French Pronunciation - Master French Sounds

What you'll learn

• How the spellings an, en, on, in, and un become nasal vowels through the nose
• What each accent (aigu, grave, circonflexe, tréma, cédille) does to a letter
• The u vs ou contrast that changes meaning (rue/roue, sur/sous)
• The uvular French R and the sounds of gn, ill, ch, and j
• Why final consonants are usually silent, and how liaison adds a 'z' between words
• A real, common French word for every sound, with native-speaker audio

Preview the flashcards

A sample of the 42 cards in this set — each with pronunciation and English meaning.

grand/ GRAHN /

Big, tall (m.). The 'an' spelling gives the nasal /ɑ̃/ — open your mouth wide and let the vowel resonate through the nose; the 'n' and final 'd' are not pronounced.

enfant/ ahn-FAHN /

Child (m./f.). Both 'en' and 'an' make the same nasal /ɑ̃/ — a wide, open nasal vowel; the final 't' is silent.

temps/ TAHN /

Time; also weather (m.). Here 'em' is the nasal /ɑ̃/, and the ending '-ps' is completely silent.

bonjour/ bohn-ZHOOR /

Hello. The 'on' spelling gives the nasal /ɔ̃/ — a rounded 'oh' sent through the nose, with no hard 'n'.

nom/ NOHN /

Name (m.). 'om' makes the nasal /ɔ̃/ — the same rounded nasal 'oh' as in 'bon'; the 'm' is not pronounced.

vin/ VAN /

Wine (m.). 'in' makes the nasal /ɛ̃/ — a bright nasal vowel (like a nasalized 'a' in 'man'), with no hard 'n'.

pain/ PAN /

Bread (m.). The 'ain' spelling also makes the nasal /ɛ̃/, exactly like 'vin' — nasal vowel, no 'n' sound.

un/ UHN /

One; a/an (indefinite article). 'un' is the nasal /œ̃/ — a rounded nasal vowel; the 'n' is not pronounced.

brun/ BRUHN /

Brown (m.; f. brune). 'un' makes the nasal /œ̃/, the same rounded nasal vowel as the article 'un'.

été/ ay-TAY /

Summer (m.); also 'been' (past participle of être). é (accent aigu) = a closed 'ay' sound /e/, tighter than English 'ay' and with no glide.

près/ PREH /

Near, close. è (accent grave) = an open 'eh' sound /ɛ/, like the 'e' in 'bet'; the final 's' is silent.

fête/ FET /

Party, celebration (f.). ê (accent circonflexe) = the same open 'eh' /ɛ/; the circumflex marks an 's' that was lost long ago (Old French 'feste').

âge/ AHZH /

Age (m.). â (circonflexe on a) = a deeper, longer 'ah' /ɑ/, made further back in the mouth than a plain 'a'.

hôtel/ oh-TEL /

Hotel (m.). ô (circonflexe on o) = a closed 'oh' /o/; the 'h' is silent, as it always is in French.

où/ OO /

Where. The grave accent on ù only tells it apart from 'ou' (or) in writing — the sound is the same 'oo' /u/. ù appears in no other French word.

+ 27 more cards with full native audio in the complete set.