1 French pronunciation Vowels sounds French has six vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and y.

French vowels often take accents:

The acute accent (accent aigu): (may replaces s from old french: tranger=stranger) The grave accent (accent grave): , , The circumfl ex (accent circonfl exe): , , , , (may replaces s from old french: fort=forest) A cdille ( ) is placed under a c (), to create a soft (s) sound before the letters a, o, or u. a (sah) A trma ( ) is placed on the second of two consecutive vowels to indicate that each vowel is pronounced independently. Nol (noh- ehl)

Note: y y except for "e", this doesn't usually change the sound e at the end of the word remains silent Beng. Sound. Letter or letter combinations that produce the sound a,, (little longer) ,final er/ez/ es some ai and et combinations e in one syllable words or in the middle of a word followed by one consonant , , and e (plus two consonants or a final pronounced consonant), et, ei, ai

Vowel sounds "ah" in "father" ay as in day

IPA [a]

Examples La(the),l(there),ne(donkey) th (tay) tea vlo (vay-lo) bicycle carr (kah-ray) square je (zhuh) I le (luh) the ce (suh) this, that

[e]

uh as in the or alone

[ ]

eh as in get

[ ]

mre (mehr) mother pre (pehr) father chre (shehr) dear or expensive (feminine) mari (mah-ree) husband vie (vee) life pari (pah-ree) bet, oreille, mireille. tu (tu) you vu (vu) seen lu (lu) read, rue, jus,tissu poste(post office) sotte silly

ee in beet. try saying ew with lips rounded o as in go oh as in love /

[i]

i,, y,ll

[y]

u, o,, au, eau(last pronounced sound of word) when followed by a pronounced

[o] [ ]

2 consonant other than s sol dehors mort ground outside death

Ends in a vowel or in x Ends in a consonant oo as in boot likewain watch +ee. wee in lui oo+wee in yes Sound like aee At the end of a word sounds like ah-ee

[] [ ] [u]

eu eu,oeu ou,o,o

[wa]

oy,oi

[ i]
(long)(short)-

ui oui eil,eille ail

[wi]

peu (puh) few jeu (zhuh) game deux (duh) two boeuf (buhf) beef seul (suhl) alone jour (zhoo-r) day sous (soo) under vous (voo) you voyage (vwa-yazh) travel noyau (nwa-yoh) pit, fruit stone loyal (lwa-yahl) loyal bruit (brwee) noise nuit (nwee) night pluie (plwee) rain oui (oo-wee) yes Louis (loo-wee) Louis soleil(sun),bouteille(bottle) travail(work)

Nasal Vowels

Phonetic spelling awn in minor emphasis on n ahn in minor emphasis on n uhn in uncle ohn in wrong wa in wag yan in yankee with minor emphasis on n

Bengali / /

General spelling en, em, an, am, aon, aen in, im, yn, ym, ain, aim, ein, eim un,um on, om oin ien

IPA [a] [ ]

Sample words gant, banc, dent pain, vin, linge

[ ] [o] [ ] [i ]

brun, lundi, parfum rond, ongle, front soin(care) bien(well)

Keep in mind that the following combinations do not require nasalized vowel sounds: vowel + nnor mm: bonne (pronounced like bun in English) vowel + n or vowel + m: mine (pronounced like mean in English)

3 Consonants Most final French consonants remain unpronounced except for c, r, f, and l (think of the word care ful).
Consonant b (initial or medial) b (followed by s or t) c + a, o, u c + e, I c+ond ch(latin origin) ch (Greek origin) g + a, o, u; gu + e, i, y g + e, I; ge + a, o gn ing j h q and qu r s between two vowels and the s in - sion t in - tion th vowel + s + vowel x + vowel x (before consonant) Final x Sound b as in brother Bengali IPA [b] Examples besoin-need. Bise- kiss absent ( )-absent. Absolument ( )absolutely. capable-capable

p as in pen c as in car s as in sent g as in go sh as in ma chine k in kind g as in go zh as in mea sure ny as in u nion ng in sing zh as in mea sure always silent k as in kind no equivalent the sound is gutteral and pronounced at the back of the throat as if gargling z as in zero s as in sea t as in tea z in zephyr z in zephyr xc as in e xcel s in surrender Between and Between and

[p] [k] [s] [g] [t ]

chose-thing, chemiseshirt

[g] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [k] Between and [r] gnonjoli-nice, jamais-never haut-high, habitude-habit qui-what riz-rice, rare-rare

[d ] [s] [t] [z] [z] [x] [s] rose, falaise, casino six ans, beaux arts fax six, dix, soixante (these 3 only!)

Liaison

4 The last consonant of the first word is pronounced if the 2nd word starts with a vowel or h. Liaison is always made in the following cases:
y y y y y y

after a determiner: un ami, des amis before or after a pronoun: vousavez, je les ai after a preceding adjective: bon ami, petitsenfants after one syllable prepositions: en avion, dans un livre after some one-syllable adverbs (trs, plus, bien) after est

It is optional after pas, trop fort, and the forms of tre, but it is never made after et. s,x sounds like z: beaux enfants [bo za(n) fa(n)] in the same way d sounds like t and f sounds like v . Elision: je + imite = j'imite (zhee-meet). Note how the final e (uh) sound of je (zhuh) is dropped. Stress all syllables are equally stressed with only the last one is little more emphasized