DotLingo: French Lesson 00

French Pronunciation

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Pronunciation in French is complicated, and the following is only an approximation. Many sounds have no equivalent in English.
between a in cat and father	a and à
like the a in bra	â
as e in bed within words	ai
as a clipped long o	au, aux, aulx, eau, eaux
as English b, but less air expelled	b
as s	c before e,i,y
as k	c before a,o,u, or consonant
as s, only occurs before a,o,u	\c{c}
as sh	ch
as ch	tch
as English d	d
as e in angel	e
as short e	e before 2 or more consonants
as a	e before r at end of word
silent	e at the end of a word
as long a	é
as short e	è
as e in bed	ei
as a in late	eil
as English e in er	eu, eux
as oy	euil, euille, ueil, ueille
as English f	f
as s in vision	g before e,i,y
as g in garter	before a,o,
silent	h
between short i and long e	i
usually as y	ille
as s in vision	j
as English k	k
as English l	l
as English m	m
as English n	n
between short u and long o	o, ô
as wah	oi, oix
as long u or oo	ou, où, oux
as English p	p
as English f	ph
as English k	qu
uvular, or weak roll	r
between vowels as z	s
silent at end of word	s at end of word
as English s	ss
as English t	t
as English t	th
as long e with pursed lips	u
approximated by we	ui
as English v	v
as w, sometimes v	w
usually as ks	x before consonant
usually as gz	x before vowel
as ks	x before unaccented e
silent	x at end of word
as English y	y
as English z	z

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Nasal vowels are a vowel followed by a single n or m which is not followed by another vowel.
nasal a, a followed by ng	an, am, en, em
nasal i, similar to i in can't	in, im, ain, aim, ein, eim
nasal o, similar to o of loan	on, om
nasal u, similar to o in among	un, um
nasal wi, similar to waaa	oin, oim

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

The days of the week are not capitalized in French.
lundi	Monday
mardi	Tuesday
mecredi	Wednesday
jeudi	Thursday
vendredi	Friday
samedi	Saturday
dimanche	Sunday

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

French adjectives often come in different masculine and feminine forms. Often the only difference between the two is that the feminine form adds an e. When this is not the case, both forms will be listed.
rouge	red
orange	orange
jaune	yellow
vert/verte	green
bleu/bleue	blue
violet/violette	purple
noir/noire	black
blanc/blanche	white
gris/grise	grey
marron	brown
clair	light
foncé	dark

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

Practice: < Recognition | Recall | None | Shuffle >

The subject pronouns in English are I, he, they, you, etc. They indicate the subject of the verb they preceed. For example in the sentance he runs, he is the subject pronoun.
je	I
tu	you
il	he/it
elle	she/it
on	one/they/people
nous	we
vous	you (pl.) or (form.)
ils	they (masc.)
elles	they (fem.)