French
French spelling is more regular to read than it looks. Learn which letters stay silent, then the bonjour that opens every polite exchange.
- 1French alphabet and pronunciationFrench spelling looks hard, but it works much better in the reading direction than people expect: the same letters give the same sounds again and again. Seven units cover the alphabet, the accent marks, the vowels, the nasal vowels, the consonants, silent letters, and how words run together in liaison and elision.7 Units
- 2French greetingsBonjour and its partners, greetings for each part of the day, how are you, tu or vous, your name and where you are from, please, thank you and sorry, and the customs that go with them in France and Quebec. Seven units end with a complete first conversation.7 Units
Letters that are written but not heard
The first surprise in French is how much of a word goes unspoken. Il parle and ils parlent sound exactly the same, because the s and the ent are both silent. The second surprise is that the rules repeat: the same letters give the same sounds again and again. That makes French alphabet and pronunciation the place to start. Once you can read a word aloud, French greetings gives you the phrases for a first meeting in France and Quebec, ending with a complete first conversation.
Seven units of pronunciation
French uses the same 26 letters as English, but g and j swap names, which matters when spelling aloud. Accent marks have jobs: é is closed and è and ê are open, while à, ù and some circumflexes only tell words apart. The circumflex in forêt marks an s that French dropped centuries ago; English kept it in forest. The vowel unit pairs tu (you) with tout (all), which differ by one vowel. Ou sounds like oo, and u is ee with rounded lips.
Nasal vowels get their own unit. Vin, vent and vont differ only in the vowel, and none ends with an n sound. The consonant unit places r at the back of the mouth and keeps h silent, although the h in héros still stops le from becoming l'. Then come silent final letters, and finally liaison and elision: les amis joins a silent s to the next word as a z, and le, je, de and que lose their vowel before another vowel. There is no liaison after et.
Bonjour, tu and vous, merci
In France you say bonjour when you walk into a shop, a waiting room or a lift, even to people you do not know. Bonjour opens a conversation and bonne journée closes it; bonne nuit is only for bedtime. Ça va? Ça va. The same two words make the question and the answer, and only the tone changes. Unit 4 explains tu and vous: tu for one person you know well and for children, vous for strangers, older people and any group. Since 2012, French government forms no longer offer Mademoiselle.
Enchanté and enchantée sound the same; the extra e appears only in writing. Pardon gets you past someone, excusez-moi gets attention and désolé is an apology. The last unit covers customs. Most of France greets friends with two kisses on the cheek, but one is common in Finistère and four in parts of the west. In Quebec, a shopkeeper may say bonjour as you leave, an older use that survived there.
How to use the recordings and hints
The recordings use a voice from France. Grey hints under each line are rough English respellings, a first guess before you copy the recording. French does not stress one syllable in each word the way English does; the last syllable of a phrase is simply a little longer, so listen for the end of each group. If you type French, learn the shortcuts for é, è, à, ç and ê first. Every unit ends with flashcards, a dictation and a quiz.
Questions about this subject
Do accented French letters count as extra letters of the alphabet?
French keeps the same twenty-six-letter alphabet as English, despite using accents, the cedilla and joined forms such as œ. A dictionary places é with e and ç with c rather than giving them separate alphabet positions. The marks still matter in spelling, so not counting them as extra letters does not make them optional decoration. Script and sounds
What is the difference between é and è?
The acute accent on é indicates a closed vowel, while the grave accent on è indicates an open vowel closer to the e of English bed. The French sounds stay steady rather than gliding as in English say. Élève contains both, making it possible to compare the closed first vowel with the open second one within a single word. Script and sounds
Does every French accent mark change pronunciation?
No: the grave accent on a or u can distinguish words without changing their sound. A is a form of avoir, while à is a preposition; ou means or and où means where. Removing such a mark can therefore change which word is written even when a listener would hear no corresponding difference in the vowel. Script and sounds
What do the two dots in maïs mean?
The diaeresis tells you to pronounce the marked vowel separately rather than blending it with its neighbour. Mais has one vowel sound, while maïs is pronounced with separate a and i sounds. Noël and naïf use the same mark, so the dots are a reading instruction rather than a signal to make the word louder or more emphatic. Script and sounds
Why does French ç sound like s?
The cedilla changes c to an s sound before a, o or u, where plain c would normally have a k sound. Words such as ça, garçon and reçu illustrate that spelling instruction. It belongs on capitals too, so Ç keeps the same spelling function rather than losing it simply because a sentence or name begins with a large letter. Script and sounds