What is a phoneme?
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound. For example, in the word ‘dog’, there are three ‎units of sound: D-O-G.
In French, there are some phonemes that are different to English ones. Here are ten ‎of the most useful French phonemes:
Consonants
‎1. j and g (followed by i or e)‎
In French, the letter j sounds like the letter s in the English word television.‎
Je joue au foot le jeudi - I play football on Thursdays.‎
When a g is followed by e or i, it has the same sound.‎
La girafe est gigantesque mais gentille - The giraffe is huge but nice/friendly.‎
‎(Emphasis on the letters in italics.)‎
‎2. ch
In French, the letters ch make the sound sh.‎
- chou - cabbage
- chaussures - shoes
- cloche - bell
‎3. ¾±±ô‎
Sometimes, the letters il in French can make the sound ‘eey’ in English, for example in ‎the following words:‎
- famille - family
- billet - note, ticket
- fille - girl
- vanille - vanilla
‎4. ²µ²Ô‎
The letters gn sound like n followed by y. For example:‎
- signe - sign
- campagne - countryside
- montagne - mountain
‎5. ±ç³Ü‎
When a French word starts with qu, it is almost always pronounced k, rather than 'kw' (as ‎it often is in English).‎
Il est quatre heures et quart - It’s quarter past four.‎
There are a few exceptions to this rule, as in the words aquarium and aquatique.‎
‎6. °ù‎
In French, when there is an r at the start (and often in the middle) of a word, the r sound ‎comes from the back of your throat. At the very end of a word, it is usually silent.‎
Robert aime manger les raisins et regarder les films romantiques - Robert likes eating ‎grapes and watching romantic films.‎
Vowels
‎7. Nasal vowels
When a vowel is followed by m or n in French, they become ‘nasal’ and the m or n isn’t ‎pronounced. ‎‘Nasal’ means that they are pronounced using the nose and sound a little bit like they ‎would if you had a cold!‎
Le garçon est dans un champ avec son chien - The boy is in a field with his dog.‎
‎8. o
The phoneme o can be made up of a number of different letter combinations in French, ‎such as ‘eau’, ‘au’ ‘aux’ and simply using o.‎
- eau - water
- ²µÃ¢³Ùeau - cake
- gauche - left
- journaux- newspapers
- mot - word ‎
‎9. ±ð³Ü‎
Many words with the letters eu are pronounced similarly to the ‘er’ in teacher in English.‎
- beurre - butter
- s²Õ³Ür - sister
- heure - hour
‎10. oo
There is a small, but important, difference between the oo sound in the French words tu ‎‎(you) and tout (everything). The oo sound in tout is longer and more rounded than the ‎shorter oo sound in tu. Here are some examples of both sounds:‎
- tu - you
- tout - everything
- rue - street ‎
- roue - wheel ‎
- bu - drunk (past participle of ‘boire’ - to drink)‎
- boue - mud
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