Final consonants are usually silent: Paris (pa-ree). · French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘th’ is pronounced just ‘t’ which is why French native speakers have a lot of problems

French Alphabet and Pronunciation

• Final consonants are usually silent:

• Paris (pa-ree).

• However, the consonants C, R, F & L are usually pronounced at the end of words.


Common exceptions where the last letter can be heard include:

• Août (August)

• Cinq (five)

• Sept (seven) (can hear ‘t’ but not the ‘p’!!)

• Huit (eight)

• Neuf (nine)


Accents

• Some but not all accents can change the sound of the letter and or the meaning of a word. The main ones are:

• É accent aigu

• È accent grave

• Ê accent circonflexe

• Ë trema

• Ç cedille




French Alphabet & Pronunciation


Greetings



French Alphabet

• a = ahh • b = bay • c = say• d = day• e = euh• f = eff• g = jay• h = ash• i = eeeee• j = jee• k = ka• l = ell• m = em

• n = en• o = oh• p = pay• q = kuh• r = air• s = ess• t = tay• u = ew• v = vay• w = dooble vay• x = eeks• y = eeee grec• Z = zed


There is/ There are

il y a (eel ee ah)




Le Vocabulaire• Monsieur (M.) ça va? Oui, ça va

• Madame (Mme.) Non, ça ne va pas

• Mademoiselle (Mlle) ici / là

• À demain Merci

• Salut Je vous en prie / De rien

• À plus tard s’il vous plait / s’il te plait

• À deux semaines le professeur

• À février l’élève

• Où qu’est-ce que c’est

• Comment? qu’est-ce que ça veut dire?

• Parce que

• Au Revoir Est-ce que je peux aller aux toilettes?

• Avoir Est-ce que je peux aller à la bibliothèque?

• Etre Est-ce que je peux aller à l’infimière?

• Aller Est-ce que je peux prendre de l’eau?

• Faire

C’est quel numéro?



‘ç’ (cedille) changes the ‘C’ (K) into an ‘S’ sound for C followed by A, O or U. C already makes the ‘S’ sound followed by ‘E’ or

‘I’

• Français (French)• Garçon (boy)• Leçon (lesson)• Ciel (sky)• C’est (it’s)• Ce n’est pas (it’s not)• Glace (icecream)• Citron (lemon)


‘h’ is not pronounced hôtel (ohtel), homard (omar) (lobster).

• Horrible (horrible)

• Henri (Henry)

• Hôpital (hospital)


‘q’ or ‘qu’ has a hard ‘k’ sound e.g. quinze (sounds like ‘cans’) (fifteen)

• Quatre (four)

• Quatorze (fourteen) ‘cat oars’

• Qui (who)

• Quitter (to leave – can also say ‘partir’)

• Cinq (five)


‘r’ is said at the back of the throat with the tongue at the bottom of the mouth (in English

the ‘r’ makes the tongue go up). It sounds like a softer version of a cat trying to get

rid of a furball.

• Travaille (work)• Garage (garage)• Carottes rapées (grated carrots)• Tranche (slice)• Hiver (winter)• Printemps (spring)• Réserver (to reserve)


‘th’ is pronounced just ‘t’ which is why French native speakers have a lot of problems with our th and you may hear them say ‘zat was ze zeory on zursday ze forz’ instead of ‘that was the theory on Thursday the fourth’ although I haven’t heard this sentence

too often!

• Thé (tea)• Thierry (Terry or Thierry as in the footballer

Thierry Henri)• Cathédrale (cathedral) • Théâtre (theatre)• Thon (tuna)


‘u’ = oo e.g. sur (soor) (on)

• Jus (juice)

• Université (university)

• Rugby (rugby)

• Jupe (skirt)

• Musique (music)


‘ui’ (wee) e.g. huit (weet)

Huître (oyster)• Huile (oil)• Cuire (to cook)• Suivre (to follow)• Lui (him)• Nuit (night)• Puis-je? (may I?)• Puis-je cuire les huîtres avec l’huile pour lui

cette nuit? = May I cook the oysters with oil for him this night?!


Bravo!

Documents

Final consonants are usually silent: Paris (pa-ree). · French Alphabet and Pronunciation ‘th’ is pronounced just ‘t’ which is why French native speakers have a lot of problems