1. French Alphabet & Pronunciation
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

2. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
a = ahh
b = bay
c = say
d = day
e = ur
f = eff
g = jay
h = ash
i = eeeee
j = jee
k = kar
l = ell
m = em
n = en
o = oh
p = pay
q = kuh
r = air
s = ess
t = tay
u = ew
v = vay
w = dooble vay
x = eeks
y = eeee grec
Z = zed
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

3. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
French Pronunciation
French can be a challenge to pronounce but not impossible! Persevere and keep coming back to this practice. Also remember people tend to like it when people have an accent so don’t worry if you have one… it’s cute… unless you’re being rude!! Following are a few pointers but irritatingly there are a lot of exceptions (as there are in the English language) but most of the time the following rules apply:
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

4. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
Final consonants are often silent: Paris (pa-ree), Londres (loñdr).
However, sometimes the ending is pronounced if it is followed by a word which begins with a vowel: avez-vous (avay voo) but vous avez (vooz avay).
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

5. Common exceptions where the last letter can be heard include:
Août (August)
Avec (with)
Cinq (five)
Sept (seven) (can hear ‘t’ but not the ‘p’!!)
Huit (eight)
Neuf (nine)
Soir (evening)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

6. There are a few more, but you’ll learn them as you go…
bel
bœuf
bol
donc
hiver
œuf
tous
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

7. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
Accents
Some but not all accents can change the sound of the letter and or the meaning of a word. The main ones are é è ç. You will come across these later. For example:
‘manger’ (manjay) = ‘to eat’
‘je mange’ = ‘I eat’
j’ai mangé (manjay) = ‘I ate.’
Have a practice….(‘mange-tout’ means eat-everything!)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

8. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
a = ah e.g. table (pronounced taaaable – think of the sound you make for the dentist!)
Confortable (comfortable)
Argent (money)
Adresse (address)
Abbaye (abbey)
Parents (parents)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

9. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
ç (called a cédille) changes the ‘c’ into an ‘s’ sound, the same for ‘c’ followed by ‘e’ or ‘i’ Ç = s Ce / Ci = s
Français (French)
Garçon (boy)
Leçon (lesson)
Ciel (sky)
C’est (it’s)
Ce n’est pas (it’s not)
Glace (icecream)
Citron (lemon)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

10. ch = sh e.g. chat (sha) (cat)
Chambre (bedroom)
Cher (dear both in the meaning of expensive and ‘my dear’)
Chips (crisps!!)
Prochain (next)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

11. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
É, er, et, ez, es, est, ai, ais, ait, aient = ay e.g. été (aytay) (summer)
Bébé (baby)
Écosse (Scotland)
Marché (market), marcher (to walk), marchez (you guys walk)
Enchanté (literally ‘enchanted’ but used to mean ‘delighted to meet you)
Café (coffee or a café)
Bon appétit (enjoy your meal)
Église (church)
La télé(vison) (telly/television)
Cinéma (cinema)
École (school)
Musée (museum)
Bonne journée (good day – not to be confused with journey this would be ‘voyage’ in French so when people are leaving you can say ‘bon voyage’)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

12. È/è = eh e.g. très (treh) (very)
Près (near)
Frère (brother)
Père (father)
Bière (beer)
Après (after)
Première (first – like the premier league)
Derrière (behind)
La gare routière (literally the road station – we call it coach station)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

13. Eau(x), au(x) = (oh) e.g. beau (boh) (beautiful/handsome)
Eau (water)
Agneau (lamb)
Bateau (boat)
Château (castle)
Bureau (office)
Entrevaux (city name)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

14. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
Eu(x) = uh e.g. neuf (nuhf) (nine) (like the end of enough with a French accent!)
Je veux (I want)
Deux (two)
Oeuf (egg) (becomes oeux in plural)
Boeuf (beef)
Je veux deux oeux = I want 2 eggs
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

15. g + e, i = jay, jee e.g. gel, gîte (jayl, jeet)
Genoux (knees)
Gémeaux (twins/Gemini)
Gérard (Gerard)
Fromage (cheese)
Étranger (foreigner)
Étrange (strange)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

16. gn = ny e.g. saignant (say-nyoñ) (rare as in cooking meat)
Oignon (onion)
Baignoire (bath)
Peigne (comb)
Saigner (to bleed)
Signaler ( to indicate)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

17. ‘h’ is silent e.g., hôtel (ohtel), homard (omar) (lobster).
Horrible (horrible)
Hor d’oeuvre (starter)
Horaire (timetable)
Henri (Henry)
Hôpital (hospital) (ô – replaces os)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

18. i = ee e.g. ville (veel) (town)
Il (he/it)
Irlandais(e) Irish)
Village (village)
Cinéma (cinema)
Historique (historical)
Sandwich (sandwich)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

19. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
‘ll’ either makes an ‘l’ sound (as in ville), but it sometimes makes a ‘y’ sound, as in vieille (old). These will just have to be learned in context, as your vocabulary expands.
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

20. eille = ay e.g. Marseille (marsay)
Oreille (ear)
Oreiller (pillow)
Réveiller (to awaken)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

21. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
o = oh e.g., disco (discoh)
Coca (Coca Cola)
La poste (post office)
Horloge (clock)
Non (no)
Pommes (apples)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

22. oi = wa e.g. roi (rwa) (king)
Oie (goose)
Soit (either)
Bois (wood)
Croire (to believe)
Soir (evening)
Toit (roof)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

23. ou / où = ooh e.g. route (rooooht) (road)
Fou (crazy)
Où (where) without accent means or (ou)
Rouge (red); Feux rouge (red light on traffic lights)
Tout, tous, toute, toutes (all of these mean “all”)
Bonne route!
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

24. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
‘ph’ = f photo
Photographe (noun) = photographer
Photo(graphie) (noun) = photograph
Photographier (verb) = to photograph someone or something
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

25. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
‘q’ or ‘qu’ has a hard ‘k’ sound e.g. quinze (sounds like ‘cans’) (fifteen)
Quatre (four)
Quatorze (fourteen) ‘cat oars’
Quatre – quatre (four wheel drive)
Qui (who)
Quitter (to leave – can also say ‘partir’)
Cinq (five – one of the exceptions when the last letter is pronounced)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

26. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
‘r’ is said at the back of the throat with the tongue at the bottom of the mouth (in English the ‘r’ makes the tongue go up). It sounds like a softer version of a cat trying to get rid of a furball!
Travaille (work)
Garage (garage)
Carottes rapées (grated carrots)
Tranche (slice)
Hiver (winter)
Printemps (spring)
Réserver (to reserve)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

27. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
‘s’ = s when: 1. It’s at the beginning of a word. (sa = his/her) 2. There are 2 ‘s’ inside a word. (déssert) Otherwise, it makes a ‘zz’ sound. (désert)
Sabine, Sophie (name)
Susie
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

28. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
‘th’ is pronounced just ‘t’ which is why French native speakers have a lot of problems with our th and you may hear them say ‘zat was ze zeory on zursday ze forz’ instead of ‘that was the theory on Thursday the fourth’ although I haven’t heard this sentence too often!
Thé (tea)
Thierry (Terry or Thierry as in the footballer Thierry Henri)
Cathédrale (cathedral)
Théâtre (theatre)
Thon (tuna)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

29. u = oo (stomach punch) e.g. sur (soor) (on)
Jus (juice)
Université (university)
Rugby (rugby)
Jupe (skirt)
Musique (music)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

30. French Alphabet and Pronunciation
ui = wee e.g. huit (weet)
Huître (oyster)
Huile (oil)
Cuire (to cook)
Suivre (to follow)
Lui (him)
Nuit (night)
Puis-je? (may I?)
Puis-je cuire les huîtres avec l’huile pour lui cette nuit? = May I cook the oysters with oil for him this night?!
French Alphabet and Pronunciation

31. Mixtures Try these ones!
Théière (teapot)
Grenouille (frog)
French Alphabet and Pronunciation