Language/French/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

In this lesson, we are going to learn the French Alphabet and how it is pronounced.

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.

French Alphabet with IPA pronunciation

Alphabet	Sounds	Prononciation examples for English speakers	Example	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
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 éléphan 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 "Italy	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"
S	/ɛs/	s like in "See" or ż like in "dose" after a,e,i,o,u and before e,i
T	/te/	t like in "Tall"
U	/y/	u like in "Urgent"
V	/ve/	v like in "View"
W	/dubləve/	w like in "Want"
X	/iks/	x like in "Wax"
Y	/iɡʁɛk/	y like in "Year"
Z	/zɛd/	z like in "Zoo"
Œ	/ø/	o like in "Oops"
Æ	/e/	ay like in "May"
â		a like in "Apple"
ê, é		e like in "Elephant"
è
î		i like in "live"
ô		o like in "only"
û		u like " urgent "
ü

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