Pronunciation
La prononciation
La prononciation de U/Pronunciation of U
There is no equivalent sound in English for the French letter U. The unaccented U and the U with an accent circonflexe Û or tréma Ü are all pronounced the same way: with the lips pursed.
Say E /i/ and purse your lips as tightly as you can.
Examples:
- absolu, brusque, chute, culture, durée, naturel, pur, perdu, plus, résultat
- brûler, crû, dû, piqûre, sûr
- ambigüe, exigüe
Exercises:
Words with the same or similar spelling and the same or similar meaning in French and in English:
I. Pronounce according to the example.
accumulation, accusation, avenue, budget, campus, calculable, conclusion, document, excuse, structure, manufacture, monument, prospectus, refuge, rural, statue, suppression, surface, surprise, urgent, usage, volume
II. Focus on the pronunciation of sounds i and u.
attitude, capitulation, constitution, construction, contribution, corruption, discussion, distribution, diminution, figure, justice, malnutrition, minuscule, minute, multinational, multiple, musique, public, révolution, solitude
Pronunciation of EU- at the beginning of the word
Examples:
- euro, Europe, euphémique
Exception:
When used as the past participle of avoir, eu is pronounced like the French ' U.'
En novembre dernier, nous avons eu une réunion urgente avec les producteurs de boeuf et de porc.
Exercises:
I. Pronounce according to the example.
euro, Europe, européen, eurodéputé, euromarché, eurométropole, eurostratégie, euroscepticisme, euphorie, euthanasie
II. Pronounce the expressions/the sentences according to the example.
cinq euros, dix euros, un million d’euros, en Europe, dans les pays européens, l’Union européenne, élire les eurodéputés, vaincre l’euroscepticisme, un climat d’euphorie boursière, une nouvelle loi sur l’euthanasie
La prononciation des nasales/Pronunciation of nasals
There are four nasal vowels in French:
- [ã] an, am, en, em, aon, aen (demande, emploi, entreprise, répandre)
- [ɛ̃] in, im, yn, ym, ain, aim, ein, eim, un, um, en, eng, oin, oing, oint, ien, yen, éen (bien, moins, européen, gain, interroger)
- [œ̃] un, um (lundi, commun, humble)
- [õ] on, om (bon, fonder, accompagner)
A phrase with all nasal vowels is: un bon vin blanc
- [œ̃] is being replaced with [ɛ̃] in European French (especially Parisians and younger people)
Nasal vowels are produced when air passes through the nose as well as the mouth. English has nasal-like vowels in words such as sing and impossible, but the nasal consonants /n/ and /m/ are still pronounced. These consonants are not pronounced in French when following a nasal vowel. The consonant is totally assimilated into the vowel pronunciation.
Exercises:
I. Repeat the following pairs of words contrasting oral and nasal vowels.
- une - un
- aucune - aucun
- chacune - chacun
- quelques-unes - quelques-uns
- Cannes - quand
- gras – grand
- chat – chant
- sa - cent
- reine – rein (kidney in English)
- peine – pain
- Vienne - viens
- pleine - plein
- bonne – bon
- tonne – thon
- nos - nom
Words with the same or similar spelling and the same or similar meaning:
II. Repeat.
absent, artisan, addition, admission, augmentation, candidature, client, convention, documentation, emploi (employment in English), employer (employ in English), entreprise (enterprise in English), gain, important, impossible, incapable, industrie (industry in English), influence, intelligent, placement, science, segment, simplification, slogan, subvention
III. Repeat following collocations.
un bon artisan, une addition salée, une augmentation de la demande, la consommation des biens, des clients mécontents, une convention européenne, la documentation pour les dirigeants, un million de demandeurs d’emploi, on emploie 25 % (vingt-cinq pour cent) de jeunes, influencer la quantité, le fondateur de l’entreprise, l'ensemble de l'industrie, l’influence de l’inflation, les fonds de placement, financer la promotion de la science
Letters at the end: to pronounce or not to pronounce?
Most ending voices are not pronounced but they are pronounced very often in some words of Latin or Greek origin:
- secret, contrat, art, budget, circuit, combat, transport mais audit
- respect, suspect mais direct, indirect, impact
- travailler, employer, ouvrier, métier mais pour, employeur, cancer
- chaos, succès mais campus, virus, prospectus, bus
S as a plural sign is not pronounced for nouns or adjectives (only in liaisons):
- les petites annonces
- forces armées canadiennes
- nos priorités actuelles
- les meilleures références
- des services proposés
Exercise:
Say the following words, then check with the recording.
ton accent anglais, obtenir votre accord, des prospectus Carrefour, un circuit de distribution court, sous le contrôle direct de l’Etat, les transports publics, préparer le budget de votre projet, beaucoup de respect pour leur travail, employer des milliers de travailleurs, un impact positif sur l’impôt
Pronouncing well French words with the similar form
As you could see, many French words look like their English counterparts with the same or similar meaning. But beware, spelling and pronunciation are often different.
Examples:
- contrat (contract),
- produit (product),
- entreprise (enterprise),
- histoire (history)
Exercise
Pay attention to the spelling and repeat. The English word is given in brackets.
- avantage (advantage)
- aventure (adventure)
- assurer (assure)
- choisir (choose)
- collègue (colleague)
- condamnation (condemnation)
- contraire (contrary)
- critère (critery)
- découvrir (discover)
- employé (employee)
- employeur (employer)
- énergie (energy)
- évaluation (evaluation)
- évaluer (evaluate)
- prix (price)
- prouver (prove)
- refus (refusal)
- refuser (refuse)
- réponse (response)
- salaire (salary)
- secrétaire (secretary)
- soudain (suddenly)
- souffrir (suffer)
- succès (success)
- supporter (support)