Contents
French Pronunciation
Numbers, Calendar, and Time
Meeting People
Getting Around
Accommodation
Food and Drink
Services and Transactions
Health
Culture and Entertainment
Shopping
Learn more with these titles from Barnes & Noble
 |
- Master basic French pronunciation, greetings, and pleasantries
- Read menus, road signs, and other simple printed phrases
- Talk to waiters, ticket agents, doctors, bank tellers, concierges, and more
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
French Pronunciation
Vowels
a, à, â |
like o in modify
|
|
e |
like ea in yearn; silent when at the end of a word, as in France (pronounced frahns, not frahn-suh) |
|
é |
like ay in play
|
|
è |
like a in air
|
|
eu, eû, oeu |
like u in urban, but pronounced as if trying to make an oo sound with puckered lips |
|
ê |
like e in egg
|
|
ô, au, eau, ot |
like o in wrote
|
|
o |
like o in hot
|
|
oi |
like wa in wad
|
|
oo |
like oo in fool
|
|
i, î |
like ee in see
|
|
u and û |
pronounced by trying to make an ee sound with puckered lips; sounds closest to the English sound oo in words such as dew and knew
|
Consonants
Most French consonants are pronounced just like their equivalents in English. Here are some exceptions.
c |
before i or e, like s in seem; before all other letters (except h), like k in kid
|
|
ch |
like sh in wash
|
|
ç |
like s in since
|
|
g |
like g in gas, except when followed by e, i, or n
|
|
gi, ge, j |
like s in measure
|
|
gn |
like ny in canyon
|
|
h |
always silent (hôtel = oh-tel) |
|
l |
like l in live; at the end of a word, like l in motel
|
|
ll |
like y in yolk |
|
qu |
like k in kid
|
|
t, th |
like t in top (the French word thé = tay, not thay) |
|
tion |
see-OHN, but prounced as one syllable, indicated as syon in this chart (the French word station = stah-syon) |
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
Download & Print this Quamut to Go
Complete 6-page Quamut to Go PDF only $2.95
