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BASIC PRONUNCIATON GUIDE FOR FRENCH

by Joanne Crease Forward

page 2

Rhythm

page 3

Consonants

page 4

Final Consonants

page 6

Liaisons

page 7

Accents

page 8

Vowel Sounds

page 10

Nasal Vowels

page 12

1 Joanne Crease – Dane Court

FOREWORD French Pronunciation (The Basics) On the following pages I have written guidelines for pronunciation of the main French sounds. My aim has not been to provide an exhaustive guide to French pronunciation, but to provide an accessible, first steps guide for primary teachers with little or no French, who now find themselves in the position of having to teach French at Key Stage 2. Where possible, the examples I have included, use vocabulary which will form part of your lessons. The guide will also prove to be a very useful tool when teaching phonemes (sound spelling links) as all the main sounds have been clearly highlighted. A written guide is probably not the best way to learn how to pronounce French as it does not allow you to hear the words or allow for variations in accent. There are many websites on French pronunciation with sound files which are free. They are well worth looking at and will go into more detail than I have in this guide. http://www.frenchtutorial.com/standard/pronunciation/eacute.php http://www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/french1.html http://french.about.com//library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation.htm I do not recommend that anyone should read this guide through and try to take all the points on board immediately. It is divided up into manageable sections that initially should be approached individually. When you feel comfortable with one section, move onto another. The order in which you decide to approach the sections is not of any real importance. Bonne chance!

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Rhythm The French language is often described as very musical. The reason for this is that in French there are no stress marks on words i.e. all syllables are pronounced at the same intensity (volume). In addition, many final consonants are liaised into the next word. The lack of stress marks combined with liaisons is what gives French its rhythm: all of the words flow together like music. In contrast, English words each have a stressed syllable, which makes English sound comparatively choppy or staccato. (I'm speaking purely from a linguistic point of view - this is not a judgment about which language sounds "prettier.") Therefore when speaking French it can be helpful to use the image of a metronome (a device that produces a regulated pulse, usually used to keep a beat steady in musical compositions). Each syllable which you pronounce is a regulated beat.

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Consonants The majority of consonants in French are pronounced more or less the same way as in English. However there are some exceptions. Listed below are the most common exceptions. Consonant Rule r The French “r” is far more guttural than the English “r”. To make this sound the back of your tongue needs to be at the back of your throat while you “gargle” the “r”

Examples Sœur - sister Très - very Vrai - true Treize -thirteen Trente - thirty

h

Always silent

Homme - man Heure - hour Haricot - bean Hôpital – hospital

ch

Almost always pronounced like Chanter – to sing the English “sh”. (However Chambre - bedroom there are a few exceptions). Champagne - champagne Chat - cat Chien - dog Common exceptions Chaos - chaos Chœur - choir Choléra - cholera Psychologie – psychology

th

gn

These letters are pronounced Thé - tea as a hard “t” like the “t” in the Théorie - theory English word table. Méthode - method Enthousiasme – enthusiasm 

These letters are Champagne - champagne normally pronounced like Enseigner – to teach the Spanish “ň” or like Espagnol - Spanish 4

Joanne Crease – Dane Court

the “ny” in the English word canyon and the “nio” in the English word onion. 

c





ç

ille

Ignition - ignition Gnome - gnome Cinq - five Centimètre - centimeter

Before “a”, “o” and “u” is Cahier – exercise book pronounced like the Calme – calm English letter “k”.

“C” with a cedilla accent is Français - French always pronounced like the Garçon - boy English “s”. Ça va ? – How are you? Comme ci comme ça – so so 



qu

(This is not the case if the G and the N are in 2 different syllables or begin a word. The letter “c” before “i” and “e” is pronounced like the English “s”.

The letter combination “ille” and the letter combination “il” when it is at the end of a word changes the way the letter “l” is pronounced. It is pronounced a bit like the “ya” in the English word yacht.

Fille - girl Travailler – to work Bouteille - bottle Oeil - eye

Common exceptions Mille - thousand However, there are a Ville - town few very common Belle - beautiful exceptions to this rule. Tranquille - quiet Village – village

“q” and “qu” are pronounced Question like the English letter “k” Cinq

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j

Sounds like a soft “g”, as in je “measure” j’ai juin janvier juillet

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Final Consonants 1. At a first glance it may appear that most consonants which come at the very end of a word are not pronounced. Chat Nord Deux Vingt

2. Masculine and feminine adjectives are often distinguished from each other by the addition of an “e” at the end of the feminine adjective which makes the final consonant pronounced. Vert Anglais Absent

verte anglaise absente

However, there are many exceptions. prove helpful. 3. D,M, N, P, R, S, T, X word.

The following general rules will

are not usually pronounced at the end of a

Common exceptions  Many words borrowed from foreign languages e.g. tennis, stop, clown 

Fils, mars, sud, août, autobus, ours, ouest, premier, hier, sur

4. C, F, K, L, Q, Z are usually pronounced at the end of a word. e.g. avec, parc, positif, œuf, avril, mal, cinq, gaz

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Common exceptions Blanc, gentil, chez, riz

5. B, J, G, V, W are rarely found at the end of words.

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Liaison The letters S, X, Z, T, D, N, M, are normally silent at the end of a word. However, when they are followed by a word which begins with a vowel they are often pronounced, forming what is know as a liaison. E.g. J’ai deux ans Nous avons Vous êtes Mes enfants Trois amis Mon idée Petit ami Elles sont en France

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Accents Apart from “ç” the only other letters which are accented in French are vowels. Some accents change pronunciation and some do not affect the sound at all.

Accent

Vowels used with é

Pronunciation changes Changes the sound to “ay”

Dieresis

ë ï

Grave accent (accent grave)

à è ì ò ù

Makes a vowel combination into 2 separate syllables, i.e. makes you pronounce them separately. No effect on pronunciation

Acute accent (accent aigu)

Examples Allé Été Répéter Armée Noël Astéroïd Égoïste Coïncidence Maïs

Voilà à où mère très

(Technically speaking, it is placed over the letter “e” when the next syllable is mute.)

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Circumflex accent

â ê î ô û

cedilla

ç

No effect on Maître pronunciation. Île Pâte (It was used to Hôte show that in Old Sûr French/Latin the vowel was followed by an “s”. It can be helpful to know this as English words which share the same ancestry normally still have the “s”. Changes the Ça va sound of “c” Façade before “a”, “o” garçon and “u” from a hard “k” to a softer “s”.

11 Joanne Crease – Dane Court

Vowel Sounds I feel that vowel sounds are the most difficult to explain in a written guide to French pronunciation. This is intended to be a simple but by no means exhaustive introduction to a very large subject. How to pronounce it “ay” like the sound in bay.

vowel

(This sound is a little more tense than the English “ay” and can be achieved by keeping your tongue still as you say “ay”)

Vowel/vowel combination é ée er ez ai ais ait et est ei

Examples J’ai joué Je suis allée Regarder Copiez J’ai Je parlais Il lisait Et Elle est Enseigner

Common exceptions Nous faisons es when it is used with les mes tes ses

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“uh” as in knuckle

Je Me Te Se Le Ce Que De Ne

This sound can also be found in the first syllable of “monsieur” and the first syllable of “faisons” “e” as in let

e è ê

Belle Mère Bête

“ew” as in pew – but shorter

u û

Menu Bu

Euh!

eu

Bleu Jeu Dangereux Deux Adieu

“oo” as in who

ou où

Où Nous Toujours Tourner Jour

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“oh” as in hello

eau au sometimes o ô

Au Beau eau gros côte

“ee as in be

i y

Lit Stylo Midi île active

a

a

Madame Maintenant

e when it comes before Femme “mm” and “nn” Fréquemment “wa” as in want

oi oui

Oiseau Poisson Oui

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Nasal Vowels Usually, when a vowel or vowel combination is followed by either m or n the vowel is nasalised. When this is the case the m or n serve to mark the nasalisation and are barely pronounced. E.g. Un bon vin blanc Faim Train Bain Pain Vin Prince Singe Sympa Moins Certain Chien Brun Lundi Un Dans Enfant Danse Client Mon Bon Simon

If the m or n is followed by a mute “e” or the 3rd person plural ending “ent” the vowel is not nasalised. e.g fine, ils dînent

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If the vowel which immediately follows is not a mute “e” the “m” or “n” is part of the syllable of this vowel and therefore is not nasal. e.g. ami, année The prefixes “em” and “en” are always nasal.

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