LESSON NOTES

Ultimate French Pronunciation

Guide S1 #4
French Vowels, Part 2

CONTENTS
2 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Grammar

# 4
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VOCABULARY

Fr e nc h English C lass Ge nde r

faites do verb

peine penalty, sorrow noun feminine

est is, east verb, noun

impair odd adjective

pain bread noun masculine

daim deer noun masculine

surs sisters noun feminine

jeune young noun masculine / feminine

peur fear adjective feminine

brun / brune brown adjective

un a noun masculine

parfum perfume noun masculine

minimum minimum adjective, noun masculine

sort fate noun masculine

cole school noun feminine

champignon mashroom noun masculine

nom name, noun

son sound noun masculine

femme woman, wife noun feminine

banane banana noun feminine

patte leg, paw, hoof noun

pte dough noun feminine

glas tolling bell, knell noun masculine

hte haste noun feminine

sans without preposition

champ field noun masculine

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 temps weather noun masculine

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Que fait es-vous dans la vie? Ne me fais pas de peine!

"What do you do?" "Dont hurt my feelings!"

qui c'est ? Elle ador e le pain fr anais.

"Whose is this?" She loves French bread.

Avez -vous des fr r es et sur s? C'est un jeune act eur .

"Do you have any brothers and "He is a young actor."

sisters?"

La peur est un sent iment de Elle a les cheveux br uns.

pr vent ion de danger .
"She has brown hair."
"Fear is a feeling of prevention of
danger."

Un beau chat noir . Un homme.

"A beautiful, black cat." "A man."

J e vais l'cole Quel est vot r e nom? / J e mappelle

Mar cel.
"I'm going to school."
What is your name?/ Im Marcel.

Le gar on est ent r ain d'ent endr e le Il habit e dans une gr ande maison avec
son de l'ocean. sa femme.

"T he boy is hearing the sound of "He lives in a big house with his
the ocean." wife."

Cela va sans dir e. Le t emps est hor r ible.

"It's without saying." "T his weather is horrible."

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Quel t emps fait -il Par is?

"What's the weather like in Paris?"

GRAMMAR

T he Focus of T his Lesson Is Fr ench Vowel Sounds.

In French, twenty-six letters form the alphabet and give rise to thirty-seven speech sounds.
Among these sounds, there are two main categories:

Nineteen vowel sounds

Eighteen consonant sounds

Vowel

This vowel is a voyelles antrieures or a front vowel. Front vowels are characteriz ed by the
placement of the tongue toward the front of the mouth.

Phonet ic Symbol English Keywor d Ot her Gr apheme

Pr onunciat ion (in bold)

chienne* ("female
dog"), merci
("thank you"), jouet
("toy"), mais ("but"),
matre ("master"),
[] [eh] as in paint elle ("she") payer ("to pay"),
treize ("thirteen"),
tre ("to be"), Nol
("Christmas"),
volley ("volleyball")

Vowel

This vowel is a voyelles nasales ("Nasal Vowels"). These vowels are specific to French as the
passage of the air goes mainly through the nose. For foreign ears, they may seem very
strange at first, as the air vibrates mainly through the nose and produces a twangy sound.

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 chien ("dog"), pain
("bread"), peinture
("paint"), daim ("deer"),
[]
lapin* ("rabbit") imparfait ("imperfect"),
syndicat ("trade union"),
sympa ("kind")

Vowel

This vowel is a central vowel or voyelles centrales. To pronounce properly the voyelles
centrales, place your tongue in the middle area of your mouth.

[]* [oeu] as in flower fleur ("flower") coeur ("heart"), club

("club")

Vowel

This vowel is a nasal vowel or voyelles nasales. These vowels are specific to French as the
passage of the air goes mainly through the nose. For foreign ears, they may seem very
strange at first, as the air vibrates mainly through the nose and produces a twangy sound.

[]* un* ("a"/"an"/"one") parfum ("perfume")

Vowel

This is a back vowel.

album ("album"),
alcool ("alcohol"),
[] [um] as in drum pomme ("apple") capharnam
("shambles")

Vowel a

This is a front vowel.

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

("woman")

Vowel

This vowel is a back vowel.

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[] [a] as in cat pte ("pasta")

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