Basic French pronunciation rules

Here we do not intend to list all French pronunciation rules, we collected only those
rules which are significantly different to English ones and therefore when you
use Easy-to-Learn French Phrases they can be very helpful to understand why "this
word" is pronounced "this way".
1. Stress in French words always falls on the last
pronounced syllable
2. The final letter "e" is normally not pronounced, the
preceding consonant is pronounced.
3. Final consonants are usually silent, except of "c", "f" and
"l" which are generally pronounced. As in English, in plural
most French words add an "s", however, the last "s" in a word
is not pronounced. Example: enfant and its plural form enfants
are pronounced the same way. There are exceptions like fils,
gaz, ouest, sud, autobus and others. See also liaison rules
when some final consonants become sounded.
4. "" is always pronounced as /s/ (Garon, leon, faon)
5. Letter "h" is never pronounced
6. Liaison rules: when a French word ends with a consonant and
the next begins with a vowel or a silent "h" the final consonant
joins the following vowel to form a complete syllable. The
pronunciation in this situation can be different: consonants "s"
and "x" are pronounced as /z/ (lesenfants, deuxenfants), "f"
is pronounced as /v/, "d" as /t/.
7. Elision rules: French letters "a" and "e" in the words le, la,
ce, je, me, te, se, de, ne, que is dropped when the word
that follows them begins with a vowel or silent "h". (l'enfant)
8. Nasal sounds. They are indicated by vowel + "n" or "m",
where vowel becomes nasal and "n" or "m" is not pronounced.
Please note that only when used alone (such as in words un,
en, ton) or followed by a consonant (except another "n" or

"m"), vowels together with "n" or "m" will form a nasal sound.
If a consonant is followed by a vowel, both vowel and
consonant will be pronounced (une)
9. There are six masculine French adjectives and three feminine
possessive adjectives that change their formif they
precede a word beginning with a vowel or silent "h".
beau - bel (beautiful) (un beau garon - un bel homme)
ce - cet (this, that) (ce garon - cet enfant)
fou - fol (mad) (un fou rire - un fol espoir, un fol appel)
mou - mol (soft) (un mou matelas - un mol oreiller)
nouveau - nouvel (new) (le Nouveau Monde - le Nouvel An)
vieux - vieil (old) (un vieux camarade - un vieil ami)
French feminine possessive adjectives ma, ta, sa (my, your,
her) change to the masculine form mon, ton, son (ma maison
- mon cole; ta vie - ton exprience; sa vie - son uvre)

French letter combinations and their French sounds:

French letter
combinations

French
Comments
sound

ai

/e/; //

au, eau

/o/

eu, oeu

//, //

ier

/je/

Examples

pronounced like "e"

aimer, lait
in "bed"
pronounced like "o" chaud, tableau
heure, deux
papier, calendrier

ill, il

/ij/

pronounced like "y"

famille, il, travail
in "yes"

ou

/u/

pronounced like
"oo"

oi, oy

Exceptions

vous, ouvrir

/wa/ pronounced like the voici, voyage

mille, ville,
tranquille,
village

combination "oa"
ui

ch

/i/

//

pronounced like the

nuit, puis, aujourd'hui
English word "we"
pronounced like "sh" chat, chocolat

cur, chaos,
christ,
psychologie,
technologie...
If the "g" and
"n" are in two
different
sillables or
begin a word
both
consonants
are
pronounced:
ignition,
gnome

gn

//

pronounced like "ni"

gagner, montagne
in "onion"

gu

/g/

pronounced like "g"

gure
in "get"

qu

/k/

Pronounced like "k"

in "ski" (not
quatre, qui, masque
aspirated)

th

/t/

tion

/sj/

en, an, am, em

//

aim, ain, ein, eim,

im, in, ym, yn
oin

//

thtre
French "ti" here is
conversation
pronounced like "si"
French nasal sound

encore, croissant,
champ,ensemble

French nasal sound

magasin, faim, demain,

peinture, brin, timbre,
thym

/w/ French nasal sound

moins, loin

on, m, eon

//

French nasal sound

maison, nom, pigeon

un, um

//

French nasal sound

brun, parfum