French spelling looks irregular, but it is much more predictable than English once you know its patterns: the same letters almost always make the same sound. The two things that surprise English speakers most are how many letters are silent, and how many vowel sounds French has that English doesn't.
Every vocabulary card shows its pronunciation between slashes, like /bɔ̃.ʒuʁ/ for bonjour. That is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); the dots split the syllables, and nouns are shown with their article, as in /la ɡaʁ/. Press 🔊 next to any example to hear it.
If you only remember five things, make it these. Each one is covered in more detail further down.
A final e, s, t, d, x or z is normally not pronounced. The consonants c, r, f and l often are — think of the English word 'careful'.
ou is the 'oo' of 'food'. u has no English equivalent: say 'ee' and round your lips. Mixing them up makes a different word.
A vowel followed by n or m in the same syllable is said through the nose — and the n or m itself is not pronounced.
Made at the back of the throat, close to a soft gargle. Never the English r with the tongue curled back.
French gives every syllable roughly the same weight, with a slight lengthening on the last one of each word or phrase. Don't stress the first syllable the English way: it is res-tau-RANT, not RES-tau-rant.
French vowels are pure and tense: they hold one sound without sliding, unlike English 'say' and 'go'. Several spellings can make the same sound.
Like the a in 'father', but shorter and brighter.
Like 'ay' in 'say', but held still — no slide into 'ee'. Smile slightly.
Like the e in 'bed'.
A short, relaxed 'uh', said with slightly rounded lips. In everyday speech it is often dropped altogether: petit can sound like 'p'tit'.
Like 'ee' in 'see', but shorter and tenser.
Closed o — au, eau, ô, and o at the end of a syllable — is like the o in 'go' but pure, with no slide. Open o, usually before a pronounced consonant, is like the o in 'off'.
Like 'oo' in 'food', with tightly rounded lips.
No English equivalent. Say 'ee', keep your tongue exactly there, and round your lips tightly as for 'oo'. If it comes out as 'oo', your tongue has moved back.
No English equivalent. Closed (ø): say 'ay', then round your lips. Open (œ), usually before a pronounced consonant: close to the vowel of 'her' without the r, lips rounded.
Like 'wa' in 'wand'.
A quick French u gliding into 'ee', in one syllable. Not 'wee': keep the u in front.
Usually like the y in 'yes'. ville, mille and tranquille are exceptions, said with an l.
When a vowel is followed by n or m at the end of a syllable, the air goes through the nose as well as the mouth, and the n or m disappears into the vowel. Hold your nose: if the sound changes, you're doing it.
If the n or m is followed by a vowel, or doubled, there is no nasal vowel: bon is nasal, but bonne and une have a plain vowel and a real n.
An open 'ah' through the nose.
A rounded 'oh' through the nose — lips more rounded than for an.
The e of 'bed', through the nose — wider than English 'an' in 'can'.
Traditionally a rounded version of ɛ̃, and that is how the cards write it. Most speakers in France today say it exactly like in — both are correct.
Each pair differs only in whether the vowel is nasal.
Most French consonants are close to English, with one general difference: p, t and k have no puff of air after them, so they sound crisper. These are the ones to watch.
Made at the back of the throat, where you would make a g, with a soft rasp of air — close to a gentle gargle. Never the English r.
Always silent.
Like 'sh' in 'ship' — never the 'ch' of 'church'.
Like the s in 'pleasure' — softer than the English j of 'jam'.
Like the 'ny' in 'canyon', said as one sound.
Like s. The cedilla on ç keeps a c soft before a, o or u.
Like English z. A double ss stays s.
Just k — the u is silent.
Just t — French has no 'th' sound.
Spoken French runs words together, and two rules make it happen. Learning to hear them is half of understanding spoken French.
A final consonant that is normally silent is pronounced when the next word starts with a vowel or a silent h — mostly after articles, pronouns, numbers and short words. s and x sound like z. The cards show it with the syllable dots: un animal is /œ̃.na.ni.mal/.
Short words like le, la, je, de, ne and que lose their vowel before another vowel, and an apostrophe takes its place.
Even a consonant that is always pronounced joins the next word's vowel, so the syllables run straight through: elle a sounds like 'è-la'.
Most IPA letters mean what you would guess. These are the conventions and symbols on the vocabulary cards that don't. There are no stress marks: in French the stress always falls on the last syllable.
A syllable break — including across words, which is how liaison shows up: /œ̃.na.ni.mal/.
A schwa in brackets is optional: usually dropped in everyday speech, said in careful speech.
The French r, at the back of the throat.
The French u — not the English y.
The two sounds of eu: closed and open.
The weak e of le and petit.
é (as in 'say', held still) and è (as in 'bed').
Closed o (as in 'go', held still) and open o (as in 'off').
The nasal vowels. The wave over a vowel means 'through the nose'.
A deeper a, used on a few cards for words like âge, pâtes and bras. It is the traditional pronunciation; most speakers today say an ordinary a.
ch, j and gn.
The glides: y as in 'yes', w as in 'we', and ɥ — a quick French u — as in huit.
When you read a new word, cross out the silent ending in your head before you say it. The card's pronunciation shows you exactly which letters are spoken.
Drill the pairs that trip English speakers: tu and tout, vin and vent, bon and bonne, deux and douze.
In any lesson, the pronunciation settings let you slow the audio down without changing its pitch — the easiest way to hear nasal vowels and liaison.
The role-play in each lesson has you speak your character's lines aloud. Liaison and the even French rhythm only happen in sentences.