A
Variants: à –
A is found in the middle of many French words, with an accent grave is the word for “to”, found in words like voilà
B
This letter is a soft sound, like saying “Hey” in English
Variants: ç
It is followed by an e, i, or y, it will generally sound like a soft s, as opposed to a hard c, as in the word capable and followed by an h, as in the word chat.
D is similar to B, C and, also, V and T
Variants: é
It indicates a particular pronunciation, or the past participle or adjective form of a verb, indicates a particular pronunciation, as in the word crème
Similar to the English alphabet F
It varies depending on the letter that follows it. If it’s followed by an e, i, or y, it will be pronounced like a soft g, as in the word orange
H
It may be the trickiest letter in the French alphabet. There are two types of “h” in French: h aspiré and h muet.
when h is muet – it will glide into a preceding vowel, so you have to use l’ instead of le or la
When the h is aspirated – it is pronounced separately from any preceding words or vowels.
I
Variants: ï
It is rarely used today with an accent circonflexe, unless with certain verbs, like naître.
J in French is pronounced [ji]
The letters K end in a strong vowel sound in French
L, M, N
These are simple and easy like American counterparts
Variants: ô –
It indicates pronunciation or be a sort of monument to an older version of a word.
P
Similar to English, ph is pronounced like an f.
Similar to English, q is always followed by u.
It is similar to the syllable of the English word “error.”
s generally has a soft sound unless in the middle of a word followed by a vowel – then pronounced as z
It is similar to alphabets B and D
Variants: ù
It is used to differentiate the words ou (or) and où (where), used very rarely, mostly in words borrowed from other languages.
V
“Veh.” which is a simple pronunciation
W is called “double v”, rather than “double u” as in English.
X
X is not a common French letter, it is just with a long E letter.
Variants: Ÿ
Similar to English, y is often treated as a vowel when it comes to i pronunciation.
Pronounced simply as “zed.”
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Basic French Pronunciation Rules
French pronunciation is very important when it comes to learning the French Language. So whenever possible practice pronouncing and writing the French Alphabet.
If you know the French pronunciation, it will help you in future lessons. So, you should focus on French sounds and basic pronunciation rules.
Always stress on the last syllable of words.
When a word ends with the letter e, it should not be pronounced. For example, see the pronunciation of numbers like onze, douze, treize, quatorze, etc…
The letter h can be sound lower.
Most of the time final consonants are silent. For example, plural marks like a final s or a final x are not pronounced. However, there are some exceptions when the words end with c, f or l.
In addition to this, some nouns end with consonants when they are pronounced
Thus it is important to learn French words with their pronunciation.
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