FREE FRENCH TOOLS / SPEAKING
The French alphabet and its sounds.
Start with the 26 letters, said the French way, then the accents and the vowel sounds that English does not have. Every line has a say-it guide and a Listen button that uses a French voice on your device.
THE 26 LETTERS
Say each letter, French style.
Tap a letter to hear it. The guide underneath is an English approximation: ü is the rounded u of tu, R is the French r in the back of the throat.
Spell your name
Type a name and read it letter by letter, the way you would at a reception desk or on the phone.
ACCENTS
What each mark does.
Accents change the sound of e, tell two words apart (ou / où, a / à), or mark a letter that disappeared long ago (hôtel, forêt). They are part of the spelling, in capitals too.
| Mark | On | What it does | Example | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| é (acute) | é | sound ay | été (summer): ay-TAY | |
| è, ê (grave, circumflex) | è ê | sound eh | père (father): pehR · fête (party): feht | |
| ë | ë | say the e separately | Noël: noh-EL | |
| à, â | à â | sound ah (no change) | là (there): lah · âge (age): ahzh | |
| ù, û | ù û | sound ü or oo, no change | où (where): oo · sûr (sure): sür | |
| ô | ô | sound oh | hôtel: oh-TEL | |
| î, ï | î ï | sound ee | île (island): eel · maïs (corn): mah-EES | |
| ç (cedilla) | ç | c sounds like s | garçon (boy): gahR-SOH(N) · ça: sah | |
| œ | œ | sound uh | sœur (sister): suhR · œuf (egg): uhf |
VOWELS
The ten vowel sounds you need first.
French spells one sound several ways. Read the spelling column as a family, not letter by letter.
| Spelling | Say it | Example | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ah | papa (pah-PAH) | dad | |
| é, er, ez (end of word) | ay | café (kah-FAY), parler (pahR-LAY) | coffee, to speak | |
| è, ê, ai, ei, e + two consonants | eh | mère (mehR), mais (meh), belle (bel) | mother, but, beautiful | |
| e (small, in the middle or end) | uh | le (luh), petit (puh-TEE), je (zhuh) | the, small, I | |
| i, y | ee | ici (ee-SEE), il (eel) | here, he | |
| o, ô, au, eau | oh | chose (shohz), chaud (shoh), beau (boh), eau (oh) | thing, hot, beautiful, water | |
| oi | wah | moi (mwah), trois (trwah) | me, three | |
| ou | oo | vous (voo), jour (zhoor), pour (poor) | you, day, for | |
| eu, œu | uh (round lips) | deux (duh), peur (puhR), fleur (fluhR) | two, fear, flower | |
| u | ü | tu (tü), rue (Rü), sûr (sür) | you, street, sure |
U · OU · EU
One letter, a different word.
Round your lips tightly for u (tu), relax them for ou (tout), and keep them round but open for eu (deux). Listen to each pair side by side.
| u (ü) | ou (oo) | eu (uh) |
|---|---|---|
| tu (you) | tout (all) | |
| rue (street) | roue (wheel) | |
| dessus (on top) | dessous (underneath) | |
| su (known) | sous (under) | |
| doux (soft) | deux (two) | |
| pour (for) | peur (fear) | |
| fou (crazy) | feu (fire) |
NASAL VOWELS
Four sounds through the nose.
A vowel followed by n or m in the same syllable becomes nasal, and the n or m is not pronounced on its own. The (n) in the guide means “nasal, no n sound”.
| Spelling | Say it | Example | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| an, en, am, em | ah(n) | enfant (ah(n)-fah(n)), dans (dah(n)), temps (tah(n)) | child, in, time | |
| on, om | oh(n) | bon (boh(n)), nom (noh(n)), maison (meh-zoh(n)) | good, name, house | |
| in, ain, ein, im, aim | a(n) | vin (va(n)), pain (pa(n)), plein (pla(n)) | wine, bread, full | |
| un, um | uh(n) | un (uh(n)), lundi (luh(n)-DEE) | one, Monday |
Say the three columns slowly
| an / en | on | in / ain | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| banc (bah(n)) | bon (boh(n)) | bain (ba(n)) | |
| vent (vah(n)) | vont (voh(n)) | vin (va(n)) | |
| quand (kah(n)) | qu'on (koh(n)) | quinze (ka(n)z) |
CONSONANTS
Letters that surprise English speakers.
Most consonants behave, but a few depend on the letter that follows. Final consonants are usually silent, except c, r, f and l (think of the word “careful”).
| Letters | Say it | Example | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| c before a, o, u | k | café, copie, cuisine | coffee, copy, kitchen | |
| c before e, i, y; ç | s | ceci (suh-SEE), ça (sah), garçon | this, that, boy | |
| g before a, o, u | g (hard) | gare (gahR), gommer | station | |
| g before e, i, y | zh | girafe (zhee-RAHF), âge (ahzh) | giraffe, age | |
| gu before e, i | g (hard) | guitare (gee-TAHR) | guitar | |
| qu | k | qui (kee), quatre (KAHtr) | who, four | |
| ch | sh | chat (shah), chose (shohz) | cat, thing | |
| gn | ny | montagne (moh(n)-TAHNY) | mountain | |
| j | zh | jour (zhoor), je (zhuh) | day, I | |
| s between two vowels | z | rose (rohz), poison (pwah-ZOH(N)) | rose, poison | |
| ss | s | poisson (pwah-SOH(N)) | fish | |
| h | silent | homme (ohm), heure (uhR), hôtel | man, hour, hotel | |
| th | t | thé (tay) | tea | |
| ph | f | photo (foh-TOH), pharmacie | photo, pharmacy |
LIAISON
A silent letter wakes up.
Before a vowel, a final s, x, n or t is pronounced and links to the next word. The s and x sound like z.
| Written | Say it | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| les amis | lay-zah-MEE | the friends | |
| un ami | uh(n)-nah-MEE | a friend (male) | |
| vous êtes | voo-ZET | you are | |
| ils ont | eel-ZOH(N) | they have | |
| c'est un homme | seh-tuh(n)-NOHM | it is a man |
ÉLISION
A vowel drops out.
Je, le, la, ce, que, de and ne lose their vowel before another vowel or silent h, and an apostrophe takes its place.
| Written | Say it | Meaning | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| le + ami = l'ami | lah-MEE | the friend | |
| je + ai = j'ai | zhay | I have | |
| ce + est = c'est | seh | it is | |
| que + il = qu'il | keel | that he | |
| de + eau = d'eau | doh | of water | |
| je + habite = j'habite | zhah-BEET | I live |
MELODY
Where the voice goes up and down.
French stresses the last syllable of a group, lightly. The melody tells a listener whether you are stating, asking or listing.
| Sentence type | Melody | Example | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statement | falls at the end ↘ | Je parle français. ↘ | |
| Yes/no question | rises at the end ↗ | Tu parles français ? ↗ | |
| Question with a question word (où, quand, comment...) | falls ↘ | Où habites-tu ? ↘ | |
| List | rises on each item, falls on the last | Du pain ↗, du lait ↗, des pommes ↘. |
What this page is for. Your first week of French, and any time you need to spell a name, an email address or a postal code out loud. Come back to the nasal vowels and the u / ou contrast whenever a word is not understood.
Levels. Complete beginners (A0) through A1. The say-it guide is an approximation for English speakers; the audio is the model to copy.
Storage. Nothing leaves your browser. Audio comes from the French voices installed on your device, so quality varies by browser and system.
Authored for ParleSprint. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.