Lesson 3: Pronounciation Guide and Silent Letters

Lesson #3 : Pronounciation Guide and Silent Letters

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This lesson has been requested by Elena Cullen!

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Alright, for the pronounciation guide, -La Nuit- gave me the link for an amazing website where you will be able to find any pronounciation (vowels sound, nasal vowels, accents, consonants, final consonants and liasons). It will be useless for me to copy everything here to make a lessons since everything on the website is clear and since you can actually HEAR the sounds there. So just click on the link below.

Click HERE
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Alright so I'm gonna try to explain a few things concerning the silent letters in french.

The letters B, C, F, K, L, Q, and R are usually
pronounced at the end of a word. Of course there are exeptions but there are rare
The other French consonants are usually
silent at the end of a word, with some exceptions as well. Note: many exceptions
are proper names or words borrowed from other languages.



Final E is always silent. Like père (father), mère (mother), douze (twelve, ...


Final S is almost always silent. Like Paris (our capital) almost everybody make the mistake and actually pronounce the S... Nicolas (Nicholas),
anglais (English) ...and of course every words in plural .. chaises (chairs) ...


The letter H is almost always silent too. Like Helene (Helen), (Thomas), Hotel (hotel)


Final ER is usually pronounced almost like the /ay/ in the English words wAY and mAY. Here are a few examples: Roger (Roger), Olivier (Oliver), Parler (to Speak), Aller (to Go)



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I hope that it helped
Note: Don't forget to rate this lesson thanks to the poll.

Your French Teacher
Alice Cullen