Language/French/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Bonjour! French learners 😎

In today's lesson we are going to learn how to read write and pronounce each letter of the alphabet in French.

The French alphabet is known as the Roman Alphabet. It has 26 letters.

Learning pronunciations is essential to pronounce words and to learn how to spell.

Happy learning!

French Alphabet & Pronunciation

Alphabet	Sounds	Prononciation examples for English speakers	Example	Pronunciation (sound file)
A	/ɑ/	a like in "Arm"	Avion
B	/be/	b like in "Best"	Bateau
C	/se/	S like in "Sad" before i,e,y or k like in "crocodile" elsewhere or SH in "she" before h	Ceci Camion Chat
Ç	/se/	S like in "Stop"	Français
D	/de/	d like in "Do" The letter "d" is pronounced "t" at the end of the word in French: For example: "un grand éléphant" (a large elephant) is pronounced "un grand(t) éléphant". Other example: "Quand il y a" (when there is) is pronunced "Quand(t) il y a"	Dormir Un grand éléphant Quand il y a
E	/ø/	e like in "Elephant"	Voiture
F	/ɛf/	f like in "Fire"	Feu
G	/ʒe/	g like in "Gym" before i,e,y or g like "golf" elsewhere	Nuage Garage
H	/aʃ/	Silent	Hibou
I	/i/	i like in "leave" but shorter sound	Vivre
J	/ʒi/	j like "Jim"	Je
K	/ka/	k like in "Ko"	Kiwi
L	/ɛl/	l like in "Lion"	Lion
M	/ɛm/	m like in "Men"	Manger
N	/ɛn/	n like in "New"	Nager
O	/o/	o like in "Open" o like in "Do you know?"	Olive Ouvrir
P	/pe/	p like in "Pay"	Partir
Q	/ky/	q like in "Quit"	Qui es-tu?
R	/ɛʁ/	r like in "rome"	Renard
S	/ɛs/	s like in "See" or z like in "dose" after a,e,i,o,u and before e,i	Sortir Valise
T	/te/	t like in "Tall"	Voiture
U	/y/	u like in "Urgent"	C'est urgent!
V	/ve/	v like in "View"	Vivre
W	/dubləve/	w like in "Want"	Kiwi
X	/iks/	x like in "Wax"	Taxi
Y	/iɡʁɛk/	y like in "Year"	Yoyo
Z	/zɛd/	z like in "Zoo"	Le Zoo
Œ	/ø/	o like in "Oops"	Un œuf
â		a like in "Apple"	Quel âge as-tu?
é		e like in "Elephant"	Un éléphant
è, ê, ë		ea like in "head"	la tête Après Noël
î		i like in "leave" (but shorter sound)	Une île
ô		o like in "only"	tôt
û		u like in "urgent"	il fût

French Accents

French uses several accents which are worth understanding. These are: à, è, ù, (grave accents) and é (acute accent) which only applies to e. A circumflex applies to all vowels as well: â, ê, î, ô, û. And also a tréma (French for diaerasis) for vowels: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ and combined letters: æ and oe.

Here is a specific lesson about Accents pronunciation.

French Keyboard

Related Lessons

• Silent Final Consonants
• Liaisons
• France Regional Accents
• Accents (advanced level)
• How to pronounce R
• Accents
• b and p
• Aspirated VS non aspirated h