LESSON NOTES

Ultimate French Pronunciation

Guide S1 #3
French Vowels, Part 1

CONTENTS
2 Vocabulary
2 Sample Sentences
3 Grammar

# 3
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VOCABULARY

Fr e nc h English C lass Ge nde r

y it, there pronoun

finir to finish verb

si yes adverb

chute fall noun feminine

rue street noun feminine

tu you (informal) personal pronoun

coup blow, shot noun masculine

clown clown noun masculine

roue wheel noun

marcher to walk

chez to, at, in preposition

pied on foot phrase

jene fast noun masculine

queue tail adjective

ceux those pronoun

haut top, high, tall adjective

tt early adverb

sot stupid, silly adjective masculine

le the (singular) definite article masculine

monsieur sir, Mr. noun masculine

ce it pronoun neuter

SAMPLE SENTENCES

J 'y vais. J e viens de finir mes devoir s.

"I go there." "I just finished my homework."

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Mais si, il a r aison. La chut e de l'empir e r omain mar qua
l'anne 4 7 6.
"But yes, he is right."
"T he fall of the Roman Empire
marked the year 476."

C'est au coin de la r ue. T u as 2 0 ans.

"It's at the corner of the street." "You are twenty years old."

T u vas au t r avail. Nous mar chons t ous les jour s jusqu'

l'cole.
"You go to work."
We walk to school every day.

Monsieur Mar t in est chez lui. Cet t e r ue n'est accessible qu' pied.

"Mr. Martin is at his home." "T his street is only accessible on

foot."

J e me lve t t , je me couche t ar d, je 7 heur es du mat in, c'est t t .

suis fat igue.
"Seven in the morning, it's early."
"I get up early, I go to bed late, I
am tired."

Il est t r op t t pour vous donner une Le super mar ch est au cent r e

r ponse. commer cial.

"It's too early to give you an "T he supermarket is at the mall."

answer."

Monsieur Smit h est invit la Monsieur Moulin est le pr sident de

confr ence. l'associat ion.

"Mr. Smith is invited to the "Mr. Moulin is the president of the

conference." association."

Est -ce que vous avez faim?

"Are you hungry?"

GRAMMAR

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T he Focus of T his Lesson Is Fr ench Vowel Sounds.

In French, twenty-six letters form the alphabet and give rise to thirty-seven speech sounds.
Among these sounds, there are two main categories:

Nineteen vowel sounds

Eighteen consonant sounds

Today, we will look at the seven vowel sounds in detail.

Vowel i

The vowel i is one of the voyelles antrieures (front vowels) which are characteriz ed by the
placement of the tongue toward the front of the mouth.

Phonet ic Symbol English Keywor d Ot her Gr apheme

Pr onunciat ion (in bold)

stylo ("pen"), le
("island"), mas
[i] [i] as feet
("corn")

Vowel y

The vowel y is a voyelles centrales (central vowel). To pronounce properly, place your tongue
in the middle area of your mouth.

sr ("sure"), eu
("had") (avoir at the
y] [u ] as in pure lune ("moon") pass compos
tense)

Vowel u

This vowel is a voyelles postrieures or a back vowel. To produce this type of sound, place
your tongue in the back of your mouth. In other words, position the larger part of your tongue
(the back part) toward the back of the mouth cavity.

o ("where"), goter
("tate"), football
[u] [ou] as in tourist poule ("hen") ("football"), aot
("august")

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Vowel e

This vowel is a front vowel.

parlez ("talk"), pied

("feet"), messieurs
("sir"), poigne
[e] [ay] as in May regarder ("to look") ("handful"),
volontiers
("certainly")

Vowel

This is a central vowel.

[] [oe] as in sun feu ("fire") noeud ("knot"),

jene ("fasting")

Vowel o

This vowel is a back vowel.

landau ("stroller"),
bateau ("boat"),
[o] [o] as in orange vlo ("bike")
drle ("funny")

Vowel

This vowel is a central vowel.

[]* [uh] as in duh je ("I") -

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