Courses in French in CT
Cours d'anglais americain dans le Connecticut, aux Etats-unis
One of the most famous features of French is that the last letter of most words is not pronounced.
However, there are many words where the last letter IS pronounced.
Here are some of the most common words, plus some general guidelines.
allô - hello, on telephone
amer - bitter
amour - love
août - August (most people pronounce the T, although the dictionary says not to)
autobus
avec - with
avril - April
bac - ferry boat, high school diploma
bec - beak
bic - ball-point pen
bis - twice, please repeat, "encore" at theater
bloc - block
bol - bowl
boeuf - beef
Brésil - Brazil
brut - rough
cap - cape, as in Cape Cod; course (navigation)
car - intercity bus
chef - (the F is pronounced, and in compound words too, such as chef d’orchestre, but not in chef d’oeuvre)
cher - expensive
cheval - horse
choc - shock
cil - eyelash
clair - clear
clic -
concept
correct -
couleur - colorCopyright 2012 Second Language, LLC. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited
cuir - leather
dû - due
du - of the
déclic - the click sound made by a mechanism
direct
donc - therefore
échec - failure. échecs = Chess
est - East (all letters pronounced)
fait - fact, as in le fait, au fait – In fact
fer - iron
fil - string
fil de fer - wire
fier - proud
film -
fils - son (but the l is not sounded) sounds like fisse
flic - cop
fleur de lis - fleur-de-lis
gaz - gas (not gasoline)
génial - real nice
grec - greek
hier - yesterday
hiver - winter
jadis - long ago
jour - day
la - the
là - there
lis - lily
mal - evil, badly
mars - March, the planet Mars
maïs - corn
mec - guy, boyfriend
mer - sea
miel - honey
net - clean, clear
négatif - negative (and most words ending in if)
os - bone, when singular
ouest - West
ours - bear
palmarès - list of winners
parc - park
péril
peur - fear (and most words ending in eur)
pic - peak
pif - nose (slang)
plus - when it means more, as in au plus at the most
pollen -
positif
réservoir - reservoir, tank
sac - bag
sauf - except, safe
sec - dry
sel - salt
sens - sense, direction. Both "S's" are like "S" in send.
slip - underpant
soif - thirstCopyright 2012 Second Language, LLC. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited
soir - evening
stock -
strict
sud - South
sur - on
taxi
tennis
tir - shooting, as in stand de tir : shooting range
tour - tower
tournevis - screwdriver
tous - everyone. the “S” is pronounced when this is a pronoun.
troc - swap, barter
truc - trick, thing
venir - to come and other infinitives ending in -ir
vif - lively
vis - screw (hardware)
zinc - zinc, counter top (the C sounds like a G)
There is no logical way to know which final letters are pronounced or are not in French.
But, it’s safe to say that these are pronounced:
Vowels at the end of the word (except unaccented E)
Most words ending in C, R, L or F
Copyright 2012 Second Language, LLC. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited
