Objectives

Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Alphabet

The first chapter is divided into 5 lessons:

- Recognize the French letters;

- Pronounce these letters;

- Identify the differences and similarities between the English and French alphabet;

- Spell one’s name and other names in French;

- Discover simple words that begin with these letters;

 Glossary
Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Alphabet

Les verbes – verbs

apprenons (apprendre) – to learn parlons (parler) – to speak

Les noms - nouns

ananas (m) – pineapple abeille (f) – bee

ballon (m) – ball bébé (m) – baby

ceinture (f) – belt château (m) - castle

dauphin (m) – dolphin dé (m) - dice

escalier (m) – staircase escargot (m) – snail

fauteuil (m) – airmchair fruit (m) – fruit

gant (m) – glove grenouille – frog

hélicoptère (m) – helicopter hibou (m) – owl

idée (f) – idea île (f) – island

jeudi (m) – Thursday jupe (f) – skirt

kangourou (f) – kangaroo koala (m) – koala bear

lit (m) – bed livre (m) – book

maison (f) – house miel (m) – honey

nid (m) – nest nuage (m) – cloud

omelette (f) – omelet orange (m) – orange

panier (m) – basket papillon (m) – butterfly

question (f) – question règle (f) – ruler

rose (f)– rose (flower rose) sel (m) – salt

serviette (f) – towel tasse (f) – cup

téléphone (m) – telephone unité (f) – unit

usine (f) – factory violet (m) – violet

voiture (f) – car wagon (m) – wagon

whisky (m) – whiskey xylophone (m) – xylophone

yak (m) – yak yaourt (m) – yogurt

zoo (m) – zoo

Les adjectifs – Adjectives

quatre - four zéro – zero

comme – like / as

Les expressions – expressions

À bientôt – see you soon Bonjour – Hello / Good morning

 Script
Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Alphabet

Bonjour and welcome, viewers and students, to Let’s speak French (Parlons français). This
course consists of 50 lessons spread over 10 chapters. These lessons on basic French are
short and easy. And if you follow the program regularly, I can assure you that every soon,
you will be able to understand French quite easily.

All the lessons in this program will be bilingual. The explanations and the theoretical portion
will be covered in English, so that you can follow them. The pronunciation and the examples
will be in French. The aim of this module is to learn the French alphabet. At the end of this
lesson, you will be able to pronounce the French letters and spell out simple words.

In today’s lesson I will introduce you to the French alphabet. Like the English alphabet,
there are 26 letters in French:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

And now I will recite the alphabets in both the languages.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

However, the French alphabet contains 6 vowels: A, E, I, O, U and...any guesses which is the
sixth one? I’ll tell you, it’s the letter “Y”. The remaining 20 letters are all consonants.

Now, I will show you how to pronounce these letters. Although they are the same as those of
the English alphabet, the majority of the French letters are pronounced differently. Let me
first point out those letters that have the same English pronunciation:
F, L, M, N, O, Q, S

Next, I will guide you with the pronunciation of the remaining 19 letters.

A – A. A comme ananas. Ananas means pineapple. A comme ananas

B – B. B comme bébé. Bébé means baby. B comme bébé.

C – C. C comme ceinture. Ceinture means belt. C comme ceinture.

D – D. D comme dé. Dé means dice. D comme dé.

E – E. E comme escalier. Escalier means staircase. E comme escalier.

F – F. F comme fauteuil. Fauteuil means airmchair. F comme fauteuil.

G – G. G comme grenouille. Grenouille means frog. G comme grenouille.

H – H. H comme hibou. Hibou means owl. H comme hibou.

I – I. I comme île. Île means island. I comme île.

J – J. J comme jupe. Jupe means skirt. J comme jupe.

K – K. K comme kangourou. Kangourou means kangaroo. K comme kangourou

L – L. L comme lit. Lit means bed. L comme lit.

M – M. M comme maison. Maison means house. M comme maison.

N – N. N comme nid. Nid means nest. N comme nid.

O – O. O comme orange. Orange means orange. O comme orange

P – P. P comme papillon. Papillon means butterfly. P comme papillon.

Q – Q. Q comme quatre. Quatre means four. Q comme quatre.

R – R. R comme rose. Rose means the flower rose. R comme rose.

S – S. S comme sel. Sel means salt. S comme sel.

T – T. T comme téléphone. Téléphone means telephone. T comme téléphone.

U – U. U comme usine. Usine means factory. U comme usine.

V – V. V comme voiture. Voiture means car. V comme voiture.

W – W. W comme wagon. Wagon means wagon. W comme wagon.

X – X. X comme xylophone. Xylophone means xylophone. X comme xylophone.

Y – Y. Y comme yaourt. Yaourt means yogurt. Y comme yaourt.

Z – Z. Z comme zéro. Zéro means zero. Z comme zéro.

I’ll now recite the alphabet in French.

A. A comme abeille. Abeille means bee.

B. B comme balon. Balon means ball.

C. C comme château. Château means castle.

D. D comme dauphin. Dauphin means dolphin.

E. E comme escargot. Escargot means snail.

F. F comme fruit. Fruit means fruit.

G. G comme gant. Gant means glove.

H. H comme hélicoptaire. Hélicoptaire means helicopter.

I. I comme idée. Idée means idea.

J. J comme jeudi. Jeudi means Thursday.

K. K comme koala. Koala means koala bear.

L. L comme livre. Livre means book.

M. M comme miel. Miel means honey.

N. N comme nuage. Nuage means cloud.

O. O comme omelette. Omelette means omelet.

P. P comme panier. Panier means basket.

Q. Q comme question. Question means question.

R. R comme règle. Règle means ruler.

S. S comme serviette. Serviette means towel.

T. T comme tasse. Tasse means cup.

U. U comme unité. Unité means unit.

V. V comme violet. Violet means violet.

W. W comme whisky. Whisky means whiskey.

X. X comme xylophone. Xylophone means xylophone.

Y. Y comme yak. Yak means yak.

Z. Z comme zoo. Zoo means zoo.

With this we come to the end of our first lesson. In this lesson we learnt the French alphabet.

I hope you enjoyed today’s session. In the next lesson, we will learn the typical sounds that
are characteristic of the French language. I hope to see you in the next session. Thank you,
and à bientôt! See you soon!
 Summary
Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Alphabet

The 1st lesson of Chapter I covers the French Alphabet. Like the English alphabet, the French
alphabet is composed of the same 26 letters. But what distinguishes the two sets of alphabet
is their pronunciation. A handful of letters have the same pronunciation, but the majority
have a different pronunciation. A second point of dissimilarity is the number of vowels that
figures in the French alphabet. In French, the letter Y is considered a vowel, and that’s why
the French alphabet consists of six vowels (A, E, I, O, U, Y) and twenty consonants.

For further tips and exercises on this lesson, a separate section has been created. This will
include a series of frequently asked questions regarding the lesson, ten multiple-choice
questions based on the lesson, some assignments and a few reference books and website
links. A glossary has also been included to help remember the French words learnt in the
lesson.
 Reference
Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Alphabet

• Alter Ego - Méthode de Français, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette

• Alter Ego – Cahier d’activités, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette
• Écho - Méthode de Français, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE International
• Écho - Cahier personnel d’apprentissage, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE
International
• A votre service – 1, A1 (2011): Chanderasekar, Hanga et al., Hachette
 Web-Links
Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Alphabet

• http://www.frenchtutorial.com/en/learn-french/pronunciation/alphabet
• https://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/lessons/french-alphabet
• http://www.languageguide.org/french/alphabet/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkFXGlHCn_o
• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/french.htm
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

1. Why is the French alphabet the same as the English alphabet?

The Latin alphabet, or the Roman alphabet, refers to a set of letters. Since most of the
European alphabets have derived from the Latin alphabet, we find that not just
English and French, but also Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, for instance, have
the same alphabet. Some of these alphabets may have added a few extra letters, while
others may have discarded a few old letters. The French and English alphabet have
the same 26 letters. However, the letters produce a slightly different sound in each
language.

2. Is there a French alphabet song?

Yes, there is a French alphabet song. A link has been provided in the Tutorial.

3. Why is there an accent on the letter ‘E’?

In French, when a letter takes an accent, it generally indicates a change in the

pronunciation of the letter. The accent seen on the letter E is called accent aigu (acute
accent). French accents will be covered in detail in lesson 4 of chapter 1.

4. Can French names have accents? And if so, how are they written in
English?

Yes, French names can have accents. Here are a few examples: Noémie, Inès, Anaïs,
François. These names may be written with or without accents in English.

5. Why is the letter H not pronounced?

In French, the letter H is silent. In other words, the letter H is never pronounced in
French. In fact, the concept of silent letters is one of the biggest challenges learners of
French face when learning the language. There are many letters, which are not
pronounced when placed in a certain position. This topic will be covered in detail in
Chapter I, Lesson 4.
OBJECTIVE

This lesson on ‘Typical sounds in French – I’ enables the learner to -

- Identify the letter-combinations that are characteristic of the French language;

- Pronounce these letter-combinations;
- Recognize the different pronunciations of certain letter-combinations;
- Learn the various letter-combinations that produce the same sounds;
- Discover simple words that are constructed from these letter-combinations;
 GLOSSARY

Chapter 1 - Lesson 2 Typical sounds in French -1

aigle – eagle aiguille – needle ambulance – ambulance

aubergine – brinjal aujourd’hui – today autruche - ostrich

avion – aeroplane bateau – boat bien – good

brun – brown caillou – stone caisse - crate

camion – truck ceinture – belt chaussure - shoe

cæur – heart concombre – cucumber crayon – pencil

daim – deer danseur – dancer dent – tooth

deux – two diamant – diamond dragon - dragon

éléphant – elephant enveloppe – envelope heureux – happy

histoire – story huit – eight insecte - insect

jambon – ham jeune – young jungle - jungle

kangourou – kangaroo lampe – lamp lapin – rabbit

lundi – Monday maison – house mangue – mango

marteau – hammer moineau – sparrow montre – watch

mouton – sheep noix – nut nombre – number

nuit – night ongle – nail orange – orange

ours – bear palais – palace pluie – rain

poison – poison poisson – fish quarante – forty

sapin – christmas tree seau – bucket septembre - September

serpent – snake sæur – sister temple – temple

timbre – stamp trembler – tremble trompette - trumpet

 Script
Chapter 1 - Lesson 2 Typical sounds in French -1

Bonjour and welcome, viewers and students, to “Let’s speak French” (Parlons français)”.

These lessons on basic French are short and easy. If you follow the program regularly, I can

guarantee you that, very soon, you will be able to speak and understand French quite easily.

In the previous class, we learnt two basic things - the French alphabet and how to introduce

oneself. In today’s class, we are going to learn some of the typical sounds that are

characteristic of the French language.

These sounds are created in two different ways:

a. By bringing ---together a combination of vowels and a consonant, or

b. By combining two and sometimes three vowels

By learning these letter combinations, you will not only improve your pronunciation and your

spelling, but you will also be able to read correctly, on your own, new words that you come

across for the first time.

I. Nasal sounds

The first sound that we shall learn in today’s class is the nasal sound. The nasal sound is

common in many European languages. In French, it is one of the most frequently used sound

and therefore every French student must master this sound in order to speak, read and

write French properly. The French language has four nasal sounds.
Three of the nasal sounds are quite similar to one another. So let us begin with them. The

first one is the [ã] sound: [ã], [ã]. This sound is similar to the French letter ‘A’. Listen and

compare the two sounds: “aa” “[ã]”. I’ll repeat them once again: “aa” “[ã]”. If you have

difficulty pronouncing this nasal sound, try this. It will help you understand how to produce

the desired sound. Hold your nose and say “aa”: “[ã]”.

Let us practice the nasal sound by adding a letter before this letter-combination. Let us do

this with the letters M T S: /mã/, /tã/, /sã/.

Let us now look at how this nasal sound is written. The sound “[ã]” is created when the letter

‘A’ is followed by the letter ‘N’. A few examples of words where the letters ‘A’ and ‘N’

produce the nasal sound are: DIAMANT, KANGOUROU, ORANGE. We came across these

words in the previous class. Let me now give you a few new words: QUARANTE (image),

ELEPHANT (image), MANGUE (image).

Sometimes, this nasal sound can have a slight variation in its written form. The letter ‘N’ can

be replaced by the letter ‘M’. The reason behind this change in spelling is that in French, the

letters ‘B’ and ‘P’ can never be preceded by the letter ‘N’. So when there is a nasal sound

before these two letters, the letter ‘M’ replaces the letter ‘N’. This change however, does

NOT alter the pronunciation. The pronunciation remains the same. For example: AMBULANCE

(image), JAMBON (image), LAMPE (image). Therefore the following letter combinations “an”

and “am” have the [ã] sound.

This same nasal sound can also be created by combining the letters ‘E’ and ‘N’. Thus, “en” is

also pronounced as [ã]. For example: DENT (image), SERPENT (image), ENVELOPPE (image).

The same rule that we saw regarding the letter ‘M’ preceding the letter ‘B’ and ‘P’ is

applicable here too. So words like SEPTEMBRE, TREMBLER and TEMPLE have “em” instead of
an “en”. Pronunciation-wise, both “en” and “em” are identical. Before moving on to the 2rd

nasal sound, let me summarize what we just learnt. The following letter combinations: “an” (or

“am”) and “en” (or em”) have all the same [ã] sound. Most words that have the [ã] sound are

written with either “an” or “en”. Only when the letters ‘B’ and ‘P’ follow immediately after the

nasal sound, the letter ‘N’ changes to ‘M’. This change in the writing does NOT affect the

pronunciation. The pronunciation remains the same.

To practice, let us repeat all these new words: diamant, kangourou, orange, quarante,

éléphant, mangue, ambulance, jambon, lampe, dent, serpent, enveloppe, septembre, trembler,

temple.

The second nasal sound that we shall learn is the [ɛ̃] sound – [ɛ̃], [ɛ̃]. This sound is similar to

the way the letter ‘A’ is pronounced in the follow English words: ANIMAL, APPLE. Listen and

compare the two sounds: [ɛ] and [ɛ̃]. Again, [ɛ] and [ɛ̃]. If you have difficulty pronouncing this

nasal sound, try the trick holding your nose. This will help you understand how to produce the

desired sound. Hold your nose and say [ɛ]: [ɛ̃].

Now let us combine this nasal sound with a consonant. Let us do it with the letters M T S:

/mɛ̃/, /tɛ̃/, /sɛ̃/.

Let us now look at how this nasal sound is written. [ɛ̃] can be created by a variety of letter-

combinations. All of the following letter combinations : “in”, ”im”, “ain”, “aim”, “ein” and “ien”

have the same [ɛ̃] sound.

We came across this nasal sound in our previous class when we learnt the words LAPIN and

SAPIN.
Let me show you a few new words with each of the following letter-combination: “in” as in

INSECTE (image), “im” as in TIMBRE (image), “ain” as in TRAIN (image), “aim” as in DAIM

(image), “ein” as in CEINTURE (image) and “ien” as in BIEN.

Let us repeat these words: insect, timbre, train, daim, ceinture, bien

The third nasal sound that is often confused with [ɛ̃] and [ã] is [œ̃ ], [œ̃ ]. Note the three

sounds [ã], [ɛ̃] and [œ̃ ]. As you see, the difference between them is slight. [œ̃ ] is mid-way

between [ã] and [ɛ̃]. [œ̃ ], [œ̃ ], [œ̃ ].

Let us practice this nasal sound by combining it with a consonant. Like before, let us do it

with the letters M T S: /mœ̃ /, /tœ̃ /, /sœ̃ /.

In writing, when the letter ‘N’ is preceded by the letters ‘U’, it creates the [œ̃ ] sound. A few

examples of words that have this [œ̃ ] nasal sound are: LUNDI (image), BRUN (image),

JUNGLE (image)

Let us repeat these words: lundi, brun, jungle

The fourth and final nasal sound is [ɔ̃], [ɔ̃]. As you can see, this sound is very different from

the other three nasal sounds we just learnt. This sound is similar to the letter ‘O’. Listen and

compare the two sounds: “o” “[ɔ̃]”. I’ll repeat them once again: “o” - [ɔ̃]. If you have difficulty

pronouncing this nasal sound, try doing the same trick I showed you with the [ã] sound. Hold

your nose and say “o”: “[ɔ̃]”.

Let us practice this nasal sound by adding a consonant before this letter-combination: /mɔ̃/,

/tɔ̃/, /sɔ̃/.

Let us take a closer look at how this sound is written. [ɔ̃] is created by putting together the

letters ‘O’ and ‘N’. Let me point out to you that in our previous class, we came across four

words that have the [ɔ̃] sound: AVION, DRAGON, JAPON and MONTRE. Let us look at some

more new words now: ONGLE (image), CRAYON (image), CAMION (image)

Let me repeat these words: ongle, crayon, camion.

The same rule regarding the letters ‘N’ and ‘M’ are applicable here too. For example in the

words CONCOMBRE (image), NOMBRE (image), TROMPETTE (image), the letter ‘M’ replaces

the letter ‘N’ because of the letters ‘B’ and ‘P’. As you can see, pronunciation-wise, there is no

difference between “on” and “om”.

Let me review this section on the [ɔ̃] sound. This nasal sound can be created in two ways. In

most cases, the [ɔ̃] sound is written with an ‘on’. But when the letters ‘B’ and ‘P’ follow

immediately after this nasal sound, the letter ‘N’ changes to ‘M’. This change in the writing

does NOT affect the pronunciation. The pronunciation remains the same.

So here you have the four nasal sounds of the French language: [ã], [ɛ̃], [œ̃ ] and [ɔ̃]. These

four sounds are very common in French and being able to pronounce them correctly is as

important as being able to read them correctly. Initially it may be difficult to produce these

nasal sounds. But regular practice will help you improve your pronunciation. Always remember,

the individual letters that form a nasal sound are not pronounced separately, but rather,
pronounced as a whole. For example, in French, “o-n” is pronounced as [ɔ̃] and not as [ɔn]. So

you don’t say [a-vjɔn], [kʀɛ-jɔn], but [a-vjɔ̃], [kʀɛ-jɔ̃].

II. Combination of vowels

Next we shall learn other specific sounds typical of the French language. Unlike the nasal

sounds, these sounds are a combination of vowels only. In French, there are eight such

sounds:

i. ‘ai’ - [e] or [ɛ].

When the letter ‘A’ precedes the letter ‘I’, two different sounds can be produced. One of

the pronunciations of ‘ai’ is [e], [e]. And the other pronunciation is [ɛ], [ɛ]. Let me repeat the

two sounds: [e] and [ɛ]. Again, [e] and [ɛ].

Let us practice this sound by adding a letter before this letter-combination: /me/, /mɛ/, te/,

/tɛ/, se/, /sɛ/

Let me give you a few examples of words with “ai”: AIGUILLE (image), MAISON (image),

AIGLE (image), CAISSE (image), PALAIS (image)

In the first four words, the first syllable contains the ‘ai’ letter-combination. When ‘ai’ is at

this position, i.e., is at the beginning of the word, then it can be pronounced either as [e] or

[ɛ]. Let me read these words and demonstrate: aiguille, maison, aigle and caisse. But if the

letter-combination is at the end of a word, then ‘ai’ is always pronounced as [ɛ], as in palais.
Let me recapitulate this point: the letter-combination ‘ai’ has two pronunciations. When it is

at the end of a word, it is pronounced as [ɛ]. But when a word begins with ‘ai’, the letter-

combination can have two distinct pronunciations [ɛ] or [e].

ii. ‘au’ and ‘eau’ – [o]

The next letter-combination that I will show you is ‘A’ followed by ‘U’. This composition of

letters produces the [o] sound. The following words are examples of words that have this

letter-combination:

AUBERGINE (image), AUTRUCHE (image), CHAUSSURES (image)

There are many words that begin with ‘au’. But there are very few words that end with this

letter combination.

This [o] sound can also be created by bringing together the letters E, A, U. When the letter

‘E’ precedes ‘au’, the [o] sound is still retained. Let me give you a few examples: BATEAU

(image), MARTEAU (image), SEAU (image). Except from the word “eau” which means water,

there isn’t any word in French that begins with this letter-combination. But there are several

words that end with ‘eau’.

Let us repeat these words: aubergine, autruche, chaussures, bateau, marteau, seau

iii. ‘eu’ and ‘æu’ - [ø], [œ]

The next letter-combination that we will learn is ‘E’ followed by ‘U’. This combination of

letters produces the [ø] sound. This is similar to the [e] sound. Let us compare the two: [e]

and [ø]. Again, [e] and [ø].

Let us practice this sound by adding a letter before this letter-combination: /mø/, tø/, /sø/

Before we look at a few French words having this [ø] sound, let me show you another letter-

combination that produces this same sound. When the letter ‘O’ is added before the ‘eu’, the

[ø] sound is again created. When the letter ‘O’ is in this position, it is joined to the letter ‘E’,

like this – ‘œu’. In reality, these two letter-combinations ‘eu’ and ‘œu’ have two different

pronunciations, but since the difference is so slight and not required for a beginner’s course,

we are not going to discuss its other pronunciation. However if you are interested to know

what distinguishes the two sounds, an explanation has been provided in the FAQ section.

Let us now look at a few words with the ‘eu’ and the ‘œu’ combination: DEUX, JEUNE,

HEUREUX, CŒUR, SŒUR.

Let us practice this sound by repeating these words: deux, jeune, heureux, cœur, sœur.

iv. ‘oi’ - [wa]

The fourth letter-combination consists of ‘O’ followed by ‘I’. This letter-combination creates

the sound [wa], [wa]. Repeat after me [wa], [wa]. Remember, the letters are not pronounced

separately. Do not say /oi/, but [wa].

Let us practice this sound by adding a letter before this letter-combination: /moi/, toi/,

/soi/
Let me give you a few examples of words having the [wa] sound: NOIX, POISSON,

HISTOIRE

Let us repeat these words: noix, poisson, histoire.

v. ‘ou’ - [u]

The fifth letter-combination consists of ‘O’ followed by ‘U’. This letter-combination creates

the sound [u], [u]. This sound is similar to the sound created by the “OO” in words like

MOON, NOON, MAROON. The following words are written using the ‘O’ ‘U’ letter

combination: OURS (image), MOUTON (image), CAILLOU (image)

Let us repeat these words: ours, mouton, caillou.

vi. ‘ui’ - [ɥi]

The sixth and final sound that we will learn in today’s lesson is formed by the letters ‘U’ and

‘I’. In this letter-combination both the letters are pronounced separately, but without any

pause. This makes it seem like one single sound [ɥi], [ɥi]. Repeat after me: [ɥi], [ɥi].

Let us practice this sound by adding a letter before this letter-combination: /mɥi/, /sɥi/,

/tɥi/

Let me give you a few examples of words having this [ɥi] sound: NUIT (image), PLUIE

(image), HUIT (image)

Let us practice this sound by repeating these words: nuit, pluie, huit.
 III. Revision

Before we end, let us revise what we learnt today. Here is an exercise. In this exercise, we

will learn how to pronounce words that are formed by the letter-combinations that we learnt

today.

You can repeat after me:

POI-SON = POISON MOI-NEAU = MOINEAU

AU-JOURD-‘HUI = AUJOURD’HUI DAN-SEUR = DANSEUR

So, here we come to the end of our second class which focused on a few special sounds that

are characteristic of the French language. Let me summarize today’s lesson in a few words.

This lesson was divided into two parts.

In the first part, we learnt how to pronounce a combination of vowels and consonants. This

group of sounds consisted of four nasal sounds – [ã], [ɛ]̃ , [œ̃] and [ɔ̃]. In the second part, we

learnt sounds that are made up of a combination of vowels. These include ‘ai’, ‘au’, ‘eau’, ‘eu’,

‘œu’, ‘oi’, ‘ou’ and ‘ui’. And in the final part, we revised today’s lesson. We did a spelling

exercise which was based on words that were formed by all these letter-combinations.

I hope you enjoyed today’s session. The next class will be a continuation of today’s class:

“Special sounds that are characteristic of the French language – part II”. We will also learn

all about the accents that certain letters, notably the vowels, take. Hope to see you in the

next class. Thank you and à bientôt! See you soon!

SUMMARY:
The 2nd lesson of Chapter I covers the various letter-combinations and their sounds that are
characteristic of the French language. Since this is a vast topic, it has been divided into two
lessons (Lesson 2 and 3 of Chapter I). This lesson focuses on two types of letter-combinations:

1. Nasal sounds: Nasal sounds are extensively used in French. They are composed of a
combination of vowel and consonant. There are four nasal sounds: [ã], [ɛ]̃ , [œ̃] and [ɔ]̃

2. Combination of vowels: There are eight such combinations – ‘ai’, ‘eau’, ‘au’, ‘eu’, ‘œu’,
‘oi’, ‘ou’ and ‘ui’

For further tips and exercises on this lesson, a separate section has been created. This will
include a series of frequently asked questions regarding the lesson, ten multiple-choice questions
based on the lesson, some assignments and a few reference books and website links. A glossary
has also been included to help remember the French words learnt in the lesson.
REFERENCE

• Alter Ego - Méthode de Français, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette

• Alter Ego – Cahier d’activités, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette
• Écho - Méthode de Français, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE International
• Écho - Cahier personnel d’apprentissage, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE
International
• A votre service – 1, A1 (2011): Chanderasekar, Hanga et al., Hachette
 Web-Links
Chapter 1 - Lesson 2 Typical sounds in French -1

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):

http://w3.uohprod.univ-tlse2.fr/UOH-PHONETIQUE-FLE/DOCS/DOC01.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_French

Nasal sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIHvUrdd4Jk
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

1. When I come across a new word, how do I know its correct pronunciation?

To find out the exact pronunciation of a word, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) may be
consulted. A link to the IPA chart has been provided in the Tutorial.

2. What is International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and how does it help me?

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system for transcribing the sounds of speech, which is
independent of any particular language and applicable to all languages. Dictionaries use the IPA
to indicate the pronunciation of words. Since IPA can help you in pronouncing foreign words, it
is advisable to refer to the IPA chart when learning a new language.

3. Is there any letter-combination that is composed of consonants alone?

Yes, there are many letter-combinations in French, which are composed of consonants alone.
These will be explained in the next lesson (Lesson 3 of Chapter I).

4. If the letter combinations ‘-eau’ and ‘-au’ are pronounced as [o], why can’t the
letter ‘O’ be used instead?

The French language is a Romance Language that has originated from Latin. However, there are
many words that have a Greek origin. These words have evolved over the centuries. While many
spellings have been modified, a number of letter-combinations still persist. These have become
an intrinsic part of the French language. Perhaps in the future, certain letter-combinations such as
‘-ph-’ ‘-eau-’ and ‘-au-’ may be simplified to [f] and [o] respectively. But at present, one simply
has to accept these letter-combinations.

5. What is the difference between these two letter-combinations: ‘eu’ and ‘œu’?
According to the IPA, “eu” is transcribed as [ø] while “œu” “œ”, “ue” and sometimes even “eu”
are transcribed as [œ]. Since “eu” can be transcribed either way, the difference between [ø] and
[œ] is very slight.
OBJECTIVE

This lesson on ‘Typical sounds in French – II’ enables the learner to -

- Identify the remaining letter-combinations that are characteristic of the French language;
- Pronounce these letter-combinations;
- Combine various letter-combinations to produce a variety of different sounds;
- Recognize the various accents and diacritical marks used in French;
- Discover simple words that have these letter-combinations, accents and diacritical marks;
GLOSSARY

à – to agneau – lamb

âne – donkeyau-delà – beyond baignoire – tub

balançoire – swing bébé – baby

billet – ticket boîte - box

boussole – compass café – coffee

canapé – sofa chenille – caterpillar

cheval – horse chèvre – goat

clôture – fence coquillage – shell

cousin – cushion crêpe – pancake

déçu – disappointed élève – student

élégant – elegant éléphant – elephant

étoile – star façade – facade

façon – manner famille – family

fenêtre – window flocon – snowflake

gagner – to win garçon – boy

héroïne – heroine hôpital – hospital

hôtel – hotel là-bas – there

mais – but maïs – corn

million – million montagne – mountain

mouchoir – handkerchief naïve – naive

noël – Christmas ou – or

où – where pastèque – watermelon

poème – poem poison – poison

poisson – fish piqûre – injection

rivière - river sel – salt

télévision – television tête - head

vélo - bicyle ville - city

 Script

Chapter 1 - Lesson 3 Typical sounds in French -2

Bonjour and welcome, viewers and students, to “Let’s speak French” (Parlons français)”.

These lessons on basic French are short and easy. If you follow the program regularly, I can

guarantee you that, very soon, you will be able to speak and understand French quite easily.

Today’s class will be a continuation of the previous class: “Special sounds that are

characteristic of the French language – part II”. This class will be divided into two sections.

In the first part, we will continue with a couple of other letter-combinations that are

particular to the French language. In the second section we will learn all about the accents

that certain letters, notably the vowels, take. These accents change the way the letters are

pronounced and are again typical of the French language.

I. Combination of consonants

In the previous lesson we saw two categories of letter-combinations:

i. a combination of vowels and a consonant, or

ii. a combination of two and sometimes three vowels

Now we will see a third category of letter-combination. Here, the letters that are combined

are all consonants. The French language also has a number of letter-combinations that have a

distinct pronunciation. Knowing how these are pronounced will help in speaking, reading as well

as in writing French.

In this lesson, we will learn four such letter-combinations.

 a. The first one is the letter ‘C’ followed by the letter ‘H’. When you come across this

combination ‘ch’, always pronounce it as [ ʃ ]. To facilitate your understanding, let me compare

it with the English language. The French ‘ch’ has the same pronunciation as the ‘sh’ in the

words SHOP and FLASH.

Let me give you examples of words that are written with the ‘ch’: CHEVAL (image),

MACHINE, MOUCHOIR (image)

Let me repeat these words: cheval, machine, mouchoir

b. The second one is the letter ‘G’ followed by the letter ‘N’. When you come across this

‘gn’ letter-combination, always pronounce it as [ ɲ ]. To facilitate your understanding, let me

compare it with the English language. The letter ‘Y’ in the words YEAR, YOUR, when

nasalized, can be compared to the French ‘gn’.

Let me give you examples of words that are written with the ‘gn’: MONTAGNE (image),

AGNEAU, BAIGNOIRE (image)

Let me repeat these words: montagne, agneau, baignoire

c. The third letter-combination is composed of ‘ll’’ (double ‘L’). This is always pronounced

as the letter ‘Y’ in YEAR or YOUR.

Let me give you examples of words that are written with ‘ll’: FAMILLE (image), COQUILLAGE

(image), BILLET (image)

There are however a few exceptions. Words like these (VILLE, MILLION appear on the

screen, but are not pronounced as yet) are written with ‘ll’, yet are pronounced as /vil/ and

/miljɔ̃/.
Let me repeat the words that have double “ll” and are pronounded as ‘y’: famille, coquillage,

billet

d. The fourth letter-combination is composed of double ‘S’: ‘ss’. In French, when you come

across ‘ss’ (double ‘S’), it is always pronounced as the letter ‘C’ in CINEMA, CITY. This letter-

combination is never at the beginning of a word.

Let me give you examples of words that are written with ‘ss’: POISSON (image), COUSSIN

(image), BOUSSOLE (image)

Repeat these words after me: poisson, coussin, boussole.

Since we are on the topic of ‘ss’, let me inform you that interestingly, a single ‘S’ in French, is

pronounced like the letter ‘Z’ in ZONE and ZERO. For instance this word is pronounced as

[pwazɔ]̃ . It means the same thing as in English, poison. But when you add a double ‘S’, [pwazɔ̃]

becomes [pwasɔ̃]. However, when a word begins with ‘S’, the ‘S’ is pronounced like the letter

‘S’ in English.

II. Accents

We now come to the second part of the module. In this part we will learn about the

accents. `In the French language, there are three distinct accents

i. Accent aigu: ´

ii. Accent grave: `

iii. Accent circonflexe: ^

a. Accent aigu:
 The acute accent or accent aigu appears only above the letter ‘E’. When the accent is

placed on the ‘E’ the pronunciation of the letter changes. Normally the letter ‘E’ is

pronounced as [ə] and sometimes as [ɛ]. But with the accent, the letter ‘E’ is pronounced

as [e], like the first letter of the English alphabet, [e]. In French, when the ‘E’ takes this

accent, you say “eu accent aigu”, roughly translated as, letter ‘E’ with acute accent.

Let me give you a few words that have the accent aigu above the letter ‘E’: vélo, canapé,

éléphant). We have already learnt these words in our previous classes. So I’ll give you a

few new words: étoile, télévision, café

Let me repeat the words: vélo, étoile, éléphant, étoile, télévision, café

To recapitulate this section: The letter ‘E’ can have different pronunciations: [ə] and [ɛ].

And when the accent aigu is placed over the ‘E’, it is pronounced as [e]. [ə], [ɛ] and [e]. [ə]

as in cheval (image), [ɛ] as in sel (image) and [e] as in bébé (image).

b. Accent grave:

Let us look at the second accent. The grave accent or accent grave appears on three vowels

‘A’, ‘E’ and ‘U’.

The letter ‘A’ takes the accent grave in a few occasions only. And when the accent is placed

above it, the pronunciation of the letter does not change. Let me give you a few words that

take the accent grave over the letter ‘A’: à (which means “to”) au-delà (which means

“beyond”), là-bas (which means “there”). So à, au-delà and là-bas. As you can see, the letter

‘A’ is not pronounced differently because of the accent. The pronunciation remains the same

[a]. The accent grave does not have any effect on the pronunciation of the letter ‘A’.
This is true for the letter ‘U’ as well. The accent grave does not alter the pronunciation of

the letter ‘U’. So why is there an accent, you would ask? Well sometimes, the reason for

adding the accent is to distinguish between two words having the same spelling: for example

to differentiate between ou, which means “or” and où which means “where”. In fact, this

word “où” is the only word in French where the letter ‘U’ takes the accent grave.

The letter ‘E’ takes the accent grave quite frequently. And when it does, there is a change in

the pronunciation. The letter ‘E’ with a grave accent is pronounced as [ɛ]. If you remember

our previous lesson, we learnt that this [ɛ] sound can be produced with the “ai” letter-

combination. The letter ‘E’ frequently takes the accent grave and so there are numerous

words with “è”, that is ‘E’ with grave accent.

Let me give you a few examples of words with “è”: chèvre (image), rivière (image), poème. In

the first module we learn the word “pastèque”. Pastèque is written with an “è”.

So let me repeat the words that we just learnt: chèvre, rivière, poème and pastèque.

c. Accent circonflèxe:

Let us look at the third accent, the circumflex accent or accent circonflèxe. In French, the

letter ‘Y’ is considered a vowel. So apart from the letter ‘Y’, all the other five vowels take

the accent circonflexe : â, ê, î, ô, û.

When this accent appears on the letters ‘A’, ‘I’, ‘O’ and ‘U’, there is absolutely no change in

the pronunciation. Moreover, there really aren't that many words that have the circumflex.

So there is an ongoing debate about getting rid of this accent from the French writing

system. Let me give you examples of words where the vowels take on the circumflex: âne

(image), boîte (box), hôpital (image) piqûre (image)

However, when the accent circonflexe is placed over the letter ‘E’, there is a distinct change

in pronunciation. “ê” is pronounced as [ɛ], which coincidentally can be created by “é” and the

“ai” letter-combination.

Let me give you a few words that are written with “ê”: fenêtre (image), crêpe (image), tête

(image)

Let me repeat the words once again: âne, boîte, hôpital, piqûre, fenêtre, crêpe, tête

Before we recapitulate what we learnt in the 2nd part of this module, let me add two more

diacritical marks that are seen in the French language. These two are far less common than

the accents. The first one is called tréma in French and dieresis in English. In the French

language, the tréma is placed over the vowels ‘E’ and ‘I’. The reason for adding this diacritical

mark is to indicate that the vowel over which the tréma is placed, needs to be pronounced.

Let me give you an example to illustrate this concept.

The word “m-a-i-s” is pronounced as [mɛ] and means “but”. The word “m-a-ï-s”, which means

corn, is pronounced as [mais]. So in the first word, [mɛ], the letters ‘A’ and ‘I’ are considered

together, as a letter-combination. But in the second word, [mais], because of the diacritical

mark over the letter ‘I’, the letters ‘A’ and ‘I’ are pronounced separately.

Let me give you other examples: noël, Israël, naïve and heroine.

And the final diacritical mark that we will learn is called the cedille, in French and cedilla in

English. This diacritical mark is used only with the letter ‘C’ – “ç”. When the letter ‘C’ takes

the cedilla, its pronunciation changes to [s]. If you remember, in our first module, we learnt

that the letter ‘C’ can have two different pronunciations: [k] when placed before the vowels

‘A’, ‘O’ and ‘U’ and [s], when placed before the vowels ‘E’ and ‘I’.
However, when a ‘ç’, which means the letter ‘C’ with the cedilla, precedes ‘A’, ‘O’ and ‘U’, then

in that case, it is pronounced as [s]. Let me illustrate this idea with an example: Let us look at

these two words. The first word means “snowflake” and the second word means “boy”. If you

notice, both words end with “–con”. As per the rule of pronunciation, when the letter ‘O’

follows the letter ‘C’, we pronounce the latter as [k]. Hence this first word is pronounced as

[flɔkɔ̃]. But in the second word, we find the cedilla under the letter ‘C’. In this case, the [k]

sound changes to [s]. And the word is pronounced as [gaʀsɔ̃]. If you forget to add the cedilla,

[gaʀsɔ̃] would be pronounced as [gaʀkɔ̃].

Let me give you a few words that are written with “ç”: façade, balançoire (image), deçu

(disappointed). Always remember, the “ç” is never followed by the vowels “E’ and ‘I’ since the

letter ‘C’ is anyway pronounced as [s].

Before we end the second part of the module, let me recapitulate what we learnt vowel-wise:

The letter ‘A’ can take two accents: à and â. In both cases, the pronunciation remains the

same: [ɑ].

The letter ‘E’ can take 4 accents: é, è, ê and ë. é is pronounced as [e] while è, ê and ë are

pronounced as [ɛ].

The letter ‘I’ can take 2 accents: î and ï. In both cases, the pronunciation remains the same

[i]

The letter ‘O’ takes only one accent: ô. The circumflex does not change its pronunciation.

And finally the letter ‘U’ takes two accents: ù and û. Again, these accents do not affect the

pronunciation of the letter.

 III. Revision

Before we end, let us revise what we learnt today. Here is an exercise. In this exercise, we

will learn how to pronounce words that are formed by the letter-combinations and the

accents that we learnt today.

You can repeat after me:

CLÔ - TURE = CLÔTURE NA – ÏVE = NAÏVE

É - LÈVE = ÉLÈVE CHE – NILLE = CHENILLE

FA – ÇON = FAÇON É – LÉ - GANT = ÉLÉGANT

GA – GNER = GAGNER HÔ – TEL = HÔTEL

So, here we come to the end of our third class which focused on a few sounds and accents

that are characteristic of the French language. Let me summarize today’s lesson in a few

words.

This lesson was divided into two parts.

In the first part, we learnt how to pronounce a combination of consonants, which were: ‘ch’,

‘gn’, ‘ll’ and ‘ss’. In the second part, we learnt the various accents and diacritical marks that

are used in the French language. These include: accent aigu, accent grave, accent circonflexe,

tréma and cedilla. And in the final part, we revised today’s lesson. We did a spelling exercise

which was based on words that were formed by all these letter-combinations and accents

learnt in today’s class.

I hope you enjoyed today’s session. In the next class we will look at the various silent letters

that abound in the French language. We will also learn about the liaison, a very important

phenomenon that occurs in oral communication. Hope to see you in the next class. A bientôt!

See you soon!

SUMMARY:
French has a few combinations of consonants, such as ‘ch’, ‘gn’, ‘ll’ and ‘ss’. The French
language also has a few accents and diacritical marks.

The three accents used in French are:

i. Accent aigu: ´
ii. Accent grave: `
iii. Accent circonflexe: ^

These accents are always used on vowels. When the accent is placed on the letter ‘E’, the
pronunciation of the letter changes with each accent. However, this does not happen with the
other vowels.

As for the diacritical marks, there are only two:

i. Dieresis: used only on ‘E’ and ‘I’; when this diacritical mark is placed over a vowel, the
vowel needs to be specifically pronounced.
ii. Cedille: Used only with ‘C’; when this diacritical mark is placed under ‘C’, the letter is
pronounced like the letter ‘S’.

For further tips and exercises on this lesson, a separate section has been created. This will
include a series of frequently asked questions regarding the lesson, ten multiple-choice questions
based on the lesson, some assignments and a few reference books and website links. A glossary
has also been included to help remember the French words learnt in the lesson.
REFERENCE

• Alter Ego - Méthode de Français, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette

• Alter Ego – Cahier d’activités, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette
• Écho - Méthode de Français, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE International
• Écho - Cahier personnel d’apprentissage, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE
International
• A votre service – 1, A1 (2011): Chanderasekar, Hanga et al., Hachette
 Web-Links

Chapter 1 - Lesson 3 Typical sounds in French -2

French tongue twisters for practice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqE2-6P3b0s
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

1. Why do we put an accent on certain letters?

Normally, there are two reasons that are usually given when explaining the necessity of accents.
The first reason is because of the evolution of the word’s script. The influence of other languages
and modern spellings are factors that affect the written form. Over the years letter(s) may
sometimes be dropped and replaced by an accent: For example, host – hôte, beast – bête, isle –
île. Sometimes an accent is added to differentiate between two words having the same spelling:
for example “tache” (stain) and tâche (work). And at other times, there doesn’t seem to be any
apparent reason for placing the accent!

2. Do we have to use the accents and diacritical marks on capital letters?

Generally capital letters are not supposed to be accented. However, there are two instances where
you should always use accents on capital letters:

• When the accent or lack thereof changes the meaning of the word. Look at what happens
when biscuits salés (salted crackers) is written in all caps: BISCUITS SALES (dirty
crackers).
• In proper names, such as the name of a company or a person’s name.
3. Are there any more letter-combinations that have a specific pronunciation?
Yes, there are numerous other letter-combinations in French, which have a specific
pronunciation. We will look at them in the next lesson because these letter-combinations are
different. In these, either one of the letters is silent, or the sound produced changes according to
the position of the letters in the word.

4. Why does “ss” and “ç” sound like [s], a single ‘S’ like [z]? Couldn’t it have been
simpler if a single ‘S’ sounded like [s] and the “ss” and “ç” didn’t exist?
Yes, writing French would have been a lot simpler if we spelt garçon as “garson” [gaʀsɔ̃],
poisson as “poison” [pwasɔ̃] and poison as “poizon” [pwazɔ]̃ . But, this is how the French
language has been standardized and we all need to abide by its grammar.
 5. The letter combination ‘ll’ has two pronunciations. How to know which one is the
right one?
The letter combination ‘ll’ can be pronounced at /l/ and the letter ‘Y’ in the word ‘year’. One
simply needs to memorize the words that have the /l/ sound, since there are very few words
where the ‘ll’ is pronounced as /l/.
OBJECTIVE
This lesson on ‘Liaison and silent letters’ enables the learner to -

- Understand when to pronounce the final consonant;

- Recognize when to connect the first and last letters of two adjacently placed words;
- Differentiate between a silent ‘E’ and a pronounced ‘E;
- Distinguish the difference between a mute ‘H’ and an aspirated ‘H’;
- Discover simple words that begin with ‘H’ and those that have silent letters;
 GLOSSARY

Chapter 1 - Lesson 4 Liaison and Silent letters

abeille – bee accord - permission ami – friend

arbre – tree avec – with avril – April

beaucoup – a lot belle – beautiful bibliothèque – library

billet – ticket champ – field chaud – hot

drap – sheet écoute (écouter) – to listen église – church

élève – student elle est – she is enfant – child

époux– husband est – is estomac – stomach

exprès – on purpose fille – girl froid – cold

garçon – boy gaz – gas gentil – kind

grand – big haricot – beans haut – high

héros – hero heureux – happy histoire – story

hiver – winter homme – man idée – idea

le / la / les – definite articles lettre – letter livre - book

mes – my (plural) mois – month mon – my (singular)

muette (muet) – mute / silent nerf – nerve nom – name

nous – we nous avons – we have orteil - toe

ours – bear petit – small prix – cost

rang – row / rank riz – rice salut – hello / hi

sang – blood tomate – tomato très – very

un / une / des – indefinite articles vous – You (formal or plural) vous avez – you have

Expressions

Bon appétit ! – enjoy your meal! Bon après-midi – good afternoon

Il est ici – He is here Parlez-vous anglais? – Do you speak English?

Sont-ils arrivés? – Have they come? Thomas est venu – Thomas has come

quand il vient – when he comes Vrai ou faux – True or false

 Script

Chapter 1 - Lesson 4 Liaison and Silent letters

Bonjour and welcome, viewers and students, to “Let’s speak French” (Parlons français)”. These lessons on
basic French are short and easy. If you follow the program regularly, I can guarantee you that, very soon,
you will be able to speak and understand French quite easily.

In the previous class, we continued with the special sounds that are characteristic of the French language. In
today’s class, we are going to learn two different concepts that are related to one another. The first one is the
concept of silent letters that exist in the French language. And the second concept that we will learn in
today’s class is called Liaison in French.

You must have heard that the French language is not an easy language to learn. Well, you are partly right.
The French language is tricky because the spelling does not match its pronunciation. What I mean is, there
are lots of letters which are written, but not pronounced and the inverse is true as well. So you have lots of
letters that are not written, but pronounced!

But do not worry, in this lesson I will explain to you what a liaison is and what the silent letters are. And
once you understand these two things, French won’t be so difficult anymore.

I. Silent letters

Let us begin with the concept of silent letters.

The silent letters in French can be categorized in three groups:

1. ‘E’ muet
2. ‘H’ muet or ‘H’ aspiré
3. Consonant at the end of a word

1. E muet (mute ‘E’)

Let me first explain the ‘E’ muet, or the mute ‘E’. When the letter ‘E’ takes an accent, it is always
pronounced. But an ‘E’ without accent can either be pronounced or silent, depending on its position. An ‘E’
at the end of a word is nearly always silent:

Eg. : LE, TOMATE, TELEPHONE, BIBLIOTHEQUE

As you see, each of these four words end with the letter ‘E’. And each time, the ‘E’ is silent. So you
pronounce the words as though the final ‘E’ was not there: LE, TOMATE, TELEPHONE and
BIBLIOTHEQUE

2. H muet or H aspiré

Next let us look at ‘H’. This letter is always silent. But there are two different types of ‘H’. The first type of
‘H’ is called ‘H’ muet, or mute ‘H’ and the second type is known as ‘H’ aspiré, or aspirate ‘H’. Since the ‘H’
is always silent, any word that begins with this letter is pronounced as if it begins with a vowel. We will take
up the letter ‘H’ again and examine it in detail in the next section which deals with liaison.

I’ll show you a few words that begin with ‘H’ so that you understand how to pronounce words by skipping
the letter ‘H’:

Eg.: HOMME, HIVER, HÉRO, HUIT

As you can see, in these four words, we have only pronounced what is highlighted in red. The letter ‘H’ has
been omitted in the pronunciation.

3. Consonant at the end of a word

And the third group of silent letters is the consonant at the end of a word. The basic rule of French
pronunciation is that the final consonant is not pronounced, but there are lots of exceptions. For a more
detailed explanation, please refer to the NOTES.

So, in French, there are six consonants that are usually silent when placed at the end of a word. But as I just
said, there are exceptions. So at times, these six consonants are pronounced even when they are at the end of
a word. These six consonants are: D, P, S, T, X, Z. I’ll show you a few examples where these six letters are
once silent, and once pronounced.
Eg. trois / bus - the ‘S’ in trois is silent, but the ‘S’ in bus is pronounced;
petit / huit - the ‘T’ in petit is silent, but the ‘T’ in huit is pronounced;
deux / dix - the ‘X’ in deux is silent, but the ‘X’ in dix is pronounced;
riz / gaz - the ‘Z’ in riz is silent, but the ‘Z’ in gaz is pronounced;

Similarly, there are nine consonants that are usually pronounced at the end of a word. But again, there are
exceptions to the rule. So you have words which end with these letters, but they are silent. These nine letters
are: B, C, F, K, L, M, Q, and R. Again I’ll show you a few examples of some of these nine letters that are
once pronounced and once silent.

Eg.: avec / estomac - the ‘C’ in avec is pronounced, but the ‘C’ in estomac is silent;
chef / nerf - the ‘F’ in chef is pronounced, but the ‘F’ in nerf is silent;
avril / gentil - the ‘L’ in avril is pronounced, but the ‘L’ in gentil is silent;
minimum / nom - the ‘M’ in minimum is pronounced, but the ‘m’ in nom is silent;

Before we move on to the next section of this lesson, let me summarize the concept of silent letters: There
are the three groups of letters that are silent. However, there are lots of exceptions, and this makes it difficult
to remember when a letter is to be pronounced and when it is not pronounced. Since the concept of silent
letters is related to liaison, we will come back to these silent letters in the next section.

II. Liaison

In this section, we will learn about the liaison. A liaison is a concept typical of spoken French that occurs
when a word beginning with a vowel follows immediately after a word that ends with a consonant. So when
you have such a grammatical situation, the normally silent consonant at the end of the first word, is
pronounced at the beginning of the next word.

Let me give you an example: un ami

ami means friend. The word ‘un’ is an article that indicates gender in French. We will learn all about gender
in the second module of the next unit. So, the word ‘un’ which precedes ami, ends with the consonant ‘N’
which is silent. The second word, ami, begins with a vowel. So we have a set of words where the first word
ends with a silent consonant, and the second word begins with a vowel. In this case, the concept of liaison is
applicable. The letter ‘N’ of the word un becomes pronounced and the /n/ sound gets transferred onto the
word beginning with a vowel. So when the two words are read together, they would sound like /œ̃ nami/ and
not as /œ̃ ami/. The /n/ sound gets transferred onto ami, and creates the sound [nami]. When the word ami is
isolated and read separately, it is pronounced as [ami]. But since it follows the word un, the liaison changes
its pronunciation from [ami] to [nami].

Let me give you another example of liaison with the same word ami: Deux amis

Deux means two. So these two words would mean ‘two friends’. Generally the letter ‘X’ in the word deux, is
silent. But because the word ami follows immediately after deux, the ‘X’ becomes pronounced. So the two
words would be read as /døzami/ and not as /døami/.

Let me summarize the concept of liaison again: The two sets of words would be read as: /œ̃ nami/ and
/døzami/ because the first words un et deux end with a consonant that is silent, and the second words, begin
with a vowel. In such situations, the silent consonant becomes pronounced, and its sound gets transferred to
the next word.

The concept of liaison is applicable in various grammatical situations, but we will learn just a few of these.
There are many rules as to when you should or should not do a liaison. In general, this concept can be
divided into three categories: liaison obligatoire which means required liaison, liaison facultative, which
means optional liaison and liaison interdite, which means forbidden liaison. We will not examine each
category here. If you are interested in a more detailed list of liaison, please refer to the NOTES.

Let us look at a few examples of liaison obligatoire. This category contains liaisons that are compulsory,
such as a liaison after articles, pronouns and adjectives. Let me illustrate with examples:

Mon ami is pronounced as [mɔ̃] [nami] which means, my friend;

Nous avons is pronounced as [nu] [zavɔ̃] which means, we have;
Trois amis is pronounced as [tʀwɑ] [zami] which means, three friends;

Another important grammatical situation where the liaison occurs is with the letter ‘H’. In the first section of
this lesson we learnt that the letter ‘H’ is silent. We also learnt that there are two types of ‘H’ – ‘H’ muet and
‘H’ aspiré. Since the ‘H’ is silent, it is possible to have a liaison, but only in the case of ‘H’ muet. An ‘H’
aspiré may be silent, but it acts like a consonant, which means, a liaison cannot take place.

Let me illustrate this concept with two examples: deux hommes and deux héros

Hommes means men and héros means heroes. The ‘H’ in hommes is an ‘H’ muet which means it allows a
liaison. So the ‘X’ in the word deux, which is normally silent, becomes pronounced and this word is read as
/døzɔm/. The ‘H’ in héros is an ‘H’ aspiré, which means, it acts as a consonant. In this case, the liaison must
not be done. So these are two distinct words which are pronounced as [dø] [eʀo]. If you do a liaison you will
distort the meaning in this case: les héros will become les zéros which means the heros become the zeros!

Before we end the lesson, let me give you one example of a liaison interdite. What is meant by a forbidden
liaison is that, grammatically, a liaison should be made. But due to some reason, the liaison is forbidden. We
see this with the word et which means ‘and’:

Vingt et un – this word is pronounced at [vɛt̃ eœ̃ ] and not as [vɛt̃ etœ̃ ]. The liaison is made between vingt and
et, but not between et and un.

III. Revision

Before we end, let us revise what we learnt today. Here is an exercise in which we will practice how to
pronounce words that contain silent letters or require a liaison. You can repeat after me:

vingt et un – [vɛ]̃ /te/ [œ̃ ], /vɛt̃ eœ̃ /. Vingt et un means 21. Please note the liaison occurs ONLY between vingt
and et. You never make a liaison after the word et ;

vieux hôtels – [vjø] /zotɛl/, /vjøzotɛl/ . Vieux hôtels means old hotels ;

bon appétit – [bɔ̃] /napeti/, /bɔ̃napeti/. Bon appétit is an expression that means ‘enjoy your meal’;

des héros - [de] [’eʀo], /de’eʀo/. Des héros means heros ;

belles histoires - [bɛl] /zistwaʀ/, /bɛlzistwaʀ/. Belles histoires means beautiful stories ;

mes idées – [me] /zide/, /mezide/. Mes idées means my ideas.

petit enfant - [pəti] /tɑ̃fɑ/, /pətitɑ̃fɑ/. Petit enfant means small child.
très haut - [tʀɛ] [‘o], /tʀɛ’o/. Très haut means very high ;

So, here we come to the end of our fourth class which focused on silent letters and the concept of liaison. Let
me summarize today’s lesson in a few words.

This lesson was divided into three parts.

The first part was about the silent letters in French. We learnt that the silent letters could be categorized into
three groups and that there were two types of letter ‘H’. Although both are silent, the ‘H’ aspiré acts as a
consonant and does not allow a liaison.

The second part of the lesson focused on liaison. This concept which is typical of the French language
occurs only in spoken French. We learnt the different grammatical situations that require a liaison. And
finally, in the third section, we revised today’s lesson. We learnt a few new words and phrases that contain
silent letters and liaison.

I hope you enjoyed today’s session. Our next class will be on numbers. We’ll learn how to count from 0 to
100 and we’ll also see how these numbers are written. I’ll also show you how to ask someone their age and
reply to the question. Hope to see you in the next class. Thank you. A bientôt! See you soon!
SUMMARY
French abounds in silent letters, which can be categorized into 3 groups:

i. Mute ‘E’;
ii. Mute ‘H’ or aspirated ‘H’;
iii. Consonant at the end of a word;

Liaison is the concept of connecting, and thereby pronouncing two adjacently placed words so
that they sound like one word. The key step to rightly create a liaison is to link the normally
silent consonant placed at the end of the first word to the first vowel of the following word. The
liaison occurs only in spoken French and not in writing. There are various grammatical instances
that forbid a liaison. So one needs to recognize when to do a liaison and when to avoid one.

For further tips and exercises on this lesson, a separate section has been created. This will
include a series of frequently asked questions regarding the lesson, ten multiple-choice questions
based on the lesson, some assignments and a few reference books and website links. A glossary
has also been included to help remember the French words learnt in the lesson.
REFERENCE

• Alter Ego - Méthode de Français, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette

• Alter Ego – Cahier d’activités, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette
• Écho - Méthode de Français, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE International
• Écho - Cahier personnel d’apprentissage, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE
International
• A votre service – 1, A1 (2011): Chanderasekar, Hanga et al., Hachette
TUTORIALS
• https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/silent-letters/
• https://www.thoughtco.com/french-pronunciation-of-h-1369563
• http://w3.uohprod.univ-tlse2.fr/UOH-PHONETIQUE-FLE/DOCS/DOC01.pdf
• http://www.lepointdufle.net/ressources_fle/liaisons_obligatoires_liaisons_interdites.htm
• http://www.spellandsound.com/french-liaisons/
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

1. What does ‘H’ muet and ‘H’ aspiré mean?

This letter is always silent and any word that begins with this letter is pronounced as if it begins
with a vowel. But when ‘H’ is a mute ‘H’ it is possible to have a liaison between the previous
word and the word beginning with ‘H’. But if the ‘H’ is an aspirate ‘H’, the liaison cannot take
place because an aspirate ‘H’ acts like a consonant.

2. What are the three categories of liaison?

Liaison obligatoire (Required liaison)

Before ‘H’ muet:

• Les hommes - / lezɔm /

• En hiver - / ɑ̃nivɛʀ /

Nominal group:

• les églises (article + noun) - / lezegliz /

• trois abeilles (number + noun) - / tʀwɑzabɛj /

• gros orteil (adjective + noun) - / gʀozɔʀtɛj /

Verbal group:

• Vous avez (pronoun + verb) - / vuzave /

• Sont-ils (verb + pronoun) - / sɔtil /

Liaison interdite (forbidden liaison)

Before ‘H’ aspiré:

• Deux héros - / døeʀo /

• Des haricot - /deaʀiko /

After names:

• Thomas est venu - / tomaevəny /

 • Jean écoute - / ʒɑ̃ekut /

After et (and):

• Trente et un - / tʀɑ̃teœ̃ /
• Un garcon et une fille - / œ̃gaʀsɔ̃eynfij /

In front of onze:

• Les onze livres - / leɔ̃zlivʀ /

• Quatre-vingt onze - / katʀəvɛɔ̃ ̃z /

Verb after inversion:

• Sont-ils arrivés - / sɔtilaʀive /

• Parlez-vous anglais - / paʀlevuɑ̃glɛ /

Liaison facultative (Optional liaison)

Since the category of Liaison facultative is extensive and not required for the beginner’s level,
we have included only two examples: Est + adjective:

• Il est ici - / ileisi / or / iletisi /

• Elle est active – / ɛleaktiv / or / ɛletaktiv /

3. Why do we pronounce a /z/ sound when doing a liaison between the words deux
amis?

Sometimes, a few consonants change their sound when a liaison is made.

When a word ends with ‘-s’ or ‘-x’, it will be pronounced as /z/

• trois ours - / tʀwɑzuʀs /

• deux oranges - / døzɔʀɑ̃ʒ /

4. What are other examples of letters changing their sound when a liaison is made?

When a word ends with ‘-d’ or ‘-t’, it will be pronounced as /t/

 • grand animal - / grɑ̃tanimal /
• quand il vient - / kɑ̃tilvjɛ̃ /
• petit arbre - / pətitaʀbʀ /

When a word ends with ‘-m’ or ‘-n’, instead of the nasal sound, the ‘M’ and ‘N’ will be
pronounced

• mon ami - / mɔnami /

• bon après-midi - / bɔnapʀɛmidi /
• ancien élève - /ɑ̃sjɛnelɛv /

5. What are the silent consonants?

Normally a consonant is never silent. However, when it is at the end of a word, a consonant
becomes silent. In fact, the basic rule of French pronunciation is that the final consonant is not
pronounced. But there are lots of exceptions. Many of these exceptions are proper names or
words borrowed from other languages. So below, we have a list of consonants that are usually
silent.

D G P
accord - [akɔʀ] long – [lɔ]̃ drap – [dʀa]
chaud - [ʃo] sang – [sɑ̃] beaucoup – [boku]
froid – [fʀwa] rang - [ʀɑ̃] champ – [ʃɑ̃]

S T X
exprès - [ɛkspʀɛ] billet – [bijɛ] époux– [epu]
mois – [mwa] salut - [saly] heureux – [øʀø]
vous – [vu] vingt - [vɛ]̃ prix – [pʀi]
OBJECTIVE

This lesson on ‘Numbers’ enables the learner to -

- Count the numbers from 0 - 100;

- Write the numbers from 0 – 100 in French;
- Ask someone his age;
- Tell one’s age and phone number in French;
- Distinguish between the formal ‘you’ and informal ‘you’;
 GLOSSARY

Chapter 1 - Lesson 5 Numbers

ans – years
 SCRIPT

Chapter 1 - Lesson 5 Numbers

Bonjour and welcome, viewers and students, to “Let’s speak French” (Parlons français)”. These lessons on
basic French are short and easy. If you follow the program regularly, I can guarantee you that, very soon,
you will be able to speak and understand French quite easily.

In the previous class, we learnt the two things that make French somewhat hard for beginners - the silent
letters and the liaison. Today’s class will be on numbers. We’ll learn how to count from 0 to 100 and I’ll also
show you how to ask someone their age and reply to the question. The lesson will be divided into three
sections.

I. Numbers

Let’s begin with the numbers. I’ll first show you how to count from 0 to 10.

0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10

Now I’ll show you how the numbers are written.

Zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix;

Now I’ll show you how to count from 11 to 19. You only need to learn the numbers till 16, because from 17
onwards, it’s a combination of numbers you already know.

11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19

Let us see how these numbers are written:

Onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf;

In writing, always remember to put the hyphen between the numbers.

Next let us learn the tens. We’ll first learn till 60

10 - 20 – 30 – 40 – 50 – 60
Let’s see how these are written: dix vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante

Now let me show you how to count from 21 – 29. This will be easy since the formation of the number is
identical in English. In English you add the numbers 1,2,3,4 etc after the word 20. So you say ‘twenty’ ‘one’,
‘twenty’ ‘two’, ‘twenty’ ‘three’ ‘twenty’ ‘four’, etc. This same pattern is followed in French. The only
difference is with 21:

21 – 22 – 23 – 24 –25 – 26 – 27 – 28 – 29

Let’s see how these are written: Vingt et un, vingt-deux, vingt-trois, vingt-quatre, vingt-cinq, vingt-six,
vingt-sept, vingt-huit, vingt-neuf

As I said, the number 21 is slightly different. You insert the word « et » between the two numbers. In
writing, you don’t put a hyphen.

This pattern continues till 69. So the numbers from 20 – 69 are easy to remember, since they follow the same
pattern. I am not going to show you all the number 30 to 69. You can refer to the NOTES for that. Here, I
will only indicate only a few numbers:

31 – 32 – 41 – 44 – 51 – 56 – 61 – 69

Let us look at their spellings: Trente et un, trente-deux, quarante et un, quarante-quatre, cinquante et un,
cinquante-six, soixante et un, soixante-neuf;

Again, remember to put the hyphen between the numbers. Also note that the numbers 21, 31, 41, etc. don’t
have any hyphen.

The numbers from 70 to 100 are slightly different. We’ll first learn the tens: 70 – 100

70 – 80 – 90 -100

These are written as: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix, cent

What should be noted in this series is that a separate word for 70, 80 and 90 does not exist. A literal
translation of these numbers would be:

70 is sixty-ten

80 is four-twenty
90 is four-twenty-ten

Let us first look at the numbers 81 – 89 because they follow the same pattern as 21- 69.

81 – 82 – 83 – 84 – 85 – 86 – 87 – 88 – 89

These numbers are written as: quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-deux, quatre-vingt-trois, quatre-vingt-quatre,

quatre-vingt-cinq, quatre-vingt-six, quatre-vingt-sept, quatre-vingt-huit, quatre-vingt-neuf;

A literal translation of these numbers would be:

81 – four-twenty-one

86 – four-twenty-six

89 – four-twenty-nine

The only thing that must be noted in this series is 81. Unlike the other numbers, the word et is not inserted
here.

The numbers from 71 – 79 and 91 – 99 are similar, which is why we are learning them together.

Unlike the previous numbers where we add un, deux, trois etc. to vingt, trente, quarante, etc., in the case of
70 and 90, we add the words onze, douze, treize, dix-sept, dix-huit, etc.! Let us look at a few numbers:

70 – 71 – 72 – 73 – 74 – 75 etc.

And 90 – 91 – 92 – 96 – 97 – 98 – 99

Let us look at how they are written: soixante-dix, soixante et onze, soixante-douze, soixante-treize, soixante-
quatorze, soixante-quinze;

Quatre-vingt-dix, quatre-vingt-onze, quatre-vingt-douze, quatre-vingt-seize, quatre-vingt-dix-sept, quatre-

vingt-dix-huit, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf;

As you can see, these numbers are quite different form the rest. A literal translation of some of the numbers
would be:

71 is sixty-eleven

78 is sixty-eighteen
91 is four-twenty-eleven

99 is four-twenty-nineteen

So these are the numbers 0 - 100 in French. For practicing, you can refer to the NOTES. A table along with
the spellings of the numbers has been provided in that section.

II. Age

In the second section of this lesson on numbers, we will learn how to ask someone their age. I will also show
you how to answer, when someone asks you your age.

Let us begin with the question “How old are you?”

Quel âge avez-vous?

I’ll again repeat the question: Quel âge avez-vous? (2)

Let’s see how this question is written: Quel âge avez-vous? (2)

This question is the formal way of asking someone a question. The informal way of asking the same
question would be by replacing avez-vous with as-tu. So in an informal situation you would ask: Quel âge
as-tu? (2)

Let us see the written form of this question: Quel âge as-tu? (2)

Let us now compare the formal and informal ways of inquiring someone’s age.

Quel âge avez-vous? and Quel âge as-tu?

Vous and tu both mean ‘you’. In English, there isn’t any distinction between a formal ‘you’ and an informal
‘you’. But the distinction exists in French: vous is a formal ‘you’ while tu is an informal ‘you’.

Let us now see how to reply to this question.

J’ai trente ans. I’ll again repeat the answer: J’ai trente ans.

Let us see the written form of this answer: J’ai trente ans. J’ai trente ans means I’m thirty years old.

To tell your age, start the reply with “J’ai”. Then add your age, and end with the word ‘ans’ which means
‘years’. So j’ai + your age + ans
Let us replace thirty with 22, then with 23

J’ai vingt-deux ans.

J’ai vingt-trois ans.

In both the numbers, the liaison makes a /z/ sound: /vɛd̃ øzɑ̃/ and /vɛt̃ ʀwɑzɑ̃/. Refer to the NOTES to know
how the numbers 1-9 make a liaison. The reason why you need to refer to the NOTES is because sometimes
a letter changes its sound during a liaison.

III. Revision

Before we end today’s lesson, let us revise what we learnt. Here is one exercise in which we will practice the
numbers by reading out the following telephone numbers. In French, the phone numbers are read in groups
of twos. For example a phone number like this (1234567890) will not be read as single digits, but as 12 34
56 78 90

So let’s practice reading the phone numbers. You can repeat after me:

98 13 45 61 22 50 88 31 14 09

43 55 21 09 34 73 68 10 16 93

So, here we come to the end of our fifth class which focused on numbers. Let me summarize today’s lesson
in a few words.

This lesson was divided into three parts. In the first part we learnt how to count from 0 to 100. We also
learnt the spelling of the numbers as well as the liaison that are made for certain numbers. In the second part
of the lesson, we learnt how to ask someone their age. We also learnt how to reply to the question. And
finally, in the third section, we revised today’s lesson by doing an exercise on telephone numbers.

I hope you enjoyed today’s session. With this we come to the end of our first unit. In the next class, we will
start the second unit. In our first lesson of the second unit, we’ll learn the conjugation of the two most
important verbs in French – the auxiliary verbs, avoir which means ‘to have’ and être, which means ‘to be’.
Hope to see you in the next class. Thank you. A bientôt! See you soon!
SUMMARY

In French, the numbers are similar to the English construction of numbers. But this pattern is not
applicable to all the numbers. The numbers from 0 – 69 are pretty straightforward. But from 70
onwards, the pattern is quite different. Due to this inconsistency, the French numbers may be a
bit challenging for beginners.

In French, the phone number is not read as single digits, but in groups of twos.

The structure for asking someone his age in the formal way is: Quel âge avez-vous?

The structure for asking someone his age in the informal way is: Quel âge as-tu?

However, there’s only one way of answering. It is: J’ai xx ans.

For further tips and exercises on this lesson, a separate section has been created. This will
include a series of frequently asked questions regarding the lesson, ten multiple-choice questions
based on the lesson, some assignments and a few reference books and website links. A glossary
has also been included to help remember the French words learnt in the lesson.
REFERENCE

• Alter Ego - Méthode de Français, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette

• Alter Ego – Cahier d’activités, A1 (2006): Berthet, Hugot et al., Hachette
• Écho - Méthode de Français, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE International
• Écho - Cahier personnel d’apprentissage, A1 (2013): Girardet, Pecheur, CLE
International
A votre service – 1, A1 (2011): Chanderasekar, Hanga et al., Hachette
TUTORIALS

• https://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/lessons/french-numbers
• http://w3.uohprod.univ-tlse2.fr/UOH-PHONETIQUE-FLE/DOCS/DOC01.pdf
• http://blogs.transparent.com/french/french-numbers-1-100/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpUNmriaiz4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsEz58BblMY
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

1. Is there a chart for the numbers in French?

1 2 3 4 5
Un Deux Trois Quatre Cinq
6 7 8 9 10
Six Sept Huit Neuf Dix
11 12 13 14 15
Onze Douze Treize Quatorze Quinze
16 17 18 19 20
Seize Dix-sept Dix-huit Dix-neuf Vingt
21 22 23 24 25
Vingt et un Vingt-deux Vingt-trois Vingt-quatre Vingt-cinq
26 27 28 29 30
Vingt-six Vingt-sept Vingt-huit Vingt-neuf Trente
31 32 33 34 35
Trente et un Trente-deux Trente-trois Trente-quatre Trente-cinq
36 37 38 39 40
Trente-six Trente-sept Trente-huit Trente-neuf Quarante
41 42 43 44 45
Quarante et un Quarante-deux Quarante-trois Quarante-quatre Quarante-cinq
46 47 48 49 50
Quarante-six Quarante-sept Quarante-huit Quarante-neuf Cinquante
51 52 53 54 55
Cinquante et un Cinquante-deux Cinquante-trois Cinquante-quatre Cinquante-cinq
56 57 58 59 60
Cinquante-six Cinquante-sept Cinquante-huit Cinquante-neuf Soixante
61 62 63 64 65
Soixante et un Soixante-deux Soixante-trois Soixante-quatre Soixante-cinq
66 67 68 69 70
Soixante-six Soixante-sept Soixante-huit Soixante-neuf Soixante-dix
71 72 73 74 75
 Soixante et onze Soixante-douze Soixante-treize Soixante-quatorze Soixante-quinze
76 77 78 79 80
Soixante-seize Soixante-dix-sept Soixante-dix-huit Soixante-dix-neuf quatre-vingts
81 82 83 84 85
quatre-vingt-un quatre-vingt-deux quatre-vingt-trois quatre-vingt-quatre quatre-vingt-cinq
86 87 88 89 90
quatre-vingt-six quatre-vingt-sept quatre-vingt-huit quatre-vingt-neuf quatre-vingt-dix
91 92 93 94 95
quatre-vingt-onze quatre-vingt-douze quatre-vingt-treize quatre-vingt- quatre-vingt-
quatorze quinze
96 97 98 99 100
quatre-vingt-seize quatre-vingt-dix- quatre-vingt-dix- quatre-vingt-dix- Cent
sept huit neuf

2. Why is 70 called sixty-ten (soixante-dix) and 80 called four-twenty (quatre-vingts) in

French?

There is no logical explanation behind these appellations.

3. What is 200 and 1000 in French? Can the learner count on his own if he knows till
100.

The rule for hundreds is the same as in English.

• 200 = deux-cents 220 – deux-cent-vingt

• 400 = quatre-cents 403 – quatre-cent-trois
• 800 = huit-cents 825 – huit-cent-vingt-cinq

The rule for thousands is the same as well.

• 1000 = mille 2220 – deux-mille-deux-cent-vingt

• 4000 = quatre-mille 4003 – quatre-mille-trois
• 8000 = huit-mille 8025 – huit-mille-vingt-cinq
If a learner remembers ‘cent’ and ‘mille’, he can read and count on his own. However, writing
the numbers in letters is tricky since the hundreds and thousands may require an extra ‘S’.

4. Do the French read other numbers, such as pincode, in groups of twos as well?
Yes, in French the pincode is also read out in groups of twos.

5. What is a word-to-word translation of “How old are you?” in French?

English and French are two distinct languages. Each language has its own specific sentence
structure. That is why, if you try to do a word-to-word translation of ‘How old are you?’ you will
end up with a sentence that makes no sense in French. Similarly, if you try to translate literally
‘Quel âge avez-vous?’ into to English, you will again have a sentence that has no meaning. That
is why, at the beginner’s level, it is better to avoid comparing the French sentences to their
English equivalence.