French, like English, can be very difficult in terms of pronunciation, due to intricacies

like silent letters, multiple sounds for a single letter, and endless exceptions to
whatever rules you find. This site contains numerous lessons which explain the rules
and exceptions of French pronunciation in great detail, which is great for advanced
students but can be very confusing for beginners. Therefore, this lesson is an
attempt to simplify French pronunciation, to make it easier for you to get started,
even if you don't know how every letter combination is pronounced in every
situation. While at some point, you will need to study more in-depth lessons on
pronunciation, for the time being, this simplified pronunciation chart can help you get
a good idea about how to pronounce new words.

Whenever possible, I have provided English words which use the same spelling.
Failing that, I used French terms used in English, but if you don't know how to say
these à la française, you will need to look them up in order to get the correct
pronunciation. Failing either of these, I used an alternate spelling - these words are
in [brackets] and the letters which make the relevant sound are in bold. When there
is no real English equivalent, the nearest sound, if any, is explained in (parentheses) - for
these letters and letter combinations, you should look really at the in-depth lessons. The
LKL column indicates how I write that sound when spelling out pronunciation in other
lessons. The letters and letter combinations are linked to detailed lessons, while the
examples are hyperlinked to sound files in .wav format.
Letter(s) LKL English Sound Examples
A a father quatre, un ami
AI ay pain le lait, frais
AU o taupe chaud, mauvais

B b baby bonbons, bas

C k can café, sucre

s ceiling ceinture, nièce
Ç s façade ça va, caleçon
CH sh champagne chapeau, anchois

D d dad la douane, mardi

E, EU eu de trop le, un feu

É ay fiancé été, génial
È, Ê, EI eh bête noire exprès, une tête
EAU o eau de toilette beau, l'eau
F f fat février, neuf

G g gag gants, une bague

zh mirage il gèle, aubergine

H hour hiver, un hôpital

(always silent in French)

I, Ï, Î ee naïve dix, un lit

J zh déjà vu le jambon, déjeuner

K k keep un kiosque, le ski

(rare in French)

L l little fleurs, mille

M m mom Madame, comment

(n) (nasal vowel) le parfum, embouteillage

N n noun neuf, noir

(n) (nasal vowel) un, le pain

O o solo le dos, rose

OI wa foie gras boire, trois
OU u soup douze, nous

P p paper un père, la soupe

PH f phone une pharmacie, téléphoner

Q k pique quinze, la banque

 R r rouge, une ceinture
(similar to Spanish J, Arabic KH)

S s sassy le sucre, un poisson

SC sk scold les escargots
s science les sciences

T t tight la tarte, latomate

TH t [tea] le thé, le théâtre
TI s [silly] attention

U u [food]* tu, une jupe

UE weh suede* saluer, la Suisse
UI wee cuisine* une nuit, fruit
*Approximation - see lesson on U

V v verve vert, un avion

W v un wagon
(rare in French)

X ks express exprimer, taxe

gz example le xérès, un exemplaire

Y y yogurt le yaourt, les yeux

Z z zone la zone, la zizanie

There are four French accents for vowels and one accent for a consonant. For specific
information on what the accents do to change the pronunciation of the letters they
modify, please see the appropriate letter pages.

The accent aigu ´ (acute accent) can only be on an E. At the beginning of a word,
it often indicates that an s used to follow that vowel, e.g., étudiant.
The accent grave ` (grave accent) can be found on an A, E, or U. On the A and U,
it usually serves to distinguish between homonyms, e.g., ou (or) vs où (where).

The accent circonflexe ^ (circonflex) can be on an A, E, I, O, or U. The circonflexe

usually indicates that an s used to follow that vowel, e.g., forêt. It also serves to
distinguish between homonyms; e.g., du (contraction of de + le) vs dû (past
participle of devoir).

The accent tréma ¨ (dieresis or umlaut) can be on an E, I, or U. It is used when

two vowels are next to each other and both must be pronounced, e.g., naïve, Saül.

The cédille ¸ (cedilla) is found only on the letter C. It changes a hard c sound (like
k) into a soft c sound (like s), e.g., garçon. The cedille is never placed in front of E
or I, because C always sounds like an S in front of these vowels.

It is essential to put accents in their proper places - an incorrect or missing accent is

a spelling mistake just as an incorrect or missing letter would be. The only exception
to this is capital letters, which are often left unaccented. Learn more.

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun. Adjectives can describe shape, color,
size, and many other things about a noun.

French adjectives are very different from English adjectives, for two main reasons.
Whereas in English, adjectives are always found in front of the noun, the placement
of French adjectives depends on the meaning of that particular adjective - learn
more.

In addition, French adjectives change to agree in gender and number with the
nouns that they modify. This means that there can be up to four forms of each
adjective: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine
plural. Some very irregular adjectives even have different forms depending on
whether the noun that follows them begins with a vowel or a consonant. But not to
worry, we'll go over everything right here. If you've studied the noun lesson, some of
these rules will look familar to you.

I. Most adjectives add an e for feminine and an s for plural

singular plural
masc vert verts
fem verte vertes

This rule applies to adjectives that end in most consonants as well as those that end
with é.

II. When the adjective ends in e, there is no difference between the

masculine and feminine forms

singular plural
masc rouge rouges
fem rouge rouges
III. When the adjective ends in s or x, there is no difference between the
singular and plural masculine forms

singular plural
masc gris gris
fem grise grises

IV. Irregular gender patterns

Ending masc fem

-eux heureux heureuse
-eur flatteur flatteuse
-f naïf naïve
-er cher chère
-il gentil gentille
-el actuel actuelle
-ul nul nulle
-en canadien canadienne
-on bon bonne
-et complet complète

V. Irregular plural patterns

Ending masc sing masc plural

-s bas bas
-x faux faux
-eau beau beaux
-al idéal idéaux

VI. Completely irregular

The following table lists the four adjectives that have a special form
when they are placed in front of a masculine noun that begins
with a vowel or a mute h.
SINGULAR PLURAL
Adjective masc vowel fem masc fem
beautiful beau bel belle beaux belles
new nouveau nouvel nouvelle nouveaux nouvelles
old vieux vieil vieille vieux vieilles
crazy fou fol folle fous folles
Placement after the noun
Most descriptive adjectives are placed after the noun they modify. These normally
have an analytical meaning, in that they classify the noun into a certain category.
These types of adjectives include shape, color, taste, nationality, religion, social
class, and other adjectives that describe things like personality and mood. When a
present or past participle is used as an adjective, it is always placed after the noun.

Examples
une table ronde - round table
un livre noir - black book
du thé sucré - sweet tea
une femme américaine - American woman
une église catholique - Catholic church
une famille bourgeoise - middle-class family
une histoire intéressante - interesting story
un débat passionné - lively debate

II. Placement before the noun

Certain adjectives are placed before the noun, some which you can memorize with
the acronym "BAGS":

Beauty
Age
Good and bad
Size *except for "grand" with people (see III, below)

These - and a few others - are considered inherent qualities of the noun:

une jolie fille - pretty girl

un jeune homme - young man
une nouvelle maison - new house
un bon enfant - good child
un petit problème - small problem
les sincères condoléances - sincere condolences
les vagues promesses - vague promises
un gentil garçon - kind boy

In addition, all non-descriptive (i.e., demonstrative, indefinite, interrogative,

negative and possessive) adjectives are placed before the noun:

ces livres - these books

chaque personne - each person
quel stylo ? - which pen?
aucune femme - no woman
mon enfant - my child

III. Placement depends on meaning

Some adjectives have both a figurative and an analytic (literal) sense and can thus be
placed on either side of the verb. The figurative adjective is placed before the noun and
the analytic adjective is placed after it. When adjectives fall into this category, the
"BAGS" guideline is overruled.
Figurative meaning Analytic/Literal meaning
mes vertes my green (fruitful) des légumes
green vegetables
années years verts
 un grand un homme
a great man a tall man
homme grand
un triste a sad (mean or un individu a sad (crying)
individu bad) person triste person
mon ancienne my old (former) mon école my old (aged)
école school ancienne school
un certain a certain (type of) une victoire a certain (assured)
regard look certaine victory

Adjectifs qui changent de sens - Fickle French

Adjectives
Most French adjectives must be placed after the noun they modify, except for the
BAGS exceptions (learn more). There are also a number of French adjectives which
have different meanings depending on where they are placed. Generally speaking,
when the adjective precedes the noun, it has a figurative or subjective meaning,
whereas the adjective which follows the noun has a literal or objective meaning.

Here are the most common "fickle" French adjectives; if you know of others which
should be added to this list, please let me know.
Figurative, Subjective Meaning Literal, Objective Meaning
mon ancienne my old (former) mon école
my old (aged) school
école school ancienne
un ancien an old château (now a un château
an ancient château
château hotel) ancien
un brave homme a good (decent) man un homme brave a brave man
a certain (type of) une victoire a certain (assured)
un certain regard
look certaine victory
un cher ami a dear friend un pull cher an expensive sweater
un curieux a curious (strange) un homme
a curious (nosy) man
homme man curieux
la dernière the last week (of the la semaine
last week
semaine month) dernière
un grand homme a great man un homme grand a tall man

un honnête un homme
a gentleman an honest man
homme* honnête

le même jour the same day le jour même the very day
un nouveau a new, alternative un produit a new, original
produit product nouveau product
un pauvre a poor (pitiful) man un homme a poor (penniless)
homme pauvre man
la prochaine la semaine
the following week next week
semaine prochaine
ma propre une chambre
my own bedroom a clean bedroom
chambre propre
un sacré menteur a damn liar un objet sacré a sacred object
une sale ville a nasty town une ville sale a dirty town
la seule fille the single girl une fille seule a girl who is alone
un simple a mere (plain, un homme a modest, honest
homme ordinary) man simple man
a sad (mean, bad)
un triste individu un individu triste a sad (crying) person
person
an only child (who is
un unique fils an only son un fils unique
a boy)
mes vertes my green (fruitful)
légumes verts green vegetables
années years
un vrai ami a real, true friend une histoire vraie a true story
* Somewhat archaic

Les Noms - French Nouns

A noun is a word that represents a thing, whether that thing is concrete (e.g., a
chair, a dog) or abstract (an idea, happiness).

In French, all nouns have a gender - they are either masculine or feminine. It is
very important to learn a noun's gender along with the noun itself because articles,
adjectives, and some verbs have to agree with nouns; that is, they change
depending on the gender of the noun they precede or follow. The gender of some
nouns makes sense (homme [man] is masculine, femme [woman] is feminine) but
others don't (personne [person] is always feminine, even if the person is a man!)
The best way to learn the gender of nouns is to make your vocabulary lists with the
definite or indefinite article. That is,

Rather than a list like this... make lists like this...

livre = book un livre = book

chaise = chair une chaise = chair

BAD LIST :-( GOOD LIST :-)

so that you learn the gender with the noun. The gender is part of the noun and you
will be much better off learning it now, as a beginner, than trying to go back after
years of study and memorizing the genders of all the words you've already learned (I
speak from experience). Also, some nouns have different meanings depending on
whether they are masculine or feminine - learn more.

There are some tendencies in the gender of nouns, but there are always exceptions.
Countries and names that end in e are usually (but not always) feminine. I will list the
patterns that I have noticed, but please don't use these as a way to avoid learning the
genders of nouns - just learn each word as gender + noun and then you'll know them
forever.
Ending is usually Exceptions
-ion feminine un lion un million
un scion un billion
un avion un bastion
-té feminine un comité un invité
-ée feminine un lycée un musée
-age masculine une page une plage
une nage une rage
une cage une image
-eau masculine l'eau (fem.) une peau

Genre et Nombre - Gender and Number

Nearly all French nouns have different forms for singular and plural. In addition,
many nouns that refer to people have both a masculine and a feminine form.
Many of the rules here also apply to adjectives.

Note that the gender rules apply only to people and some animals. They do not apply
to objects, which have a masculine or a feminine form, never both - learn more.

I. Most nouns add an e for feminine and an s for plural

singular plural singular plural

masc invité invités ami amis
fem invitée invitées amie amies

II. When a noun ends in e, there is no difference between the masculine and
feminine forms

singular plural
masc touriste touristes
fem touriste touristes
III. When a noun ends in s, x, or z there is no difference between the
singular and plural forms

singular plural
le fils les fils
le gaz les gaz

IV. Irregular gender patterns

Ending masc fem

-an paysan paysanne
-en gardien gardienne
-on patron patronne
-er boulanger boulangère
-eur danseur danseuse
-teur acteur actrice

V. Irregular plural patterns

Ending sing. plural

-ail travail travaux
-al cheval chevaux
-eau château chateaux
-eu feu feux
-ou bijou bijoux

French Compound Nouns - Les Noms composés

Plurals
French compound nouns are made up of two or more words and are often
connected by hyphens. Making them plural can be a little tricky, but there are some
guidelines that can help.

When making compound nouns plural, two rules generally apply:

 Nouns, adjectives, and past participles become plural

 Verbs, prepositions, and adverbs are invariable

Here are the most common combinations of words in French compound nouns and
the general rules for their pluralization. Please note that these are just guidelines
and that there are exceptions. Le Bon Usage has an excellent in-depth discussion of
compound noun plurals.
Noun + noun
 The two nouns are equal Both are plural
un oiseau-mouche des oiseaux-mouches
un chou-fleur des choux-fleurs

One noun modifies the other (often with a Modifier is invariable

preposition)
un aide de camp des aides de camp
un arc-en-ciel des arcs-en-ciel
un chef-d'oeuvre des chefs-d'oeuvre
un soutien-gorge des soutiens-gorge

Noun + adjective Both are plural

un coffre-fort des coffres-forts
un pied plat des pieds plats

Adjective + noun Both are plural

un grand-père des grands-pères
une belle-fille des belles-filles

Adjective + adjective Both are plural

une douce-amère des douces-amères
un sourd-muet des sourds-muets

Adverb + noun Adverb is invariable

une demi-heure des demi-heures
un haut-parleur des haut-parleurs

Adverb + past participle Adverb is invariable

un nouveau-né des nouveau-nés
un bien-aimé des bien-aimés

Preposition is
Preposition + noun
invariable
 une contre-offensive des contre-offensives
un en-tête des en-têtes
un après-midi des après-midis

Verb + noun
Concrete/countable noun Verb is invariable
un brise-glace (ice breaker) des brise-glaces
un couvre-lit des couvre-lits

Abstract/collective noun Invariable

un porte-monnaie des porte-monnaie
un gratte-ciel des gratte-ciel

Verb + verb Invariable

un laissez-passer des laissez-passer
un va-et-vient des va-et-vient

Numbers - Les Nombres

1 un 21 vingt et un 100 cent
2 deux 22 vingt-deux 200 deux cents
3 trois 23 vingt-trois 201 deux cent un
4 quatre 30 trente 1,000 mille
5 cinq 31 trente et un 2,000 deux mille
6 six 32 trente-deux 1,000,000 un million
7 sept 40 quarante 2,000,000 deux millions
8 huit 41 quarante et un a billion un milliard
9 neuf 50 cinquante
10 dix 60 soixante
11 onze 70 soixante-dix
12 douze 71 soixante-onze
13 treize 72 soixante-douze
14 quatorze 73 soixante-treize
15 quinze 74 soixante-quatorze
16 seize 80 quatre-vingts
17 dix-sept 81 quatre-vingt-un
18 dix-huit 82 quatre-vingt-deux
 19 dix-neuf 90 quatre-vingt-dix
20 vingt 91 quatre-vingt-onze

Learning to greet people is an essential part of learning a new language. Whether

you're planning to continue learning French or just learn a few basics in preparation
for a trip, these French greetings can help you on your way.

Click the links to hear the word or phrase pronounced in French. You will need a sound
card and an audio program such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player.
English French Reponses English
Hello Bonjour

Hi Salut

Good evening Bonsoir

Ça va Fine

Ça va bien I'm doing well

Ça va ? Ça va mal Not well
How are you?
Comment ça va ?
(formal, plural)
Comment allez-vous ? Pas mal Not bad

Comme ci, comme ça So-so

Je vais bien I'm fine

Ça va Fine

Ça va bien I'm doing well

Ça va ?
Comment ça va ? Ça va mal Not well
How are you?
Comment vas-tu ?
(familiar, singular) Pas mal Not bad
Ça roule ?
Ça bouge ?
Comme ci, comme ça So-so

Je vais bien I'm fine

 Rien de nouveau Nothing's new
What's new? Quoi de neuf ?
Pas grande chose Not much

Good-bye Au revoir

Bye Salut

À bientôt
See you soon
À tout à l'heure

Until next time À la prochaine

See you tomorrow À demain

Good night Bonne nuit

Farewell Adieu

Bisous - French greeting gesture