Lesson 1.6: Pronunciation Rules
In this lesson, we’ll take a closer look at the rules and patterns that make up French pronunciation. There are too many to list in one lesson, but we’ll explain the three most important ones here: silent ending consonants, digraphs, and liaison.
Silent ending consonants
When a French word ends in a consonant, that consonant is silent by default.
That means that a silent E can actually change a word’s pronunciation by making its final consonant pronounced.
However, the consonants c, r, f, and l are typically pronounced at the ends of words (Think “careful”).
Digraphs
A digraph is a pair of letters that make a single sound together. There’s no need to memorize them, but here are some common French digraphs to be aware of:
- ch:
/∫/ - ll:
/j/ , sometimes/l/ - ph:
/f/ - an, am, en, em:
/ɑ̃/ - in, im:
/ɛ̃/ - on, om:
/ɔ̃/ - un, um:
/œ̃/ - gn:
/ɲ/ - er, ai:
/e/ - au:
/o/ - ei:
/ɛ/ - eu:
/ə/ - oi:
/wa/ - ou:
/u/
Liaison
Liaison is yet another rule that to help avoid bordering vowel sounds. It’s a standard where, if a word ending in a consonant is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, the consonant should be pronounced (even if it would otherwise be silent).
Liaison doesn't apply after the word