French pronunciation is very different from English, and unfortunately French spelling is not too phonetic...
Let's start letter by letter:
A, À, Â /a/ like the English U in "cut" (short) or the
English A in "father" (long)
B /b/ like the English B in "ball"
C (before E, I or Y) /s/ like the English S in "set"
C (other positions) /k/ like the English K in "ski"
(not aspirated)
Ç /s/
like the English S in "set"
D /d/
like the English D in "down"
É /e/
closed E, like the German EE in "See"
This is similar to the English AY as in "hay", but it is a pure vowel, not a
diphthong.
Ê /ε/
like the English E in "get"
È /ε/
like the English E in "get" or longer
E /ə,
ε/ like the English O in "action" (unstressed) or like the letter Ê
in stressed syllables
F /f/
like the English F in "fall"
G (before E, I or Y) /ʒ/
like the English S in "measure"
G (other positions) /g/
like the English G in "get"
H silent
I, Î /i/
like the English EE in "feet" or shorter
J /ʒ/
like the English S in "measure"
L /l/
like the British English in L "laugh"
That's the kind of L from many other European languages.
M /m/
like the English M in "much"
N /n/
like the English N in "nut"
O, Ô /ɔ,
o/ like the British English O in "pot" (short) or like the German OO in
"Boot" (long)
The short form is like Spanish O, the long form is a closed pure vowel.
P /p/
like the English P in "spit" (not aspirated)
QU /k/
like the English K in "ski" (not aspirated)
R /ʁ/
voiced uvular fricative, similar to Spanish J, like the R in German and Hebrew
S /s,
z/
like the English S in "set" at the beginning or end of a word, like the English
Z in "zoo" in medial position
T /t/
like the English T in "stone" (not aspirated)
U, Û /y/
like the German Ü in "Füße" or shorter
This sound is the rounded variant of the English EE in "feet" or the front vowel
variant of the English OO in "loop".
V /v/
like the English V in "vase"
X /gz,
ks,
s,
z/
like the English X in "exist" at the beginning of a word, like the English X in
"fax" in medial position, sometimes like the letter S
Y /i/
like the English EE in "feet" or shorter
Z /z/
like the English Z in "zoo"
And now for the most common letter
combinations:
AI /ε/
like the letter È (usually long)
AU /o/
like the letter O (usually long)
CH /ʃ/
like the English SH in "ship"
ER /e/
like the letter É at the end of a word
EU /œ,
ø/
like the German Ö in "Hölle" (short) or the ÖH in "Höhle" (long)
The short sound is similar to the English I in "girl", the long one is slightly
more open than the English EE in "feet", but rounded (just like the OO in "loop"
is rounded).
EZ /e/
like the letter É at the end of a word
GE (before A, O or U) /ʒ/
like the English S in "measure"
GN /ɲ/
like the English NI in "onion"
GU (before E, I or Y) /g/
like the English G in "get"
IE /i/
like the English EE in "feet"
LL /j/
like the English Y in "yes"
OI /wa/
like the English word "one" without the N sound
OU, OÙ /u/
like the English OO in "loop" or shorter
PH /f/
like the letter F
RH /ʁ/
like the letter R
TH /t/
like the letter T'
Last but not least, the
nasal
vowels:
AM, AN, ANT /ɑ̃/
is a nasal variant of the English A in "father"
EM, EN, ENT /ɑ̃/
is a nasal variant of the English A in "father"
IM, IN, INT /ε̃/
is a nasal variant of the English E in "get"
OM, ON, ONT /õ/
is a nasal variant of the closed French O sound.
UN, UN, UNT /ε̃/
is a nasal variant of the English E in "get"
A few notes to cover other pronunciation rules:
Every word is stressed on the last syllable, unless the last syllable has a weak E /ə/.
S, T, X and Z are usually silent at the end of a word.
When preceded by a vowel and succeeded by a consonant or nothing, M or N are not pronounced. They only indicate the nasal quality of the preceding vowel.
If a word ends in E (not É!), this vowel is weak or silent, and the preceding consonant is pronounced.
A diaresis/trema (Ë or Ï) indicates that two vowels are pronounced distinctly rather than following the special pronunciation rules. GUË is pronounced /gy/.
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