Language/French/Pronunciation/Liaisons

Let's talk about the French Liaisons.

In French phonetics, the liaison is the pronunciation of a final consonant immediately before a following word starting with a vowel.

There are 3 types of liaisons: mandatory optional and forbidden liaisons.

Here we describe only mandatory and prohibited Liaisons.

Mandatory Liaisons

The sign _ means "pronounce the liaison"

• Between a determinant and the word it determines: "les_amis", "quels_amis", "ces_amis", "les_uns et les_autres", "de bons_amis".
• Between a verb and its subject and object pronouns: "ils_ont", "les ont-ils", "nous_en_avons".
• With adverbs, prepositions and monosyllabic conjunctions: "en_avion", "très_intéressant", "quand_elle parle".
• With the auxiliary verb to be (although this is a very frequent rather than obligatory link): "il est_ici", "ils sont_arrivés".
• Between the words constituting certain fixed expressions: "tout_à l’heure", "quand-est-ce que", "tout_à coup", "de temps_en temps", "un sous-entendu", etc.

Prohibited Liaisons

They are at the border of two important rhythmic and syntactic groups.

In this logic, the liaison is not pronounced between, for example:

the sign % means "do not pronounce the Liaison"

• A nominal group and a verbal group: "les enfants % écoutent"
• A noun and an adjective postposed: "un étudiant % américain"
• After the proper names: "Jean % est parti"
• With conjunctions "et" and "ou" : "du pain % et % un bon fromage", "du pain % ou un croissant"
• After the interrogative adverbs : "Quand % est-il arrivé?", "Combien % en as-tu?"
• After the personal pronouns subject in an inversion : "will they arrive % ?"
• With the words beginning with an par un « h » aspiré : "un % héros", "en % haut"
• In some frozen groups: "nez % à nez", "riz % au lait", "mort % ou vif"