How to pronounce the French language?

French uses the same 26 letters as English, but the letters do not always make the same sounds.

The goal is not to memorize every pronunciation rule at once. Instead, learn the main sounds and patterns, then practise them with familiar French words.

---

🔤 The French Alphabet

Letter	French pronunciation	Example
A	ah	arbre 🌳
B	bay	beau
C	say	cabane
D	day	dame
E	uh / ə	cerise
F	eff	femme
G	zhay	garçon
H	ash	haricot
I	ee	hiver
J	zhee	jardin
K	kah	karaté
L	ell	les
M	emm	maman
N	enn	nager
O	oh	orange
P	pay	parc
Q	koo	quand
R	French R	rendez-vous
S	ess	soleil
T	tay	terrain
U	French U	bus
V	vay	vacances
W	double-vay	wagon
X	eeks	examen
Y	ee-grek	yeux
Z	zed	zéro

---

🅰️ A — AH

A sounds like “ah” in English.

un arbre 🌳
une amie
une année

Say:

A — arbre — ami — année

---

🅱️ B — BAY

The French B is very similar to English.

beau
beauté
bébé
bonjour

---

🅲 C — TWO IMPORTANT SOUNDS

The letter C has two main sounds.

C + A, O, U or a consonant → K

cacher
café
comme
classe

C + E, I or Y → S

ceci
cela
ces

So:

CA = KA

CO = KO

CE = SE

CI = SI

Ç → always S

français
garçon
ça

---

🅳 D — DAY

Very similar to English.

dame
dimanche
deux

Madame = ma-dame

---

🅴 E — the tricky one!

The French E can have several sounds.

É → AY / EH

été
café
enchanté

E without an accent

It can be a soft “uh” sound:

cerise
petit
demain

And sometimes a final E is silent:

table
femme
grande

Don’t worry about mastering every E rule immediately. Listen to the word and learn the pronunciation as a whole.

---

🅵 F — EFF

Very similar to English.

femme
français
famille
faire

---

🅶 G — TWO IMPORTANT SOUNDS

G + A, O, U → hard G

garçon
gare
gros
gras

G + E, I, Y → ZH

This is the sound in the middle of “vision”.

genre
gentil
girafe
gîte

GU + E/I

The G stays hard:

guêpe
guitare

---

🅷 H — SILENT!

At the beginning of a French word, H is normally silent.

haricot
hiver
hôtel
homme

Don’t pronounce the H like the English H.

❌ ha-ricot
✅ a-ri-co

---

🔥 CH = SH

This is a very useful rule.

CH → SH

chat 🐱
chien 🐶
charme
chaud

Think:

chat = SHAH

chien = SHYEN

---

🅸 I — EE

French I is usually like “ee” in see.

ami
hiver
midi
fini

Practice

ami — hiver — midi — fini

---

🅹 J — ZH

The French letter J has the same sound as the G in “genre.”

jambes
jardin
jouer
jeudi

jardin = zhar-DAN

---

🅺 K — KAH

The letter K is pronounced like English.

karaté
kilo
K.O.

---

🅻 L — ELL

le
la
les
livre
langue

Remember:

le garçon

la fille

les enfants

LL

Double LL can sometimes create a Y sound:

fille
famille
bille

---

🅼 M — EMM

maman
maison
matcha
merci

Double M does not create a completely different sound:

comme

---

🅽 N — ENN

nager
nature
neuf
nous

Double N:

bonne
année
donne

---

🅾️ O — OH

orange
octobre
rose
photo

OI → WA

This is a VERY important French sound.

boire
trois
moi
toi

boire → bwahr

J’aime boire du vin.

OU → OO

Think “scoobidoo” 😄

vous
nous
pouce
pousser

pouce → poos

une poussette

---

🅿️ P — PAY

parc
papa
pas
porte

Je n’aime pas.

un pas = a step

---

🆀 Q — QU = K

In French, Q is almost always followed by U.

QU → K

quand
quatre
qui
question

quand = kan

---

🆁 R — The French R 🇫🇷

The French R is one of the sounds that English speakers need to practise.

It comes from the back of the throat, not from the front of the mouth.

rendez-vous
restaurant
rouge
Paris

Practice slowly:

R — RA — RE — RI — RO — RU

Then:

restaurant

rendez-vous

français

---

🆂 S — SS or ZZ

S between two vowels → Z

maison
choisir
cousin

maison → may-ZON

S at the beginning / next to a consonant → S

soleil
six
penser

SS → always S

classe
passer
possible

---

🆃 T — TAY

terrain
table
thé
tomate

TH

French TH is simply T.

thermomètre
théâtre
thème

No English “th” sound.

---

🆄 U — the famous French U 🇫🇷

This is one of the hardest sounds for English speakers.

Try saying “ee” while rounding your lips as if you were going to say “oo.”

tu
rue
bus
mur
puce

U ≠ OU

U

tu
rue
bus

OU

vous
nous
pouce

Practice:

tu — tout

rue — roue

vu — vous

---

🆅 V — VAY

vacances
vélo
voiture
vous

---

🆆 W — DOUBLE-V

The French name of the letter is:

double-v

In words, W can have different pronunciations depending on the word.

wagon
week-end
kiwi

---

🆇 X — EKS

taxi
examen
exercice

X can also have different sounds in words, so learn common words individually.

---

🆈 Y — EE-GREK

The name of the letter is:

i grec

Y can sometimes make an EE / Y sound.

yeux
joyeux

les yeux = lay ZYUH

joyeux = zhwah-YUH

---

🆉 Z — ZED

zéro
zoo
zone

---

🎯 Pronunciation Challenge

Read these words aloud:

Easy

• maman
• papa
• café
• vélo
• zéro
• merci
• bonjour