French Alphabet & Pronunciation French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation a = ahh b = bay c = say d = day e = ur f = eff g = jay h = ash i = eeeee j = jee k = kar l = ell m = em n = en o = oh p = pay q = kuh r = air s = ess t = tay u = ew v = vay w = dooble vay x = eeks y = eeee grec Z = zed French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation French Pronunciation French can be a challenge to pronounce but not impossible! Persevere and keep coming back to this practice. Also remember people tend to like it when people have an accent so don’t worry if you have one… it’s cute… unless you’re being rude!! Following are a few pointers but irritatingly there are a lot of exceptions (as there are in the English language) but most of the time the following rules apply: French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation Final consonants are often silent: Paris (pa-ree), Londres (loñdr). However, sometimes the ending is pronounced if it is followed by a word which begins with a vowel: avez-vous (avay voo) but vous avez (vooz avay). French Alphabet and Pronunciation

Common exceptions where the last letter can be heard include: Août (August) Avec (with) Cinq (five) Sept (seven) (can hear ‘t’ but not the ‘p’!!) Huit (eight) Neuf (nine) Soir (evening) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

There are a few more, but you’ll learn them as you go… bel bœuf bol donc hiver œuf tous French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation Accents Some but not all accents can change the sound of the letter and or the meaning of a word. The main ones are é è ç. You will come across these later. For example: ‘manger’ (manjay) = ‘to eat’ ‘je mange’ = ‘I eat’ j’ai mangé (manjay) = ‘I ate.’ Have a practice….(‘mange-tout’ means eat-everything!) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation a = ah e.g. table (pronounced taaaable – think of the sound you make for the dentist!) Confortable (comfortable) Argent (money) Adresse (address) Abbaye (abbey) Parents (parents) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ç (called a cédille) changes the ‘c’ into an ‘s’ sound, the same for ‘c’ followed by ‘e’ or ‘i’ Ç = s Ce / Ci = s Français (French) Garçon (boy) Leçon (lesson) Ciel (sky) C’est (it’s) Ce n’est pas (it’s not) Glace (icecream) Citron (lemon) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

ch = sh e.g. chat (sha) (cat) Chambre (bedroom) Cher (dear both in the meaning of expensive and ‘my dear’) Chips (crisps!!) Prochain (next) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation É, er, et, ez, es, est, ai, ais, ait, aient = ay e.g. été (aytay) (summer) Bébé (baby) Écosse (Scotland) Marché (market), marcher (to walk), marchez (you guys walk) Enchanté (literally ‘enchanted’ but used to mean ‘delighted to meet you) Café (coffee or a café) Bon appétit (enjoy your meal) Église (church) La télé(vison) (telly/television) Cinéma (cinema) École (school) Musée (museum) Bonne journée (good day – not to be confused with journey this would be ‘voyage’ in French so when people are leaving you can say ‘bon voyage’) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

È/è = eh e.g. très (treh) (very) Près (near) Frère (brother) Père (father) Bière (beer) Après (after) Première (first – like the premier league) Derrière (behind) La gare routière (literally the road station – we call it coach station) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

Eau(x), au(x) = (oh) e.g. beau (boh) (beautiful/handsome) Eau (water) Agneau (lamb) Bateau (boat) Château (castle) Bureau (office) Entrevaux (city name) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation Eu(x) = uh e.g. neuf (nuhf) (nine) (like the end of enough with a French accent!) Je veux (I want) Deux (two) Oeuf (egg) (becomes oeux in plural) Boeuf (beef) Je veux deux oeux = I want 2 eggs French Alphabet and Pronunciation

g + e, i = jay, jee e.g. gel, gîte (jayl, jeet) Genoux (knees) Gémeaux (twins/Gemini) Gérard (Gerard) Fromage (cheese) Étranger (foreigner) Étrange (strange) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

gn = ny e.g. saignant (say-nyoñ) (rare as in cooking meat) Oignon (onion) Baignoire (bath) Peigne (comb) Saigner (to bleed) Signaler ( to indicate) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

‘h’ is silent e.g., hôtel (ohtel), homard (omar) (lobster). Horrible (horrible) Hor d’oeuvre (starter) Horaire (timetable) Henri (Henry) Hôpital (hospital) (ô – replaces os) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

i = ee e.g. ville (veel) (town) Il (he/it) Irlandais(e) Irish) Village (village) Cinéma (cinema) Historique (historical) Sandwich (sandwich) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘ll’ either makes an ‘l’ sound (as in ville), but it sometimes makes a ‘y’ sound, as in vieille (old). These will just have to be learned in context, as your vocabulary expands. French Alphabet and Pronunciation

eille = ay e.g. Marseille (marsay) Oreille (ear) Oreiller (pillow) Réveiller (to awaken) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation o = oh e.g., disco (discoh) Coca (Coca Cola) La poste (post office) Horloge (clock) Non (no) Pommes (apples) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

oi = wa e.g. roi (rwa) (king) Oie (goose) Soit (either) Bois (wood) Croire (to believe) Soir (evening) Toit (roof) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

ou / où = ooh e.g. route (rooooht) (road) Fou (crazy) Où (where) without accent means or (ou) Rouge (red); Feux rouge (red light on traffic lights) Tout, tous, toute, toutes (all of these mean “all”) Bonne route! French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘ph’ = f photo Photographe (noun) = photographer Photo(graphie) (noun) = photograph Photographier (verb) = to photograph someone or something French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘q’ or ‘qu’ has a hard ‘k’ sound e.g. quinze (sounds like ‘cans’) (fifteen) Quatre (four) Quatorze (fourteen) ‘cat oars’ Quatre – quatre (four wheel drive) Qui (who) Quitter (to leave – can also say ‘partir’) Cinq (five – one of the exceptions when the last letter is pronounced) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘r’ is said at the back of the throat with the tongue at the bottom of the mouth (in English the ‘r’ makes the tongue go up). It sounds like a softer version of a cat trying to get rid of a furball! Travaille (work) Garage (garage) Carottes rapées (grated carrots) Tranche (slice) Hiver (winter) Printemps (spring) Réserver (to reserve) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘s’ = s when: 1. It’s at the beginning of a word. (sa = his/her) 2. There are 2 ‘s’ inside a word. (déssert) Otherwise, it makes a ‘zz’ sound. (désert) Sabine, Sophie (name) Susie French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘th’ is pronounced just ‘t’ which is why French native speakers have a lot of problems with our th and you may hear them say ‘zat was ze zeory on zursday ze forz’ instead of ‘that was the theory on Thursday the fourth’ although I haven’t heard this sentence too often! Thé (tea) Thierry (Terry or Thierry as in the footballer Thierry Henri) Cathédrale (cathedral) Théâtre (theatre) Thon (tuna) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

u = oo (stomach punch) e.g. sur (soor) (on) Jus (juice) Université (university) Rugby (rugby) Jupe (skirt) Musique (music) French Alphabet and Pronunciation

French Alphabet and Pronunciation ui = wee e.g. huit (weet) Huître (oyster) Huile (oil) Cuire (to cook) Suivre (to follow) Lui (him) Nuit (night) Puis-je? (may I?) Puis-je cuire les huîtres avec l’huile pour lui cette nuit? = May I cook the oysters with oil for him this night?! French Alphabet and Pronunciation

Mixtures Try these ones! Théière (teapot) Grenouille (frog) French Alphabet and Pronunciation