Paris

The word of the day today is Paris, City of Lights! Specifically, we’ll look at the French pronunciation (par-ee!) and how to say “Parisian”.

Paris – [paʀi]

Word origin

The name Paris comes from Parisii, a Gallic tribe that lived on the banks of the Seine river. The word Paris may be related to pario in Celtic, meaning cauldron.

Paris pronunciation

Let’s listen to French teacher Dylane from The Perfect French pronounce Paris!

Example sentences

Paris, la capitale de la France, est une des plus belles villes du monde.

Paris, the capital of France, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Paris est surnommée la ville lumière.

Paris is nicknamed “the city of lights”.

This final example sentence shows how the adjective Parisian has masculine and feminine forms.

Marc est parisien. Sylvie est parisienne.

Marc is Parisian. Sylvie is Parisian.

Word of the Day Lessons

Lessons by David Issokson

Related lessons

• French city names – pronunciation
• Ville – city (word of the day)
• Prepositions for places
• Français – French (word of the day)

References

• Wikipiedia (Paris)
• WordReference
• Wiktionary

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

See Full Bio

Sharing is caring!