a (ah) b (bay) c (say) d (day) e (euh) f (eff) g (zhay) h (ahsh) i (ee) j (zhee) k (kah) l (elle) m (emme) n (enne) o (oh) p (pay) q (koo) r (air) s (esse) t (tay) u (oo) v (vay) w (doobleh vay) x (eeks) y (ee grek) z (zed)

Q is pronounced like English K.

Accents

é The aigu accent

è The grave accent

ê The circumflex accent

Notice that the circumflex and grave accents sound exactly the same.

ç  The cedilla - ( Which sounds like an 'S' in English )

Another thing to note is that if an 'H' is used at the beginning of a word, it is always silent!

The E letter is the only one phonitically affected by accents. ALL the other vowels do not change their sound. They have an accent to help simply with the reading of written French.

In French more sounds are created when vowels are linked together. This and the use of accents creates more than 26 sounds in the French alphabet.

a + i = é j'ai I have

a + u = o eau water

o + i = ua moi me

o + u = u vous you

e + i = é peine pain

e + u = u eu had

e + u = e veux want

c + h = ch ch shhh!

p + h = ph physique physique

ç = s Français French

A Basic rule of pronounciation in French is that if the last letter of the word is an 'E' without an accent then you don't pronounce it, you simply pronounce the consonant just before

In general at the end of words in French the last letter is silent. There are three exceptions to this rule. These three letters are 'C','F' and 'L'.

  exemple english

c avec with

l matériel material

f chef chef

In French double letters simply sound as one.exemple english

elle she

terre earth

LA LIAISON 

The last thing to notice for this part of the lesson if one word finishes with an 'X', 'S' or 'Z' and the next word starts with a vowel or an 'H', you must link the words.

This is called 'la liaison'. ..and this is what makes you think you've only heard one word when in actual fact there was six or seven.

exemple english

two friends

we haveThis is called 'la liaison'. ..and this is what makes you think you've only heard one word when in actual fact there was six or seven.

La liasion creates a different sound when you link D to a vowel. It becomes a 'T' sound.

exemple english

a big airport

a great friend

LES NASALESIn French this is a group of letters than make the same sound, this is outlined in the two tables below. 

IMPORTANT

all sound the same!

IN IM

UN UM

 

all sound the same!

AN AM

EN EM

Notice how the sounds in the groups all sound the same.

LINKING WORDS In French if a word begins with a vowel then it's linked to the previous word. That's why when you listen to French sometimes you think someone has said 1 word and they have actually said 47 ! Listen to the examples below to see if you get what we mean, if you don't have sound then try pronouncing the words in your head as one word!  

exemple english

some orange noses

some animals

two alligators

In French if the word before ends with an S, X or Z then the sound of the link sounds like a mosquito !!

LES NASALES

IMPORTANT

all sound the same!

IN IM

UN UM

 

all sound the same!

AN AM

EN EM

Notice how the sounds in the groups all sound the same.

Ending with N or M and intital is A,E,I,U (Except O, Y vowel)

Counting Numbers:

0    zéro   

1    un   

2    deux   

3    trois   

4    quatre   

5    cinq   

6    six   

7    sept   

8    huit   

9    neuf   10    dix   

The consonants at the end of the French numbers cinq, six, huit, and dix are pronounced when at the end of a sentence or in front of a vowel. However, they drop the final sound when followed by a word beginning with a consonant (such as cent, fois, mois, or livres). For example, dix is normally pronounced [dees] and dix élèves is [dee zay lehv], but dix livres is pronounced [dee leevr(eu)]. (Note that the x at the end of six and dix, which is pronounced [s] at the end of a sentence, changes to [z] in front of vowels due to liaison.)

If you are saying six of something or ten of something then the last letter (the 'X') IS NOT pronouced.

If you are just saying the numbers on their own then the last letter (the 'x') ISpronouced (like an 'S'!).

  onze   

12    douze   

13    treize   

14    quatorze   

15    quinze   

16    seize   

17    dix-sept   

18    dix-huit   

19    dix-neuf   20    vingt   

Quatre – cat rrrr

Quatorze – cat ors

LE SINGE et LA GIRAFE! - The Monkey and the Giraffe! 

English French [masc.]  

a monkey    un singe

the monkey    le singe

the elephant    l'éléphant

UN is A. Un is used for all nouns that are MASCULINE.LE is THE. Le is used for all nouns that are MASCULINE.

English French [fem.]  

a giraffe    une girafe

the giraffe    la girafe

the ostrich    l'autruche

UNE is A. Une is used for all nouns that are FEMININE.LA is THE. La is used for all nouns that are FEMININE.

MALE AND FEMALE EXCEPTIONS:L' is THE. L' is used if the nouns starts with a vowel, h or y ! Whether it is Male of Female (Ostrich above is female and elephant isn't!)

A common way to summarise this is shown below..

LES ARTICLES  Singular Pluralmasculine feminine masculine ou feminine

Articles indéfinis (a) un une des

Articles définis (the)le la

lesl'(for: a, e, i, o, u or h)

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?A = UN, UNE or DES (if more than one)The = LE , LA OR LES.Depending on whether the word is masculine, feminine or plural. Simple.

Le : pronounced as luh

La – same like that

Les – Lay

Colours

1.

o Red/Rougeo Pink/Roseo Orange/Orangeo Yellow/Jauneo Green/Verto Blue/Bleuo Purple/Violeto Gray/Griso Black/Noiro White/Blanco Brown/Brun or Marron

2. 2

Learn basic French pronunciation rules. "R" is pronounced from the back of the mouth, close to the throat (think of a softer version of Hebrew "ch"). "A" is a short "O" sound. In this article, "J" is a sound that is somewhat of a cross between "j" and the "sh" noise. Softer than J but not quite "sh".

3. 3Keep the following in mind when pronouncing individual colors:

o Red/Rouge: "Rouge" is pronounced just like the type of makeup (if that's unclear, it's pretty much "rooj"). The only difference is that the "r" comes softly from the back of the mouth.

o Pink/Rose: "Rose" is pronounced just like you would in English, but again with that "French" R sound.

o Orange/Orange: In English, you emphasize the first syllable but in French you're going to emphasize the second syllable and make sure that the "a" makes a short "o" sound. Pronounce it like "oh RONJ".

o Yellow/Jaune: Think of the French name Jean, a form of John. Say "Jean" but make the kind of short "o" noise you make more into sounding like the word "oh".

o Green/Vert: The T is silent. Pronounce it like "air" with a V in front.o Blue/Bleu: Sounds the same.o Purple/Violet: VEE-oh-lay.o Gray/Gris: Think of the word "agree". Leave off the "a" at the beginning and there you

go!

o Black/Noir: Have you ever heard of filme noir, a genre of American cinema a few decades ago? Noir is pronounced like that--and if you're still not sure: no-R (pronounce that R like the letter).

o White/Blanc: Think of the word "blank". Now make the "a" noise into a short "o" noise.

These are the names for the colors in French! Colors are all adjectives as they describe something.

ADJECTIVES:Every adjectives gender and quantity must agree with the noun it describes. Some adjectives simply add e to the masculine form to form the feminine. Note the different pronounciations of each.ie. green (masculine) is vert, green (feminine) is verte

If you remember the Monkey and Giraffe from the last lesson, we can demonstrate how to describe them with the different adjectives.

English French [masc.]  The green monkey    Le singe vert

The green monkeys    Les singes vertsNotice in the second example, because we are referring to more than one monkey, THE becomes LE + S, MONKEY becomes SINGE + S and GREEN becomes VERT + S.

English French [fem.]  The green giraffe    La girafe verte

The green giraffes    Les girafes vertesWhen describing things in French the adjective for the color goes after the item you are describing, as in all the above examples.

OK probably not the most useful phrases in French, but hopefully you can now see how a noun is Masculine or Feminine and how it affects what you do with your adjective!

AUTRES COULEURS 

English   masc.   fem.   masc. pl   fem. pl.  black      noir    noire    noirs    noires

white      blanc    blanche    blancs    blanches

grey      gris    grise    gris    grises

pink      rose    rose    rose *    rose *

brown      brun    brune    bruns    brunes* In French for every rule (adding an S for example to make things plural) there are exceptions.You will notice above that ROSE and ORANGE do not take an S when plural.

Why? When the colour comes from an actual thing (ie. A rose, an orange) you cannot use an 'S'.

LES VERBES - The verbs For the purpose of this lesson we are going to explain a couple of présent de l'indicatifverbs. Put simply, the 'indicatif' relates to the mood of the verb and present to the tense. 

Don't worry if you don't know / understand exactly what that means we will cover that in later lessons.

By present tense we are referring to something that is occurring now.

For the purpose of demonstration we are going to be looking at the French Verb REGARDER - which means TO WATCH. 

Now some good news, the verb REGARDER (This is the Infinitive of the verb) belongs to a common group of verbs that all have the same conjugations. 

So that means knowledge gained learning REGARDER can be applied to all the verbs within that verb common group. 

REGARDER is a member of the REGULAR -ER verbs group, this is because the Infinitive ends in ER. 

REGARDER is made up of the root 'REGARD' and the ending 'ER'. 

Look at the tables below on the left is the English / French ways to say 'TO WATCH' (in the present tense), on the right is a break down of how the endings differ.

English French     root endingI watch    je regarde   regard eyou watch    tu regardes   regard es

   vous regardez   regard ez

he watches    il regarde   regard e

she watches    elle regarde    we watch    nous regardons   regard onsthey watch    ils regardent   regard ent

   elles regardent    

FIRST THING TO NOTICE:English French  

I je

you tu

he il

she elle

we nous

you vous

they ils

they elles

..and missing from the example is 'on' which roughly translated means one or people. eg. On regarde - People watch.

These are called PRONOUNS.

The pronouns ils / elles refer to 'THEY' but elles is used when you are addressing or referring to just females, and ils when you are addressing or referring to just males or a

mixed group. 

Notice too that in French there are several ways to say YOU. The 'tu' form is used when you are familiar with the person you are talking to. To address someone who is older or whom you don't know you should use the 'vous' form instead.

The trick to learning verbs is to learn the endings and apply them to the 'root' of the verb. Lets take another example 'PARLER' which means 'TO SPEAK'

English French     root endingI speak    je parle   parl eyou speak    tu parles   parl es

   vous parlez   parl ez

he speaks    il parle   parl e

she speaks    elle parle    we speak    nous parlons   parl onsthey speak    ils parlent   parl ent

   elles parlent    

IT'S JUST THE SAME TECHNIQUE:Just use the same endings to the ROOT of the verb!

This same technique can be applied to the present tense for any of the following Regular ER verbs.

infinitive verb meaningaimer to likeadorer to like / lovehabiter to live (in)détester to hate / disliketravailler to work

Plus of course many, many more.

Notice that the PRONOUN Je becomes J' because it is before a vowel.