How To Read French (36+ Reading Rules For Beginners)

How To Read FrenchMy name is David Issokson and I have been teaching French online since late-2013. One of the trickiest aspects to learning French is the pronunciation. This is because French is not phonetic. The secret to pronouncing French properly is mastering the reading rules. This is a topic that nobody wants to talk about.

I have taught hundreds of students how to apply these rules over the years. The process takes just one our two hours.  Please contact me if you’re interested in getting these rules down and mastering French pronunciation. 

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FRENCH PRONUNCIATION CHARTEXAMPLE WORDS
1) 'en’ is always nasalenfant, pendant, lent, entre, encore, enfin, endroit, ensemble, Coréen, Tunisien
2) 'an’ is always nsaalenfant, pendant, ancien, anglais, naissance, musulman, pantoufle, occupant
3) 'in’ is always nasalinviter, Martin, installer, inconnu, indépendant, ingénieur, injuste
4) ain - sounds like nasal 'in' soundaméricain, certain, terrain, écrivain
5) 'on’ is nasaloncle, ongle, onduler, ongle, non, bon, bonjour, Simon
6) If a word ends in two consonants, ignore the last consonant.Robert, Albert, concert, rochefort, roquefort, transport, vêtement, restaurant, élégant
7) é (e accent aigu) sounds like ‘ay’ as in play.café, Céline, parlé, été, André, éléphant, élégant, école, étudie
8) words ending in -ai sound like -éparlerai, mangerai, finirai, vendrai
9) l'accent grave è = eh as in getmère, père, frère, préfère
10 ) Words ending in the following sound like ‘ay’ or -é: -er, -ez, -ais, -aitparler, parlez, danser, voyagez, mais, fait
11) 'oi’ sounds like ‘wah”moi, toi, quoi, soi, voit, doigt, boire, mademoiselle, framboise, toilette, emploi
12) If a word ends in vowel + consonant, ignore the last consonantpetit, Louis, François, Denis, Nicolas, Thomas
13) If a word ends in vowel + consonant + E, OR vowel + 2 consonants + E, that final E forces the last consonant to get pronouncedpetite, Louise, Françoise, cerise, fraise, verte, couverte, différente
14) single -i sounds like ee as feetpetit, île, lit, vite, livre, formidable
15) single S = zIsabelle, désert, ciseaux, lisent
16) double SS = -s as in Samdessert, chaussette, message
17) ç (la cédille) = S as in Samfrançais, ça, prononçons
18) CaReFuL: If a word ends in CRFL you must pronounce them.neuf, cerf, Daniel, Marc, Éric, Frédéric
19) ou = oo as in foodvous, fou (crazy), loup (wolf), joue (play), beaucoup
20 ) single u in French "pointed U" tu, bu (drank), lu, su, pu, vu, vendu, défendu
21) LL: sometimes a LL sounds like Yla fille, la famille, Guillaume
22) other times you must say the LLs like English!la ville, le village, mille,
23) ‘au’ = "oh” as in Oh my gosh!aussi (also), Australie, Autriche (Austria), aujourd'hui, Paul, Laurent
24) ci/ce -> Soft C as in SamCéline, cerise, certain, cinéma, ciel, cible
25) c + any other letter is hard c like a Kcroire, crêpe, créer, classe, clé
26) gi/ge -> soft GGéralde, gérer, gens, gîte, génial, girafe
27) Rule: -gr is hard -ggrand, grippe (flu), gros (fat), glacier, glace
28) When a word starts with an H, Don't say it! If a word has TH, skip the H Thomas, Mathieu, sympathique, homme, hôtel, hommard
29) Showed "O" rule: let the listener ‘see’ your -O.opinion, opportunité, orange, Olivier
30) When you see 'eu', make it rhyme with je. deux, feu (fire), je veux (I want), peux
31) ch = shchanger, choix, chez, choisir, chemin
32) eil = ay-yeconseil, Marseil, orteil, pareil, soleil
33) euil - nightmare sound, very difficult (listen to audio above table)écureuil, fauteuil, accueil
34) ouille - another very difficult sound; listen to audio above tablegrenouille, citrouille, débrouille
35) ail = I (as in me!)travail, épouvantail
36) qu = kquestion, quoi, quand, que

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