Your Ultimate French Pronunciation Guide

Before we get more specific, let’s address the elephant in the room and talk about some of the toughest aspects of French pronunciation and the most common French pronunciation mistakes.

You’ll see that although these features of French can be challenging at first, they’re important to know about from the start so you can pick up the right habits early on.

And if you keep them in mind while learning French, there’s nothing you can’t overcome with regular practice!

1- The French “R”

Our first suspect is the Guttural “R” that has been bullying generations of beginner learners. You might find it easy to pull off, depending on your native language, but it’s usually considered challenging.

Examples of words with the French “R” sound:

• La rue (”The street”)
• Regarder (”To look”)
• Partir (”To leave”)
• Respirer (”To breathe”)

The guttural “R” sounds are unique and don’t exist in English, where the letter “R” is used for a completely different sound. It has several variations, from a harsh sound from the back of the throat to a softer vibration, and even varies depending on the region in France where it’s spoken.

Finding the right balance between “too harsh” and “too soft” for each word is the tricky part, and is often what differentiates fluent foreign speakers from natives. Now, considering that it’s a very prominent sound in the language, you can understand why it makes the top of this list. Listen to how it should sound, record yourself to monitor your progress, and practice to make it perfect!

2- Nasal Academy

Next on the list are the infamous nasal sounds. Indeed, out of the six French vowel sounds that can’t be found in English, three are nasal sounds. For beginner learners, they can be really difficult to produce, and especially to differentiate.

Example of words with nasal vowel sounds:

• Un pin (”A pine”)

• Un pan (”A panel”)

• Un pont (”A bridge”)

Nasal sounds are produced by blocking the air from leaving your mouth and releasing it from your nose, which is also what you’re doing when you pronounce the N, M or “ng” sounds, such as in “song.”

Listen to the different nasal sounds and learn how to distinguish them. You may think at first that there’s little to no difference, but native speakers will hear it very well and confusing these nasal sounds can often change the meaning of the sentence.

3- Fifty Shades of “ay”

The letter “é” is somewhat similar to the vowel sound in “day” or “hay.”

Sounds easy, right? But look at the unbelievable number of different ways to write it, shown in the table below:

Not impressed yet? Let’s move on to the letters “è” and “ê,” as in the vowel sound of the English word “pet”: 

4- Silent Letters

French words end with all kinds of letters that are randomly pronounced or ignored, depending on our mood or the direction of the wind. But wait. Is that really so random?

Have you heard of the CaReFuL letters? If a French word ends with C, R, F, or L (consonants from the word CaReFuL), the final letter is usually pronounced. Otherwise, the final letter is silent. 

Of course, like with most grammatical rules, it comes with its fair share of exceptions. However, the CaReFuL rule will help you figure out most of the words you bump into!

Here are some examples of words where the final letter is pronounced:

• Un truc(”A thing”)
• Un dortoir (”A dormitory”)
• Le chef (”The boss”)
• Avril (”April”)

There’s one big exception to the CaReFuL rule: Verbs ending with the letters “ER” have a silent R.

• Aimer (”To love”)
• Manger (”To eat”)
• Tuer (”To kill”)

On top of the CaReFuL letters, words ending with B, K, and Q also have their final letter pronounced, but they’re not numerous. For the lack of a better name, I’ll call them the Burger King & Queen letters (not sure I’ll copyright that one…)

• Le club (”The club”)
• Un steak (”A steak”)
• Cinq (”Five”)

All other consonant letters are usually NOT pronounced:

• Froid (”Cold”)
• Le poing(”The fist”)
• Un dragon(”A dragon”)
  (In this case, the letter “N” combines with “O” and creates a nasal sound.)
• Le parfum(”The perfume”)

(With the exception of all Latin words where the “M” is pronounced, such as Aquariumor Forum.)

• Un coup(”A hit”)
• Le marais (”The swamp”)
• Elle mangeait(”She was eating”)
• Deux (”Two”)
• Le riz (”The rice”)

5- Dangerous Liaisons

When you listen to someone speak French while you read along, you’ll notice that French pronunciation doesn’t match what you read. One reason for this is the way words are linked together one after the other with la liaison (”linking sounds”).

Another reason is that in spoken French, we pronounce words in phrases without any pauses; rather, we link them together. This process is called l’enchaînement (”word linking”). We make some links between two vowel sounds, or between a consonant and a vowel. Some links are mandatory while others are forbidden.

Keep an open mind about this linking process. It’s not arbitrary or random, and the liaisons appeared as the language was evolving to make the sentences sound better, smoother, and more natural. Most of the mandatory liaisons make the language more fluid, while the forbidden liaisons often prevent confusion between different meanings.

1. How to do it?

When pronouncing a linking sound, blend the last letter of a word with the first letter of the following word, as in vous vous appelez (”you are” + name), pronounced [vuvuzapeley]. Here, we link the last letter -S to the second vous and the first letter of the verb form appelez with a Z sound.

With this example, notice that the last letter of the word vous (”you”) is pronounced as a -Z when followed by a word starting with a vowel. This is true, even though the letter -S in vous isn’t pronounced when the pronoun vous (”you”) stands alone or is followed by a word starting with a consonant.

2. Word Linking Between Vowel Sounds

When a word ends with a vowel and the following word also starts with a vowel, both vowels form two syllables, and we don’t add a pause.

For example, with the phrase Tu as un vélo (”You have a bike”), you’d say the entire phrase as if it were one word without any pauses, and the sounds of Tu as seem to merge.

More examples:

3. Word Linking Between a Consonant and a Vowel Sound

In spoken French, we pronounce the last consonant of a word with the initial vowel of the following word. The last consonant of the first word becomes the first letter of the second word, as in Il arrive (”he arrives”), pronounced [ilhariv]. We link the consonant to the vowel to form a syllable.

More examples:

Some notable exceptions are:

• Linking sound of the final letters -S, -X, and -Z:
  We pronounce these letters as a -Z when blending two words together.
  Examples: deux amis (”two friends”); les enfants (”the children”); vous avez (“you have”)
• Linking sound of final letter -D:
  When we pronounce these letters in conjunction with a word starting with a vowel or a silent -H, they are pronounced as a -T sound.
  Example:Un grand homme (”A great man”)

4. Forbidden Linking Sounds

While some linking sounds are mandatory, some are forbidden (beware of exceptions!)

• Words following et (”and”).

Examples:et eux (”and them”); et une maison (”and a house”)

• Words following a singular noun.

Examples: Un soldat anglais(”A British soldier”); Un enfant intelligent (”An intelligent child”)

• Words after a proper noun.

Examples:Jean a dit (”Jean said”); Roger est parti (”Roger is gone”)

• Check out our vocabulary list on how to improve your pronunciation with recordings to practice and repeat!

And make sure to stop by our video about the top five mistakes to avoid. The list is slightly different and you’ll get the audio to help you catch the right pronunciation!

There are fourteen vowel sounds in French, and six of these can’t be found in English, including the three nasal sounds. 

I’m not a big fan of English equivalents as they can easily lead to mispronunciations. For example, I mentioned earlier that the French é  is somewhat similar to the vowel sound in “day” or “hay.” These sounds are different enough that if you reproduce the English sound exactly, you would be understandable, but it would make you speak with a heavy foreign accent.

However, I’ll use some French pronunciation to English word equivalents when there is one, to give you a rough idea of how it should sound. Just take it with a grain of salt and keep in mind that listening to French speakers and practicing your pronunciation is how you’ll make it perfect.

Here’s the list of “familiar” sounds with their English equivalent:

And here’s the list of “new” sounds that exist in French but not in English:

There are twenty-two consonant sounds, four of which don’t have direct English equivalents.

Here’s the list of “familiar” consonant sounds with their English equivalents:

And here’s the list of “new” sounds that exist in French but not in English:

• If you want to delve deeper into the topic of pronunciation, stop by our video series on FrenchPod101.

Now that you’ve had a good overview of French pronunciation, it’s time to put your skills to the test! How better to learn French pronunciation than with a few toughies? These ten words are nothing difficult for native speakers and won’t twist any local tongue, but they usually make foreign learners struggle:

• Voyage (”Travel”)
  Nothing fancy here, just a tough combination of consonants.

• Ecureuil (”Squirrel”)
  Put the French “U,” the guttural “R,” and the [œ] vowel in the same word, and good luck pronouncing it!

• Accueillir (”To welcome”)
  Once your eyes stop bleeding over that insane spelling, you can try to say it.

• Fourrure (”Fur”)

A lot of “R” sounds and the juxtaposition of “U” and “OU” make this one challenging.

• Important (”Important”)
  This fun word has two different nasal sounds that are easy to get mixed up and one more “R.”

• Intéressant (”Intéressant”)
  Same as above: More practice with nasals and the “R” sound will help you pronounce this word.
• Porte-à-porte (”Door-to-door”)
  Besides the harsh “R” sounds, it’s interesting to note how the words are linked. It sounds somewhat like porta porte.
• Serrurerie (”Locksmith”)
  Way too many “R” sounds in one word! This one is actually tricky even for locals.

• Ennuyeux (”Boring”)
  A mix-bag of intertwined consonants and difficult vowel sounds.

• Mercredi (”Wednesday”)
  Would you like a bit more “R” for the road?

Do you need more of a challenge? Check out our free vocabulary list about The Hardest French Words.

Proper pronunciation is important, very important. Some say it’s even more important than getting the grammar perfectly correct! Why would this be?

1) Good Understanding 

If communicating with native speakers matters to you when learning French, you need to be understood when you talk, and you need to be able to understand the native speakers. After all, without understanding, the purpose of language is null and void! In order to be understood, you need to be able to speak the language in a way that is familiar to native speakers, or at least recognizable by them. 

When learning to speak a new language, you will learn that the more you progress the more intricate it becomes! For instance, almost every language has vocabulary that may look the same in writing, but because the words are pronounced differently, they have very different meanings. This means that you may say a word in French, and because of a slight change in pronunciation, the meaning of the word changes completely. Understandably, this can make for pretty embarrassing situations! At worst, your mispronounced French will sound garbled to a native speaker. 

Knowing the nuances of how a word or letter is pronounced will also help you to understand spoken French better.

No worries if this feels hard; you’re learning, and with our help at FrenchPod101, you will not have a problem with mispronunciation if you follow our advice and examples carefully.

2) Good Communication 

Not pronouncing French or any other language correctly can lead to a lot of frustration because you’re unable to express what you mean, and you will not be understood correctly. Even if you have total knowledge of French grammar, and can write it like a native, not knowing how to speak it properly will only make for very frustrating communication all around.

3) A Good Impression 

Even if you’re only a beginner, it is possible to speak any language correctly. This way, you are bound to make a good impression on native speakers, and when you’re more fluent, you will be likely to garner a lot more respect than a fumbling newbie speaker who doesn’t care much for correct pronunciation. 

People often have a lot of patience for someone who is learning to speak a new language, but native speakers are more likely to address you and engage with you in conversation if you work hard on your accent. This is simply because you’ll be able to understand one another! So, proficiency in pronunciation can mean the difference between having none or plenty of French speaking friends. It will also serve you well in the workplace, and make you popular with your French speaking managers and employers or employees.

Learning to speak French properly is also a sign of respect for not only the language, but also the native speakers and their customs. 

1) Use voice recording tools to perfect your pronunciation

FrenchPod101 has plenty of resources to help you with your French pronunciation, so be sure to make thorough use of our recordings with native French speakers. These are available not only to demonstrate to you how you should pronounce French vocabulary, but also sentences and dialogues. Watch and listen to these over and over again to train your ear, and watch the teacher’s mouth as she speaks in the video lessons. Then, copy the speech as best you can. Later, you can record yourself to hear if you sound like a native speaker and compare yourself with native speakers. Great for self-motivation.

2) Practice in front of the mirror.

And see that you’re copying the correct lip and mouth movements.

3) Use our FrenchPod101 dictionary!

Use the French dictionary provided by FrenchPod101 to look up words and listen to the audio pronunciation. This will go a long way towards giving you an idea of how to pronounce a word or letter correctly.

4) Train your ear to the language!

Make an effort to listen often to French music and recorded books, and watch plenty of French movies and/or TV shows in French. This will train your ear to the language, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the accent. Remember, this is the way we learned to speak when we were young - mostly by listening to the adults talking, and repeating what they say!

5) Practice, practice, practice… 

Repetition of the same thing may be boring, but in learning a new language, you’re creating new pathways in your brain. For these to remain and become habitual, you will need to repeat the correct pronunciation often.

6) Make friends with a native French speaker.

Don’t be shy to address them in French! Ask them to correct you when you make a pronunciation mistake - this is a wonderful way to practice and learn the language first-hand, and also to make new friends.

7) Practice your pronunciation with your French teacher!

If you’re a serious student and don’t know where to meet native French speakers, consider investing in FrenchPod101’s Premium PLUS plan. This means you will have your own native French teacher available to practice your pronunciation with, and much more! Sen

In this guide, you’ve learned a lot about French pronunciation and how to deal with the various specific sounds of the language, including some sounds that may seem alien to English speakers. Do you feel ready to start practicing and learning how to blend in with a flawless accent? 

A good exercise for improving pronunciation is to listen to audio or video material of any kind (YouTube or its French counterpart Dailymotion have enough to keep you going for the next couple of centuries), and try to mimic the sounds from native speakers.

Recording yourself will allow you to isolate the difficult sounds that you need to improve on and to monitor your progress until you’re satisfied with your pronunciation.

FrenchPod101 also has tons of free vocabulary lists with audio recordings that can help you practice a wide variety of words if you really want to learn to speak French like a native. We also have a video series dedicated to French pronunciation so that you can learn to pronounce French words correctly.

Remember that you can also use our premium service, MyTeacher, to get personal one-on-one coaching and have your private teacher record audio material especially for you. This is one of the best ways to learn French pronunciation from a native speaker. If you’re having trouble with specific sounds, your teacher can send you some samples and also listen to your own recordings, to help you make your pronunciation sound perfect.