French pronunciation follows rules, but the spelling hides them. Most final consonants and a final e are silent, so petit and petite differ only by a t sound. Words join up through liaison (les escaliers) and elision (l'immeuble). Vowels before n or m often turn nasal (dans, bon, matin). And u in tu is a sound English doesn't have.
- Silent final letters
- Usually s, t, d, x, z, p and a final e
- Often pronounced at the end
- c, r, f, l (avec, sur, neuf, il)
- In our free A1 chapters
- About 6 in 10 words end in a silent letter
- Required liaisons in the A1 chapters
- 62, such as ses yeux and un homme
- The h
- Always silent; some block liaison (le haricot)
Which letters are silent in French?
French spelling keeps letters that speech dropped long ago. The good news is that the dropping follows patterns. We checked them against the free A1 chapters of the Contos French library: leaving out names, about 32% of words end in s, t, d, x, z or p and about 28% in an unpronounced e. Roughly 6 words in 10 end in a letter you don't say.
| Spelling | What happens | Examples from A1 chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Final s, t, d, x, z, p | Usually silent | pas, est, dit, très, descend, deux, trop |
| Final e (no accent) | Silent, but it makes the consonant before it heard | petit (no t sound) / petite (t sound); porte, elle |
| Final c, r, f, l | Usually pronounced | avec, sur, neuf (in dix-neuf), il |
| -er at the end of a verb | Sounds like é; the r is silent | parler, arriver |
| -ent at the end of a verb | Silent: ils parlent sounds like il parle | ils restent, ses mains tremblent |
| h | Never pronounced | homme, heures, hôpital |
| é | Like ay in say, but short and without the glide | café, téléphone, écrit |
| è, ê | Like e in bed | derrière, fenêtre, très |
| ç | Always s | ça, garçon |
The h needs one more note. It is never sounded, but some words begin with an "aspirated" h that behaves like a consonant: no elision and no liaison before it. The Académie française gives le haricot, not l'haricot, and calls a liaison in les haricots "incontestablement une faute". Dictionaries mark these words; beginners can learn them one at a time.
What are liaison and elision?
Both join words together, and both explain why spoken French sounds like one long word.
Elision is written: a short word drops its vowel before another vowel and takes an apostrophe. Le immeuble becomes l'immeuble, ce est becomes c'est, ne a becomes n'a. About 4% of all words in the free A1 chapters are elided forms like these.
Liaison is spoken only: a silent final consonant comes back to life when the next word starts with a vowel. The Académie française's rules sort liaisons into three kinds:
| Kind | When (Académie française, summarised) | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Required | Article or determiner + noun; pronoun + verb; c'est + next word; short prepositions such as dans | les escaliers, un homme, ils aiment, c'est impossible, dans une heure |
| Optional | Most other cases; making it sounds more formal | ils sont arrivés, des maisons anciennes |
| Not allowed | After et; after a singular noun; before onze and oui; before an aspirated h | un fils et une fille, un temps idéal, les onze, les haricots |
Required liaisons are common even in beginner text. We counted 62 in the free A1 chapters of the Contos library, which is about one every 70 words. One line from The Building at No. 14 has a liaison and two silent endings:
Ses yeux sont froids.How do you say the nasal vowels, u and the French r?
Nasal vowels
When a vowel is followed by n or m and then a consonant, or by nothing at all, the n or m is not pronounced as a consonant: it turns the vowel nasal, with air through the nose. Dans, lentement and maintenant use an "ahn" sound; bon, monte and sont an "ohn" sound; matin, main and rien an "an" sound, as in English bang without the g. Add a vowel after the n and the nasal disappears. That is why un is nasal and une isn't, and why A2 learners meet this pair in one line: Son téléphone sonne (her phone rings). Son is nasal; sonne has a plain o and a real n.
u and ou
Two of the commonest words in beginner French, tu (you) and tout (all), differ only in this vowel. Ou is the oo of food. For u, say ee as in see, then round your lips as if for oo without moving your tongue. Getting this right also separates dessus (on top) from dessous (underneath).
The French r
The standard French r is made at the back of the mouth, close to where English makes g, with a light rasp. Try saying "ga" and loosening it until air flows. It is the same r in regarde, arrive and porte.
How do you practise French pronunciation as a reader?
Contos is a reading app with no audio, so use it to learn words and spellings and get your sounds from native speakers elsewhere.
- Read one paragraph aloud a day from the chapter you are reading. Before you start, mark the liaisons (les escaliers) and cross out the silent endings in your head.
- Shadow a native recording. Pick a podcast or audiobook at your level and repeat a sentence right after the speaker.
- Drill minimal pairs: tu / tout, un / une, son / sonne, petit / petite.
- Record yourself once a week and compare with a native recording of similar text.
- Save the gender with the noun. Une porte, un carnet: the article tells you whether an adjective will gain its final sound.
For the bigger picture of what makes French easy or hard, see is French hard to learn? Weighing French against Spanish, which is spelled as it sounds? Read French vs Spanish.
Open an A1 French chapter and read the first paragraph aloud. Tap any word to check its meaning.
Read free in your browserFrequently asked questions
Why are so many French letters silent?
Because French spelling preserves older pronunciations and grammar the voice no longer marks. The silent letters still do a job on the page: they show plurals, verb endings and gender, which is one reason reading French is easier than hearing it.
Is the h ever pronounced in French?
No. Every French h is silent. Some words start with an aspirated h, which blocks liaison and elision: the Académie française gives le haricot, not l'haricot. Dictionaries mark which words these are.
Do I have to make liaisons?
Some, yes. Liaison is required between an article and its noun (les amis), a pronoun and its verb (ils aiment) and after c'est. Many others are optional and sound more formal. A few are wrong, such as after et.
How do I pronounce the French r?
At the back of the mouth, not with the tongue tip. Start from a soft g sound and let air rasp through. It feels odd at first; practise it on short words such as rue and rouge.
Which syllable is stressed in French?
French has no strong word stress. The last syllable of a word or phrase is a little longer, so it is café, téléphone and appartement with an even beat and a lift at the end. Stressing an early syllable is a common English accent.