Alphabetical list

Now, we may examine in detail how to pronounce written French words. Here is an alphabetical
list of letters or group of letters that sound differently in French and in English.

 a, â, à: usually pronounced /a/ as in father. Examples: mari, pâtre. Your teacher may tell
you that it can be short or long, open (pâtre) or closed (mari). Nowadays, there is no real
difference. Don't bother about the vowel length in French, unless you want to sound like
a Parisian radio speaker from the 1950s.
 ai: pronounced /e/ or /ε/ (see è below). I have already seen rules and lists of words about
the pronunciation of "ai" in verbs, at the end of a word, etc, and I usually disagree with
them, probably because I come from southern France. So don't bother too much studying
whether a particular word (such as "j'ai", "aimer", etc) should be pronounced /e/ or /ε/. As
long as you don't add a "y" at the end, it will be fine.
Examples:

j'ai: jé (I have)
j'aime: jèm (I love), but aimer: émé (to love).

Exception:

vous faisez: vu feuzé (you do)

 aim, ain, am, an, em, en, im, in, om, on, un (nasal vowels): after a group of vowels, the
letter m or n is not pronounced but adds nasalization. So "ain" equals to "ai" (see above)
+ nasalization, which is the same as "in". Exception: "un" equals to "œ" (see "eu" below)
+ nasalization.
There are four nasal vowels in French: an, in, on, un. Try to feel the differences in the
following phrase: "un bon vin blanc" (a good white wine). Parisians tend to confuse "un"
and "in", but they have always sounded very different to my southern ear.
Nasalization only occurs if the m or n belongs to the same syllable as the vowel, which is
usually true when it is not followed by another vowel. Examples:

ami: a-mi (no nasalization)

emporte: an-porte (nasalization)

A double "m" or "n" following a "e" will be divided into two syllables, the first with
nasalisation; after another vowel, it will be considered as a single consonant in the second
syllable. Examples:

emmener: en-mené (to bring)

ennuyeux: en-nuyeu (boring)
année: a-né (year)
innocent: i-no-cent

 au: see o below.

 c: the rules are the same as in English, i.e it's pronounced /s/ before the vowels /e/, /i/
and /y/ , and /k/ otherwise.
Exceptions:

second: seugon (2nd) (as a side note: in theory, both "second" and "deuxième" mean
"2nd", but "second" is normally used when there are only two elements in the list: the
"seconde guerre mondiale" may become "deuxième" if a 3rd World War occurs one
day...).
seconde: seugond (1/60th of a minute)

 ç: the cedilla is used to force the letter to sound /s/ even before /a/ , /o/ or /u/.
 cc: /ks/, if followed by a vowel. Examples

accepter: aksepté
accroître: akrwatr

 ch: pronounced almost like /sh/. French speakers, when they hear the English word
"cheers", hear "tchirz". Try not to pronounce the "t", and you've got it...
When followed by a consonant (r, l), and also in a few other words, ch is pronounced "k".
Examples: choeur, chrysanthème, Chloé...
 e: the most difficult vowel. It has a lot of different pronunciations, but most of them can
be derived from rules based on the context:
o an ending "e" (or "es" in the plural form): it is usually mute (unless you are in
southern France):
sagesse: sagès (wisdom)
If the word only contains one syllable, the "e" will be pronounced like "eu" (see
below): le (the), ne (not), ce (this), que (that, which) etc...
However, even in that case, the vowel may drop in the middle of a sentence.
Example: celui que j'ai: seluikjé (or even "suikjé").
o e, followed by "mm": may be pronounced like "a" (femme: fam; fréquemment:
frékaman), or like "am" with nasalization (emmener), or like è (lemme: lèm). The
3rd rule seems more natural to me when I try to imagine how non-existing words
(cemme, remmonter...) could be pronounced.
o e, followed by another double consonant: usually sounds like "è". Example:
belle: bèl (beautiful, feminine)
o e, followed by one consonant: may sound like "é" or "è". Usually sounds like "è"
when followed by a non-mute consonant at the end of a word (see below).
Examples:

et: é (and)
perdu: pèrdu (lost)
appel: apèl (call)

o e, followed by d, r, t, z at the end of a word: "e" will sound like "é", and the
consonant may be mute. Examples:
 pied: pié (foot)
any verb ending in -er: manger, crier, lever...
et: é (and)
nez: né (nose)

o é (e acute): closed e (see the section on how not to pronounce "é" at the
beginning of this writeup). IPA: /e/.
o è (e grave): sounds like "e" in "pet" (open e). IPA /ε/.
o ê: works like "ai" above. Say either "é" or "è". Examples:

prêt: pré (ready)

même: mèm (even)

o eau: see o.
o ei: "é" or "è".
Exception: in cueillir, the "ill" rule prevails: keuyir.
o en: see an above.
o eu: /ø/ (closed) at the end of a syllable, /œ/ (open) when followed with a
consonant. /ø/ is approximately the vowel sound in "first". Examples:

peureux: pørø (afraid) (the first syllable ends before the "r"
peur: pœr
deux: dø (two)
neuf: nœf (nine)

Exception:

eu: pronounced like "u" (past participle of "avoir")

 g: same as j before e, i and y. Same as the g in "green" before other letters.

Exception:

vingt: vin (with nasalisation) (twenty)

 gn: /ny/ (as in canyon).

 h: mute, but may have an influence on links with other words.
 i: /i/, as in "pit". /j/ (semi-vowel) before another vowel. Examples:

pitié: pitjé (pity)

calendrier: calandrijé (calendar)

 ï : /y/. Example: aïe: ay (ouch)

 ill + vowel, or vowel + il + end of word: /y/. Examples: ail (ay), maille (may).
 in: see an above.
 j: when the French hear the English word "jam", they hear "djam". Do not pronounce the
"d".
 o: may be open or closed. However, here again, it depends as much upon your origin than
upon the word.
Exception: monsieur (mister) is pronounced "meussieu".
 œ: see eu above. Examples:

œdème: ødèm
œil: œy

 oi: /wa/, like in the English "want". It's not technically a diphtong, since "w" is
considered a semi-vowel. Examples:

poids: pwa (weight)

 on: see an above.

 ou: like the English "u" in /boot/ but maybe a little shorter.
 p: like in English. Exception:

sept: sèt (seven)

 qu: always sounds like "k".

 r: read How to pronounce a French "r".
 s: "z" between two vowels, "s" otherwise, and usually mute at the end of a word.
Examples:

dessert: déssèr (desert, the one that you like hot)

désert: dézèr (desert, the one that you don't like hot)
procès: procé (trial)

 sc: sounds like s.

 sh: sounds like "ch". Very rare.
 ss: always pronounced "s" (never "z").
 th: pronounced like "t", of course.
 ti + vowel: usually "si". Examples: action: aksion (action)
Many exceptions:

entier: antié (entire)

tiers: tièr (third), etc.

 u: /y/, like "ü" in German (über).

 un: see an above.
 w: either "w" like in English, or "v", depending on the word. This letter is rarely used in
French. Examples:

wagon: vagon
week-end: wikend

 x: /gz/ between e and a vowel, otherwise /ks/ (same as in English, I think). The "x" in
"xc" is pronounced "k". Usually mute after u at the end of a word. Examples:

axe: aks (axis)

excellent: èksélan (excellent)
exécuter: ègzécuté (execute)
extraterrestre: èkstratérèstr (alien)
oiseaux: wazo (birds)

Exception:

six: sis (six)

dix: dis (ten)

 y: /y/ before a vowel, otherwise /i/. Examples:

yeux: yeu (eyes)

payer: payé (to pay)
Cythère: sitèr

 z: like z in English. Often mute at the end of a word. Examples:

nez: né (nose)
riz: ri (rice)