The Basics of French Pronunciation | Learn To French

Bonjour à toutes et à tous et bienvenue dans une nouvelle vidéo sur Learn to French. Je m'appelle Eden et j'enseigne le français. Hello and welcome to another video on Learn to French. So if you are new here, my name is Eden and I teach French. Let's talk about the basics of French pronunciation. So one of the hardest parts of learning French by yourself is that French native speakers do not pronounce words exactly how they are spelled. But that is also the beauty of the French language, isn't it? So here are the essential rules that you will need to remember about French pronunciation today. So what I'm first going to talk about is the topic of accents, ligatures and vowels. In French, accents will either change the pronunciation of a letter, especially on the letter E, or the definition of a word. For example, OU, without an accent on the U, versus OU with the accent on the U. So the first one, OU, without any accent, means OR. And the second one, OU with the accent, means WHERE. Accents only exist on some letters which you actually might have come across already. If not, you are going to see them right now. And ligatures, on the other hand, are two letters that are attached, forming only one. So for example, you can see a ligature in the words COEUR or SOEUR. So let's see the complete list of vowels that are used in French. So we have the vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y. And how do we pronounce them? So, you have the letters, and then the variations, and then how to pronounce those letters and variations. So let's start with the letter A. You have different accents and ligatures, which you can see right now. And how are we supposed to pronounce them? The second one, with the accent circonflexe, is going to be pronounced AH. So it's deeper. So this accent here, l'accent circonflexe, changes the pronunciation of the word. And this one here is E. So this is a ligature. You can see the A is attached to the E. This is quite rare. You can mostly see it in Latin words that are used in French. So scientific terms, most of the time. The second vowel we are going to see is the vowel E. And here we have different accents. We have l'accent aigu, L'accent grave. The deeper accent, L'accent circonflexe. So once again, the hat above the letter. So the same pronunciation as the accent grave, the deeper accent. And then the third one is actually E as well. Basically, three different spellings for the same pronunciation. The next one is going to be the vowel I. So I. You have two different spellings for this one. L'accent circonflexe, so I. And l'autrement, I. This doesn't really change the pronunciation. You have two variations here. It's going to be O, L'accent circonflexe. And ligature, which is going to be pronounced E. So Sœur, Cœur. So most of the time, the normal O without any accent is going to be pronounced like an open O. So there's no particularity with the normal O without any accent. But with the accent, it's going to be pronounced as a deeper O. So O, like Côte. So the difference is quite subtle. And depending on where you are in France, actually, some people will not even make the difference. U. So this is the vowel U. This sound doesn't exist in English, but we have. U is quite a sharp sound, similar to perfume. So U. And you have different variations here. And U with the accent grave. And then the last vowel is the vowel Y. There is one variation, but it's very, very rare. I personally cannot think of a word that uses the Y trément. But it's pronounced E. Like the letter I. E. There is only one consonant that has an accent. And you might have already seen it, even as a beginner, because it appears in the word Français. And it's the la cédille on the letter C. Or should I say, below the letter C. So there's like this little comma underneath the letter C. And we call it la cédille. And this letter is actually pronounced like an S. Like a double S. Ce. Français. So now let's talk about common vowel combinations. We've been through the basics. So let's take a look at some common combinations in the French language. So we're going to talk about syllables and some examples. And how to pronounce those combinations. The first one is AI or EI. So E. So you can see this combination in words like aimé or beige. And you pronounce it E. The second one, the OU, is OU. Bougie. The third one, OI, is OI. OI. Moi. Boire. François. Moi. The next one is the combination AU or EAU. Which is pronounced O. Beau. Chaud. Chapeau. The next one, QU plus a vowel. So this makes the letter K. Basically the sound K. You don't pronounce the U. So you can see this combination in words like quoi, quel, qui. The same goes for GU plus vowel. So GU. Vague. The next one is actually AI but with un tréma on the I. What does this mean? Listen to these two words. Mais. Maïs. So basically the double dots on the I cancels the basic combination which we've seen previously. This means that you will pronounce the I. So instead of reading this word mais, you are going to read it maïs. Maïs. Laïque. And not lec. Laïque. Same thing goes for the O. AI. Tréma. Instead of reading it OI, you are going to read it OUI. OUI. Éloïse. The double dots on the I cancels the basic combination as well and you will pronounce the letter I. Okay. Next part if you are still here. Silent consonants. So another rule to remember in the basics of French pronunciation is that there are consonants that always or almost stay silent at the end of a word in French. These consonants will be the letter T, the letter D, the letter S, and the letter X. So you can see that in words such as coquet, peneau, français, choix. And those are just a few, very, very few examples. Now let's talk about nasal vowels. Vowels that are pronounced with the nose. And they are proper to French. So what are the nasal vowels in French? In French, you have AN, IN, ON, and UN. Different spellings as well. But listen to the sounds. AN, like in bon, France, chance. IN, like in lin, lapin, malin. ON, like in bon, chausson, japon. UN, like un, lundi. So these are nasal vowels, vowels that are pronounced with the nose. And how do you know if you're pronouncing the vowel right? Then you simply pinch the nose, and if you cannot pronounce it, it means that you're pronouncing it right. Let me show you. So if I'm saying AN, and I cannot hear the vowel when I pinch my nose, that means that the vowel is pronounced properly because you are going to use your nose. The air is going to flow through your nose as you pronounce as well. I cannot pronounce it with the throat only. I need my nose for that. Try practicing now while pinching your nose. Another particularity in French is that you might come across the same sound, but with a different spelling. It is quite common actually. For example, the sound EN, the nasal vowel. So you will see it written these ways. But they're actually pronounced the same way. Next one, E, the sound E. So you can write it with the accent aigu. So the acute accent, E. ER at the end of a word, and EZ at the end of a word. So for example, Same goes for AU, the sound O, which can be written O, with the letter O. AU or EAU. And the sound I, which can be written with two letters, the letter I and the letter Y. So yeah, it's quite common in French to encounter the same sound, but different spellings. Let's talk a bit more about the silent letters in French. There are some rules that you will need to follow. So we are going to talk about the final letters actually. So for example, whenever you come across an E that doesn't have an accent at the end of a word, it's going to be silent. IN sounds like E, ER and EZ. So you cannot hear the R or the Z. So the final R or Z, if they have an E before, they are going to be silent. The letter T at the end of a word, if it's following a vowel, there are some exceptions, but most of the time it's going to be silent, such as in JOUER, CONSTAT, FINI. Next in the list, the final S and the final X. So DANSE, CHAPEAU. The final S in a French word is silent. That's also a very common thing that you might encounter in French. Same goes for the X, although there are some exceptions as well. Now let's talk about word stress. One key difference between French and English lies in word stress. So in English, we often emphasize different syllables within a word, but not in French. The stress in French, if there is one, it's not going to be in the word itself, but in different parts of a sentence, in which you might stress the final syllables, but it's still a very monotonous language. In English, for example, we are going to say TEACHER, with the stress on the first syllable. But in French, for a similar word, like PROFESSEUR, it will sound much more monotonous. And not PROFESSEUR or PROFESSEUR or PROFESSEUR. However, there will be variations within the sentence itself. Listen carefully. You might hear the variations in these sentences. Once again. So before a comma or a period, you will definitely hear a pause or the tone go lower. So you can hear that when I say before the comma, you can hear, of course, the pause and EDEN going lower. Here, you can clearly hear a pause between FRANÇAIS and AUX ÉTRANGERS. And finally, the last part of the sentence is AUX ÉTRANGERS, and you are supposed to go lower. You can clearly hear that there is no stress in words. There is no stress in syllables, but there are variations in the sentence. For questions, for example, the last syllable will actually be pronounced a bit higher up in tone. So for example, So you hear me going up when I ask a question in French. So why does it actually matter? Understanding word stress in French is crucial for both your comprehension and your pronunciation. When you know where the stress or the variations typically fall, you can sound more natural when speaking. So it also helps you identify word boundaries and separate words in a sentence, making it easier for you to follow spoken French as well. So here are some examples to practice as you know these words in English. So in English, you're going to read this one, RESTAURANT. In French, you're going to read it RESTAURANT And not RESTAURANT RESTAURANT In English, PIANO. In French, PIANO. PIANO CHOCOLATE CHOCOLAT BOULANGERIE So you can hear that the stress, once again, is nowhere to be found. It's just that you will be changing your tone depending on where it is in the sentence, but you're not focusing on a syllable in particular. Take these last examples and try to focus on pronouncing each syllable the same way, at the same duration, and it might feel a bit different from English, but with practice, you'll get the hang of it. So remember, pronunciation is all about practice, so keep working on it and you will sound more like a native French speaker in no time. So that's it for today's video. I hope that you enjoyed staying with me today. It was actually in English because this video is made for beginners or for intermediate learners who need a little help with French pronunciation Merci beaucoup d'être resté avec moi aujourd'hui et je vous dis à très bientôt pour une nouvelle vidéo sur Learn to French. Au revoir!