SUBJECT PRONOUNS

JE I

TU you (singular informal)

IL he, it (masculine)

ELLE she, it (feminine)

NOUS we

VOUS you (singular formal and all plurals)

ILS they (masculine or mixed masculine and

feminine)

ELLES they (feminine)

FRENCH ACCENTS
 La –the, ou -or

Naive- pain
Pronunciation Guide
Consonant Sounds:-
French Letters English Sounds Examples
c (before e, i, y) s ce, cinéma, Nancy, merci
ç s ça, garçon, français

c (before a, o, u) k carotte, comme, cadeau,

beaucoup
Ch Sh= show chez, Michel, blanche, choisir,
chercher, chomage,
j, g (before e, i, y) similar to zh juge, nageons, je, Jim

g (before a, o) hard g gant, gomme, garçon,

h (silent) at the beginning of word begins with Hôtel

word h (aspirate) at the the sound of the vowel far less
beginning or in the middle of aspirated than in English haine, cahier
the word

qu, final q K- Quel, quelle, quels, quelles, quatre que, cinq

R There is no English sound equivalent. rouge, train

Imitate the sound when you gargle.
French Letters English Sounds Examples

s between vowels z poison, desert

s at beginning of word s six

s before a consonant s disque

Ss s poisson, dessert

Th t thé, théâtre

X x excellent, expert

X s only in six, dix and

soixante
 Vowel Sounds –
about,
French Letters English Sounds Examples
a ah (mama) la

e un (until) je

é, final –er, final –ez, et ay (day) musée, parler, adorez, et

e + two consonants, ê, é eh (ever) sept, être, élève

eu There is no English sound equivalent. Round your lips deux, neuf, delicieu, serieu, bleu,
and try to say eh at the same time.

eu, oeu I (sir) seul, soeur

i + vowel, ille , y ee (sheep) étudier, fille, famille, travailler (ville)

o + final pronounced o (lost) homme

ô, au, eau o (rose) hôtel, au, eau,

ou oo (tooth) nous, vous, ou, beaucoup,

oi, oî wa (watch) trois, choisir,

u There is no English sound equivalent. Tu

Round your lips and try saying oo or ee at the same time .

u + vowel we (we) huit, suis

ou + vowel oui-yes
 Pronunciation Tips
Pronouncing the letters “r” and “u”
The French letter “r” is the most difficult sound to make for
English speakers. It is a sound produced down the throat
placing the tongue very close to the uvula. You might try to
gargle it to get it right. Listen to audio recording of this sound
and spend time practicing it. The French letter “u” is also tricky
for English speakers as it doesn't exist in English. You need to
distinguish the sound [u] from the sound [ou]. The sound [u] is
produced with the tongue and mouth in a similar position as
the English [ee] but with the lips rounded.
 Nasal vowels :
Many French vowels are nasalized which means that when pronouncing
them, you deliberately let the air escape through both the nose and the
mouth. These vowels are usually spelt as a combination of vowels
ending by the letter “n” or occasionally “m”: -in, -un, -aim, -oin, -an, -
om, -en, etc.
 Silent Letters :-

Silent letters In French, many final letters are silent but not all! There are three
categories of silent letters: the silent “e”, the silent “h”, and the final consonants.
The vowel “e” is usually silent at the end of a word. Whereas “h” is always silent
and acts either as a consonant or as a vowel. When used as a consonant, it doesn't
allow contractions nor liaisons (see next section). As for final consonants, the basic
rule if that they are not pronounced except C, F, L and R.

Ex :- Homme (Man), animal, avec, Chef, actif, Cher, Coeur,

Livre- book
Stylo - pen
choisir- to choose
deux- two
pomme- apple
beaucoup- a lot of/ very much
Regardez la carte de la France. Les frontières de la France sont: au
nord, la Manche, la mer du Nord et la Belgique; à l'est, l'Allemagne,
la Suisse et l'Italie; au sud, la mer Méditerranée et l'Espagne; à
l'ouest, l'océan Atlantique. Paris est la capitale de la France. Paris est
situé sur la Seine. Le Havre est situé sur la Manche. Marseille est
situé sur la Méditerranée. Brest est situé sur l'Atlantique. Nantes est
situé sur la Loire. Bordeaux est situé sur la Garonne. Lyon est situé
sur le Rhône. La Seine, la Loire, la Garonne et le Rhône sont les
quatre fleuves importants de la France. Les montagnes principales
de la France sont: les Pyrénées entre la France et l'Espagne; et
les_Alpes entre la France, la Suisse et l'Italie.
Liaison and Elision
Liaison and elision are two pronunciation techniques that make the French
language sound so beautiful. The final consonant of a word is usually not
pronounced. Some- times, however, we do pronounce this final consonant.:
CFLR
Vous_etes
Les^amis (z)
Nous^arrivons (z)
Sept^hommes (t)

Liaison means to link one word with the word that follows it. We link the final
consonant sound of the first word with the beginning vowel sound of the word
that follows it to create a liaison.
Elision on the other hand occurs when a vowel sound is dropped (usually e or i)
at the end of one word if the next word begins with a vowel sound. The vowel that
is dropped does not disappear. It is replaced by an apostrophe. The elision will
most likely occur with the final e of je, ne, de, que.

Je-arrive J’arrive
Il ne-étudie pas Il n’étudie pas
La classe de-histoire La classe d’histoire
Que-est-ce que Qu’est-ce que
Être- to be

Je suis- i am
Tu es- you are
Il/elle est – he/she is
Nous sommes – we are
Vous_êtes – you are
Ils/elles sont- they are