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‘The pronunciation tables which follow will help you get started on the road to France and its language. Practice pronouncing the words a few times while you also J m some basic vocabulary. You'll become familiar with how French people pronounce their vowels and consonants, so you'll know how to pronounce a new word when you see it on a road sign or included in an informational brochure. But, to make it all even easier, every time we introduce a new word in this book, we show you how to pronounce it. ‘VOWELS French Letters Symbol Pronunciation/Example aa a This is a short A, as in car. Example: ‘ma (ma) my aa ah A long AH, as in father. Example: Pas (pah) step. 6, final er, ez, et ay Aas in day. Example musée (mew-zay) museum. ¢ + 2 consonants, ch This is a short E, as in ever. Example: eee appelte (a-pehl) call. eeu uh E, as in English word the, Example: te (lub) the eu ah This sound does not exist in English. The sound is between UH and EW. Example: pets (pih) little. ivy ee The sound of EE, as in meet. Example: vafise (va-leez) suitcase. ° ° Ashort 0, as in done, Example: homme (om) man. 0,6 ‘oh A long O, as in open. Example: 16r (toh) soon. oi, of wa Pronounced WA, as in watch. Example: toi (twa) you (familiar). ou 00 Pronounced OO, as in tooth. Example: ouvrir (o0-vreer) to open. u ew This sound does not exist in English. Say EE; round your lips. Example: 1 (tew) you (familiar). u + vowel wee Pronounced WEE, as in whee Example: huir (weet) eight. French Pronunciation/Example Letter(s) Symbol bed fk, Le msm, py sy = Lvyz ¢ (before e, i, y) s ¢ (before a, 0, u) s ¢ (before a, 0, u) k g (before e. i, y) zh ge (before a, 0, u) zh g (before a, 0, u) g gn ny h _ j zh qu, final q k r r SS 8 s (at the beginning of s word) s (next to consonant z between vowels) t (before i + vowel) s th t x ks x s ‘The corresponding English sound for these French consonants is the same. This consonant is pronounced SS. Example: merci (mehr-see) thank you. ‘This consonant is pronounced SS. Example: garcon (gar-sohn) boy. ‘The c without the accent mark is a hard K, as in kind. Example: comment (ko-mahn) how, Pronounced like the soft Sin pleasure, Example: rouge (roozh) red. Pronounced like the soft § in pleasure. Pronounced like the hard G in go. Example: Chicago (Shee-kah-goh). Like the sound Nin onion. Example: oignon (o-nyohn) onion. The A is always silent. Example: hétel (ob-tehl) hotel. Pronounced like the soft § in pleasure. Example: je (zhuh) 1. Pronounced like the hand X in kind. Example: cing (sank) five. This sound does not exist in English; roll the R at the top of back of mouth, as for gargling. Example rouge (roozh) red. The double s sound is pronounced SS. Example: poisson (pwa-sohn) fish. Pronounced SS, Example: son (sohn) his (or hers). Pronounced Z. Example: poison (pwah-zohn) poison. Pronounced SS. Example: nation (na-syon) nation. Pronounced like the short T in sop. Example: shé (tay) tea. Pronounced EKS, as in excelent. Example: excellent (eck-se-lahn). Pronounced SS in these words only: dix (dees) ten, six (sees) six. NASAL SOUNDS. These are very common in French and occur when a single N or M follows a vowel. The N and the M are not vocalized. The tip of the tongue does not touch the roof of the mouth. French Letters Symbol Pronunciation/Example an, am, en, em ahn This nasal sound is similar to ON, as in the English word on. Example: France (frahns).. in, im, ain, aim, ien, an This sound is similar to AN, as in ym can, Example: bien (byan) well, good. on, om ohn Similar to ON, as in long. Example: bon (bohn) good. un, um uhn Similar to UN, as in under. Example: un (uhn) one. When words LE, LA (“‘the'’), and some pronouns, adverbs and conjunctions which end with an E precede a word that begins with a vowel sound, the final vowel is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe, EXAMPLE: la + auto = l'auto Je + homme = l'homme ‘When words merge like this, it is called elision, | French syllables all have the same length and approximately the same amount of stress. The |last syllable of a word group is slightly emphasized, not by saying it louder, but by making it a [ite longer. HOW EI ENGLISH AND FRENCH ARE SIMILAR In many ways, French is very much like English. For example, simple French sentences generally follow the same arrangement as English ones: [boy the | [croissant | it : : - (gar-sohn) (rmahnzh) (kewah-sahn) garcon mange le crolssant We'll aso show you some of the differences that exist between the two languages as you \) become more familiar with French. Let’s look at one now. tall blond boy eats, [ the croissant (grahn) (blohn) Le grand gargon blond mange | | Ie croissant 5

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