LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #4
French Pronunciation Made EASY

CONTENTS
2 Grammar

# 4
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GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson Is French Pronunciation

French is the language and sound of love! Many people state that French always sounds
romantic, no matter what is said! Even swearing in French seems sweet to foreign ears. So let's
get going so you can become the perfect parrot and pronounce French in no time.

In French, there are twenty-six letters (the alphabet), thirty-seven speech sounds, and 130
graphemes. Graphemes are the different spellings of each sound found in French.
For example, take a look at the -en sound in the word vent, meaning "wind." We can also
write the -en sound as -em, as in emporter ("to bring"), or as -an, as in ange ("angel").
Therefore, we can write one sound in different ways.

With thirty-seven speech sounds, French has some sounds that are similar or identical to
English sounds and others that are completely foreign. That's when the majority of learners get
discouraged! However, by listening and practicing these sounds to learn the differences
between them and how they are spelled in French, it will get easier and easier.

We can separate the speech sounds into two categories:

1. Nineteen vowels

2. Eighteen consonants

The Nineteen Vowel Sounds

The French vowel sounds are divided as follows:

I. Voyelles orales ("oral vowels")

1. Voyelles antérieures ("front vowels")

2. Voyelles centrales ("central vowels")

3. Voyelles postérieures ("back vowels")

II. Voyelles nasales ("nasal vowels")

III. Semi-voyelles ("half vowels")

Quite some barbarian words! Yes, we emit some of our sounds from our noses or throats and
not only from our mouths. You'll use muscles you never knew you had! While learning

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French, you're discovering your own anatomy!

I. Voyelles orales ("Oral Vowels")

A. Voyelles antérieures ("Front Vowels")

We call these types of sounds "front vowels" because you produce them by placing your
tongue more or less far ahead in your mouth.
For example, try to pronounce the letter -é, producing an anterior vowel, and the letters -ou,
producing a posterior vowel. Notice the placement of your tongue in your mouth. While
producing the sound -é first followed by the sound -ou, you should observe your tongue
going from the front toward the back of your mouth.
Here is a list of the anterior vowels in French:

Phonetic Symbol English Keyword Other Grapheme

Pronunciation (in red)

[i] [i] as feet stylo ("pen")

île ("island")

maïs ("corn")

[é] [ay] as in May regarder ("to look") parlez ("talk")

pied ("feet")

messieurs ("sir")

poignée ("handful")

(volontiers
("certainly")

[è] [eh] as in paint chienne* ("female

dog")

merci ("thank you")

jouet ("toy")

mais ("but")

maître ("master")

payer ("to pay")

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 treize ("thirteen")

être ("to be")

Noël ("Christmas")

volley ("volleyball")

[a] [a] as in apple sac ("bag") à ("at, to"), femme

("woman")

B. Voyelles centrales ("Central Vowels")

To properly pronounce this type of sound, place the tongue in the middle of your mouth.

Phonetic Symbol English Keyword Other Grapheme (in

Pronunciation red)

[u] [u ] as in pure lune ("moon") sûr ("pen")

eu ("had") (avoir at
the passé composé
tense)

[e] [uh] as in duh je ("I") -

[E] [oe] as in sun feu ("fire") noeud ("knot")

jeûne ("young")

[F] [oeu] as in flower fleur ("flower") coeur ("heart")

club ("club")

C. Voyelles postérieures ("Back Vowels")

To produce this type of sound, place your tongue in the back of your mouth.

Phonetic Symbol English Keyword Other Grapheme (in

Pronunciation red)

[U] [ou] as in tourist poule ("hen") où

("where")

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 goûter
("to taste")

football
("football")

août
("august")

[o] [o] as in orange vélo ("bike") landau ("stroller")

bateau
("boat")

drôle
("funny")

[O] [um] as in drum pomme ("apple") album

("album")

alcool
("alcohol")

capharnaüm
("shambles")

[A] [a] as in cat pâte ("pasta")

II. Voyelles nasales ("Nasal Vowels")

As these sounds are specific to French, they are hard to reproduce in a written form. We
produce them orally using the air passage through the nose and lowering the soft palate while
the air goes through the mouth.

Phonetic Symbol Keyword Other Grapheme

(in red)

[D] un ("a"/"an"/"one") parfum

("perfume")

[C] lapin ("rabbit") chien

("dog")

pain
("bread")

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 peinture
("paint")

daim
("deer")

imparfait
("imperfect")

syndicat
("trade union")

sympa
("kind")

[B] gant ("glove") jambe

("leg")

empereur
("emperor")

Caen
(French city)

paon
("peacock")

[I] ballon ("ball") ombre

("shadow")

punch
("punch")

Language Tip

To listen to these sounds or any others, go to the learning center and find a word with the
grapheme that corresponds to the phonetic symbol you'd like to practice.

III. Semi-voyelles ("Half Vowels")

Half-vowels are also called semi-consonnes ("half consonants"). They are specific to the
French language only and are sounds between vowels and consonants. For example, the
pronunciation of the letter -y in yeux ("eyes") is a semi-voyelle, as it would be pronounced as
[zii-heo]. The same is true of the letters -oi pronounced in English [woa], as in poisson ("fish").

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Phonetic English Other
Symbol Pronunciation Grapheme (in
Keyword
red)

[J] [i-hae] as in pied crayon

yarn ("foot") ("pencil")

soleil
("sun")

paille
("hay")

hyène
("pen")

païen
("pagan")

[V] [hu-i] as in huit ("eight") sueur

quick ("sweat")

suave
("pen")

ennuyeux
("boring")

[w] [woa] as in doigt ("finger") ouate

chihuhua ("pen")

wallon
("pen")

équateur
("equator")

moelle
("pen")

poêle
("pan")

croît
("pen")

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 asseoir
("sit")

The Eighteen Consonant Sounds

They are divided as follows:

1. Occlusives ("blocked consonants")

2. Fricative ("sibilant")

3. Vibrante ("vibrant")

I. Occlusives ("Blocked Consonants")

We produce this consonant sound by blocking the air though the mouth and pharynx,
followed by a sudden release. These sounds are much easier to reproduce as they are very
similar to the English consonants.

Phonetic Symbol Keyword Other Grapheme

(in red)

[p] pile appartement

("battery") ("apartment")

[b] bol abbaye

("bowl") ("abbey")

[m] mur flamme

("wall") ("flame")

[t] table datte

("table") ("date")

[d] dé addition
("dice") ("addition")

[n] noeud anniversaire

("knot") ("birthday")

[G] ligne manière

("line") ("way")

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[k] cadeau qualité
("gift") ("quality")

kepi
("cap")

accord
("agreement")

orchestra
("orchestra")

ticket
("ticket")

coq
("rooster")

[g] gâteau ("cake") bague

("ring")

aggraver
("to aggravate")

second
("second")

ghetto
("ghetto")

[N] parking ("parking lot")

II. Fricative ("Sibilant")

We produce these consonants by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two
small parts of the mouth (teeth, tongue, glottis, etc.) close together.

Phonetic Symbol Keyword Other Grapheme

(in red)

[f] flûte ("flute") phare

("headlight")

affaire ("matter")

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[v] valise ("suitcase") wagon ("wagon")

[s] soleil ("sun") poisson

("fish")

citron
("lemon")

garcon
("boy")

démocratie
("democracy")

science
("science")

asthma
("asthma")

six
("six")

[z] maison ("house") zoo

("zoo")

deuxième
("second")

blizzard
("blizzard")

[H] chat short

("cat") ("short")

schéma
("diagram")

fasciste
("fascist")

[j] jupe ("skirt") girafe

("giraffe")

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III. Vibrante ("Vibrant")

We produce this consonant by one of various vibrations caused by pressured air created by
one mouth organ (the tip of the tongue, uvula, etc.) that we suddenly release.

Phonetic Symbol Keyword Other Grapheme

(in red)

[l] lampe ("lamp") elle

("she")

[R] roue ("wheel") beurre

("butter")

Pronunciation Tip

To pronounce the letter -r in French, reproduce the sound of an angry growling dog.
Harden the rolling -gr sound (as in the word "growling") and produce it repeatedly on the
back of your mouth near the top of your throat, and you should be set to reproduce a nice
French sound!

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