file Accents in French) and also gain familiarity with how the e caduc works.

Some important things to know about the e caduc / “unstable E”:

1. A final e caduc coming right after a consonant means that the consonant MUST be pronounced, and very clearly. ¹²
2. An e caduc coming after a nasal consonant means that a) you pronounce the nasal consonant AS a consonant, and usually also that b) you denasalize the preceding vowel.
   E.g., masculine américain [amerikɛ̃] versus feminine américaine [amerikɛn]
3. Though it causes a preceding consonant to be pronounced, the e caduc itself falls out of pronunciation whenever it can, and notably: when another vowel either precedes it or follows it (in a following word).

3. Learn the Vowel “Digraphs”

See what I say in parts I.A and I.C above about series of letters that represent a single vowel sound in French. For a look at all of them, scroll through this list of French vowel representations (part of a Wikipedia article on French orthography). Here are important ones (to most of them an additional unaccented -e can be added with no change to the sound):

• { ai } : [e] or [ɛ]
• { au } : [o] or [ɔ]
• { eau } : [o]
• { ei } : [ɛ]
• { eu, œu } : [ø] or [œ]
• { oi } : [wa] ¹³
• { ou } : [u]

Perhaps I should add the digraphs for nasal vowels. In each case the letter M or N serves to indicate nasalization of the vowel; it does not (here) represent a consonant.

• [ɑ̃] > { am, an, em, en }
• [õ] > { om, on }
• [ɛ̃] > { aim, em, en, eim, ein, im, in }
  • [wɛ̃] > { oin }
• [œ̃] > { um, un }

E. Know When and When Not to Pronounce Final Consonants.

Final consonants are not pronounced in French, except that sometimes they are: sometimes always (point 1 below), and sometimes only sometimes (point 2).

1. Words with Pronounced Final Consonants

A minority of words end with a final consonant that is pronounced in all circumstances. The main consonants liable to be pronounced are: C, F, L, and R. For good measure, I add some cases involving S and Z.

• Final -c is often pronounced.
  • For instance: avec, arc, bic, bouc, chic, choc, clic, crac, diagnostic, duc, échec, flic, grec, lac, parc, public, roc, sac, tic, trac, trafic, truc, zinc (with, bow, ballpoint pen, male goat, chic, shock, click, crack, diagnosis, duke, failure, cop, Greek, lake, park, public, rock, sack, tic, stage fright, traffic, thingummy, zinc)
  • Names ending in -ac: Bergerac, Cadillac, Cognac, Condillac, Frontenac, Mauriac, Rastignac
  • Special case: donc (therefore). It can come in two places: at the beginning of a clause or after the  verb. When it comes first, the –c is pronounced; when it comes after the verb, the –c is pronounced only if a word beginning with a vowel follows.
    • Cette jeune personne est orpheline. Donc [dõk], elle n’a pas de parents.
    • Cette jeune personne est orpheline. Elle n’a donc [dõ] pas de parents.
    • Cette jeune personne est orpheline de père et de mère. Elle n’a donc aucun [dõ ko kœ̃] de ses parents.
  • Some words with unsounded final –c: accroc, banc, blanc, croc, escroc, estomac, franc, tabac (snag, bench, white, fang, swindler, stomach, franc, tobacco)
• Final -f is usually pronounced:
  • Adjectives ending in -if (a very large group): actif, corrosif, législatif, négatif, végétatif…
  • Noteworthy nouns: chef [ʃɛf], nef [nɛf], œuf [œf], bœuf [bœf] (boss, nave, -egg, beef/steer). ¹⁴
    
  • Some words with silent final –f: cerf, clef, ¹⁵ nerf (deer, key, nerve). The –f of serf (serf) can be pronounced or not.
    
• Final -l is most often pronounced.
  • It is pronounced in the very frequent adjective (and noun) endings -al and -el; also, in the chemical ending -ol.
    • animal; existentiel; alcool
  • Final -il following a vowel will have the value of a yod [j]:
    • travail, pareil, œil [travaj, parej, œj] (work, like, eye)
  • Cases of an unpronounced final -l:
    • cul [cy], gentil, [ʒɑ̃ti], fusil [fyzi] (arse, nice [person], rifle)
• Final -r is most often pronounced, but there are important groups of words in which it is not.
  • In -ir, -oir infinitive endings, final –r is pronounced, but it is NOT in the “first-conjugation” -er infinitive.
  • It is NOT pronounced in the masculine adjective/noun ending -er [e], contrasting with feminine ending -ère [ɛr] (e.g., berger / bergère [bɛrge / bɛrgɛr], “shepherd/ess”), EXCEPT for two rather important adjectives:
    • Masculine cher (dear; expensive) and feminine chère sound alike: [ʃɛr]
    • As do masculine fier (proud ¹⁶) and feminine fière: [fjɛr]
    • The occasional name: Auber [obɛr]
• Final -s is pronounced in two frequent common nouns, which you certainly should learn, and in a few other cases:
  • un fils, des fils (a son, sons). Singular and plural look and sound alike, the l being silent and the s pronounced: [fis]. Also worth mentioning: the name of the month, mars [mars].
    • Compare this word with un fil, des fils (thread, wire), both forms pronounced [fil].
  • le sens, les sens. Sens has three important meanings: “sense (e.g., one of the five); meaning; direction.” The singular and plural looks and sound alike: [sɑ̃s].
  • It is also frequently pronounced in Greek names.
    • Paris (the abductor of Helen) [paris], Ménélas (the injured husband) [menelas], Périclès (Greek statesman) [periklɛs], Cligès (fictional Byzantine) [kliʒɛs]
  • Also, Latin words ending in -s.
    • bis, bus, ¹⁷ campus, gratis, Sparticus (twice, bus, campus, free of charge, Sparticus)
      • • • Latin words ending in -um are pronounced [ɔm]: maximum, minimum, ultimatum
  • The occasional French last name will, unexpectedly, have a pronounced final -s. Sometimes the Wikipedia article for a public figure will give a transcription of the French pronunciation of the last name.
    • Desnos [dɛsno:s], Bernanos (bɛrnanɔs], Barrès [barɛs], Maurras [moras], Jaurès [ʒɔrɛs], Gaston Paris
• Final –z is usually not pronounced. However, it is pronounced:
  • in gaz (gas) [gaz] – a word invented by the 17th-century Flemish chemist Jean-Baptiste Van Helmont
  • in the occasional proper noun: Berlioz (famousest French composer) [bɛrljoz]; Vittoz (Swiss therapist who treated T.S. Eliot) [vitoz]
    • but: Droz (Swiss publishing firm) [dro]

Whenever in doubt about whether a final consonant is pronounced, as about any other issue of pronunciation, consult the phonetic transcription of the word you will find in any respectable French dictionary, digital or printed.

2. Liaison (and maybe Élision as well)

In a series of closely related words, an otherwise silent final consonant, when it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, can become sounded; in some cases it must be sounded. Certain of these so-called “latent consonants” will have a special pronunciation: for instance, final -s will be pronounced as [z] (the usual pronunciation for intervocalic -s-) and a final -d will be pronounced as [t]. Cases of liaison you are sure to encounter:

a. In a noun phrase, words preceding the noun

Determiners (articles, etc.) and adjectives preceding a noun beginning with a vowel sound must link. In the transcriptions here I separate the syllables and place the latent consonant with the following vowel sound.

• un œuf, un article, un hôtel [œ̃ nœf, œ̃ nar ti klᵊ, œ̃ no tɛl]
• trois hommes, mon hôtel, ces idiots, vos amis [trwa zɔm, mõ no tɛl, se zi djo, vo za mi]
• un grand homme, mes bons amis, le premier étage [œ̃ grɑ̃ tɔm, me bõ za mi, lə prə mjɛ re taʒ]
• un bon article, le divin enfant, en plein air [œ̃ bɔ nar ti klᵊ, lə di vi nɑ̃ fɑ̃, ɑ̃ plɛ nɛr] ¹⁸

b. Short (monosyllabic) prepositions and adverbs and a following related word

• dans un mois (in a month), en Italie (in Italy), sans appel (without [possibility of] appeal)
• très ennuyeux (very annoying/boring), plus enclin (more inclined), fort aimable (very amiable)

c. Pronoun subjects and objects before a verb

• subjects: nous aimons (we love), vous insistez (you insist), ils aspirent (they aspire), elles insinuent (they insinuate)
• objects: il nous aime (he loves us), il vous aime (he loves you)

d. Verbs with inverted pronoun subjects (on, il[s], elle[s]) and objects (en, y)

• inverted subjects: finit-on [fi ni tõ], est-il [ɛ til], aiment-elles [ɛm tɛl]
• inverted objects: allez-y [a le zi], prends-en [prɑ̃ zɑ̃]

A very complete account of liaisons can be found in this pdf of some pages: Liaisons (Booth) from the book by Trudie Maria Booth, French Phonetics.

e. Élision

While we’re talking about liaison, we should probably talk about élision as well, since these are complementary processes: one adds a consonant, and the other eliminates a vowel, but both so that French can approximate as much as possible to the order  C V   C V   C V  (C meaning “consonant,” V meaning “vowel”). Élision involves especially a final e caduc, the a of la (article or pronoun), and the i of si before il, ils. With je, que, de, le, la, me, te, and si, the suppression of the vowel sound is indicated with an apostrophe (‘).

• subject pronoun je: j’aime, j’humecte, j’y vais, j’en doute
• pronoun and conjunction que:
  • Qu’est-ce? (What is it?); Qu’as-tu fait? (What have you done?)
  • Je pense qu’ils vont venir. (I think [that] they are going to come.)
• de: une chanson d’amour (a love song)
• definite article le: l’orteil, l’homme; definite article la: l’âme, l’huître (the toe, the human bean; the soul, the oyster)
• pronoun objects le, la, me, te: Je l’aime (I love him), Je l’aime (I love her), Il m’aime (He loves me), Elle t’aime (She loves you)
  
• si: Je ne sais pas s’il viendra (I don’t know if he will come)

A final e caduc can be elided even when it is not replaced by an apostrophe:

• Quelque + autre + ancêtre + innocent will be written as Quelque autre ancêtre innocent (some other innocent ancestor)
  • …but pronounced as if it were: Quelqu’ autr’ ancêtr’ innocent…
  • …that is, in phonetic transciption (showing the separation of the syllables): [kel ko trɑ̃ sɛ tri nɔ sɑ̃].

F. Get Comfortable with French Phrasing

French pronunciation has some additional features that make a sequence of words spoken in French sound very different from a sequence of words spoken in English.

In English, vowels in unstressed syllables tend to be “reduced,” that is, they lose their specific character as a result of being produced with less energy. In many cases, unaccented vowels end up sounding like a “schwa” [ə], as in this list from a Wikipedia article: “the a in about, the e in synthesis, the o in harmony, the u in medium, the i in decimal and the y in syringe.”

In contrast, French vowels (apart from the e caduc, which can never be emphasized ¹⁹ and can disappear altogether under certain circumstances) retain their full value regardless of where they occur in a phrase.

This difference between the pronunciation of English and French vowels (English varying, French unvarying) is related to another one: in English, there is a notable contrast between “accented” (= “stressed” = “pronounced loudly”) syllables and “unaccented” (= “unstressed” = “pronounced softly”) ones. Stressed syllables tend to be more significant ones. E.g.,

Note, in the above sentence, the rapid variation of unstressed and stressed syllables. It is typical in English, and helps explain why the “iambic” measure (a sequence of one unstressed and one stressed syllable) has played such an important rôle in English verse:

In French, only one syllable, in a sequence of words sometimes called a breath group or a rhythmic group, receives any special emphasis. This syllable is singled out, not because it occurs in an important word, but because of its position at the end of the group. Whereas, in English, every important word has a stressed syllable (and sometimes more than one), in French it is the entire phrase that has one (and only one) emphasized syllable.

How is it emphasized? It is slightly louder, and perhaps slightly more drawn out than the other syllables. But the chief difference is one of pitch: in fact, French has primarily a pitch-accent, not a stress-accent. The emphasized syllable will have a higher pitch than the other syllables of the group, in every breath group of a declarative sentence except the last one (where the pitch goes down instead of up).

The way to practice saying a French sentence (or other complete utterance) is to divide it up into its likely breath groups, figure out the emphasized (higher-pitched) syllable in each group, then to say the sentence with exaggerated slowness (you can even separate the syllables from each other if you want), taking care to: 1) give equal time and care to each syllable, insuring that each vowel has its proper value, and 2) produce each syllable of a group at the same pitch, until you get to the final syllable of the group, which you pronounce at a noticeably higher pitch (an octave higher is not too much), except in the last group, where you go down. Titles of famous works are good to practice on, being short and often having just one high and one low pitch.

• Le rouge et le noir
  • [ lə ru ʒe lə nwar ]
• Mémoires d’outre-tombe
  • [ me mwar du tr(ə) tõb ]
• L’Éducation sentimentale
  • [ le dy ka sjõ sɑ̃ ti mɑ̃ tal ]
• Sous le soleil de Satan
  • [ su lə sɔ lɛj də sa tɑ̃ ]
• Le Soulier de satin
  • [ lə su lje de sa tɛ̃ ]
• La Symphonie pastorale
  • [ la sɛ̃ fɔ ni pa stɔ ral ]
• Le Diable au corps
  • [ lə dja blo kɔr ]
• Le Seigneur des anneaux
  • [ lə sɛ ɲœr de za no ]

Next, you can try easy-to-divide sentences like the following.

• Paris | est la capitale | de la France.
  • [ pa ri ɛ la ka pi tal də la frɑ̃s ]
• Le vinaigrette | se fait avec du vinaigre, | de l’huile, | du sel | et du poivre.
  • [ lə vi nɛ grɛt sə fɛ a vɛk dy vi nɛgr də lɥil dy sɛl e dy pwavr ]
• Quand j’étais jeune, | j’aimais me promener | dans le bois | de Boulogne.
  • [ kɑ̃ ʒɛ tɛ ʒœn ʒɛ mɛ mə prɔm ne dɑ̃ lə bwa də bu lɔɲ ]

When you first begin practicing such sentences, I recommend that you proceed very slowly. Make sure each vowel, whether in an emphasized syllable or not, receives its proper value; if it helps, separate the syllables from each other, at least to begin with. Keep all unemphasized syllables on the same (lowish) pitch, and exaggerate the difference in pitch between these syllables and the one high-pitched emphasized syllable in each group. To be sure, as you listen to French you will soon come to realize that there is actually a great deal of variation in the pitch even of these high-pitched syllables, which is an important element of the musicality of spoken French. Likewise, you will appreciate that the individual speaker has some leeway in deciding on the length of each rhythmic group (hence, on the number of emphasized syllables in an utterance).

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III. Things You Needn’t Worry About (Unless You Choose To)

Since the goal is merely for your spoken French to be intelligible to a native French-speaker, not for you to pass for a native speaker yourself, the following items are (in my opinion) mostly non-essential.

A. The French R

The standard French R sounds very different from the standard American or British, but a French-speaker, even if he mocks them, will have no problem recognizing your Rs as Rs. If you nevertheless want to try out your speech organs on the French version, read this language file: The French “r”.

There are of course numerous YouTube clips on the subject.

B. Niceties of Vowel Production

The first and second matters discussed below are closely connected. As are the second and third.

1. Close and Open Vowel Pairs

French, like English (more or less, and mutatis mutandis), has pairs of vowel sounds that are similar to each other and are represented with the same letter (or digraph).

• close E [e] and open E [ɛ]
• close O [o] and open O [ɔ]
• close eu [ø] and open eu [œ]

By and large you will not need to worry about distinguishing these carefully. However, the [e / ɛ] opposition is prominent in English as well, and is easy enough (IMO) to transfer into French. Likewise, a contrast similar to French [o / ɔ] exists in English, though in standard American (Midwest) English [ɑ] substitutes for the open O [ɔ]. ²¹ As for close and open eu, neither sound has an easy English equivalent.

2. Eschewing Glides

English-speakers tend to add glides to so-called “long” vowels, turning them into diphthongs, even though we may not think of these sounds as diphthongs. Thus, long O is pronounced not as a simple [o], but with a little [ʷ] at the end, giving: [oʷ], as in

Likewise, to the sound [e] we typically add a little [ʲ], giving: [eʲ], as in

French does have some diphthongs, but unless otherwise indicated in the spelling, an [e] is only and always a simple [e], never an [eʲ]. Likewise, an [o] is always only [o], never [oʷ]. English-speakers striving for accentless French will need to make an effort to keep these vowels simple. If you are not such a person, don’t worry about it; it won’t affect intelligibility.

3. Round, Rounder, Roundest

English and French both have the back, ²² rounded ²³ vowels [ ɔ ²⁴ o u ]. However, the French sounds differ from the corresponding English ones in that the lips are, if not actually more rounded, decidely more projected. The degree of rounding and projection increases as you go through the series [ ɔ > o > u ]. By the time you get to the [u], your lips should be in the same position as for whistling. If you do not know how to whistle, observe the image below (the gentleman in the video does an even better job showing you what to do with your lips).

The rounding/projection for the French [o] is not quite as pronounced as for the French [u], but it is nevertheless much more (so say I) than for the English [o]. This extra projection is particularly important for the nasal vowel [õ] (regarding which see II.C.2 above): if you do not sufficiently project the lips for [õ], it will not sound very different from an [ɑ̃].

Rounding/projecting is also very important for the three front, rounded vowels that do not have English equivalents: [œ, ø, y] (particularly the last two, [ø] and [y]). They won’t be very recognizable if you don’t do more rounding/projecting than you do when you make [o] and [u] in English.

 

1. I say so, even while acknowledging that modern French has a huge number of homophones (= words that sound exactly the same).[↩]
2. Essentially what makes one of the sounds primary is that it is louder than the other.[↩]
3. A tonic accent: one in which important syllables are stressed, i.e., said more loudly, than others.[↩]
4. “Distinctly sounded” means that, once you have made the sound, you separate the tip of the tongue from the part of the roof of the mouth that it has been touching (the upper gums or alveolar ridge.) [↩]
5. The gap is also quite wide in English, of course…[↩]
6. In the TLFi, however, the phonetic transcription comes at the end of the article in a section headed “Prononc. et Orth.”[↩]
7. Missing are [ɑ] and [œ̃].[↩]
8. A few words not of Germanic origin have taken over this feature, such as the Greek-originating le héros and la hiérarchie and the possibly onomatopoeic le hibou.[↩]
9. and, in one word only (the verb avoir), as eu[↩]
10. How often have I not heard “Le petit prince” pronounced as if it were “Le petit prahnce”![↩]
11. caduc = “liable to fall off,” like a leaf on a (deciduous) tree[↩]
12. That is, the articulators must come apart (that is, the tongue comes away from whatever it was touching or the lips come apart [in the case of an M, a B, or P]), with the result that the consonant is very clearly pronounced. See this answer to a Quora question.[↩]
13. One of the few remaining French diphthongs.[↩]
14. In singular œuf and bœuf the -f is pronounced, but not in the plural forms, and the vowel is closer: singular œuf [œf], bœuf [bœf]; plural œufs, [ø], bœufs [bø].[↩]
15. also written: clé[↩]
16. Regarding fier and another French word for “proud,” see my The Trouble with Roland.[↩]
17. from Latin omnibus[↩]
18. Note that, when a final nasal consonant is pronounced, most often the preceding nasal vowel is denasalized and the word takes on its feminine sound: bonne, divine, pleine. Denasalization does NOT occur, however, with the indefinite article un and the singular possessive adjectives mon ton son.[↩]
19. What, “never”? Well…hardly ever.[↩]
20. In keeping with French practice, these clips are not accompanied with substitles, other than “auto-generated.” These autogenerated subtitles are good for the most part, but often do not get agreement right (the plural “-s” being silent) and usually fall apart altogether for names (noms propres).[↩]
21. However, even Midwest English manages an open O [ɔ] in careful pronunciation of words in which o is followed by r: “or, for, four.”[↩]
22. “Back” means they are articulated in the back of the mouth, or in other words that they are formed by lifting the back of the tongue.[↩]
23. “Rounded” means that the lips are rounded as the sound is being produced.[↩]
24. As noted in point B.1 above, many Americans substitute an [ɑ] for most of the occurrences of the sound [ɔ].[↩]

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