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W1-L2 - Script - Chapter 1 - Lesson 2 Typical Sounds in French - 1 PDF
W1-L2 - Script - Chapter 1 - Lesson 2 Typical Sounds in French - 1 PDF
W1-L2 - Script - Chapter 1 - Lesson 2 Typical Sounds in French - 1 PDF
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
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
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
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),
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”
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
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
Now let us combine this nasal sound with a consonant. Let us do it with the letters M T S:
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”
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
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
Let us practice this nasal sound by combining it with a consonant. Like before, let us do it
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)
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
/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)
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
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
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:
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
Let us practice this sound by adding a letter before this letter-combination: /me/, /mɛ/, te/,
Let me give you a few examples of words with “ai”: AIGUILLE (image), MAISON (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-
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:
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
Let us repeat these words: aubergine, autruche, chaussures, bateau, marteau, seau
letters produces the [ø] sound. This is similar to the [e] sound. Let us compare the two: [e]
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,
Let us practice this sound by repeating these words: deux, jeune, heureux, cœur, sœur.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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