The French language is a very beautiful and unusual language; for some it may seem difficult, but for others it can be easily mastered. If you have already studied English before, you may encounter difficulties in understanding and pronunciation. But it will be much easier for you with vocabulary, since many words are similar in spelling and meaning. Here we will try to give you detailed instructions so that you can master your pronunciation yourself, without tutors or audio lessons.

The most important thing for learning absolutely any language is to learn to read the transcription of words. It is not necessary to remember letter combinations to read the text if you have a dictionary with transcription in front of you. Many people start learning a language with the alphabet, but you also need to be able to read and remember the alphabet correctly, so start with transcription. It should be remembered that each language has its own symbols for conveying this or that sound, but in most of them they are similar, if you do not take into account specific designations. Let's look at French sounds.

[a] – gives the letter “a”, sounds exactly the same as in Russian.

[ɛ] – gives the letter “e”, an open sound, that is, the mouth must be opened wider than when pronouncing the Russian letter “e”, which is pronounced with a relaxed jaw, unlike the French sound. Here your tongue should be pressed completely down, and the tip should rest firmly on the lower front teeth.

[e] – gives the letter “e”, a closed sound. Try to pronounce it like a Russian “e”, while stretching the corners of your lips to the side, as if you were smiling slightly. The jaw is tenser than with the Russian sound, but an order of magnitude weaker than with the open sound. The tongue is also pressed downwards, only it gives the impression that it has become wider, as if spread out in your mouth. The tip of the tongue rests lightly on the lower front teeth.

[I] – gives the letter “i”, sounds exactly the same as the Russian letter “i”.

[œ] – gives the letter combination “eu”, similar to the Russian “ё”, only without the sound [th], the sound is open. Stretch and round your lips, the tongue lies freely, does not press, the tip lightly touches the upper part of the lower front teeth.

[ə] – gives the letter “e”, calls the fluent [ə], since in some words it is not pronounced at all, and in some it is pronounced depending on the pace of speech and the desire of the speaker, that is, it can be pronounced, it can be omitted. For example, the word mademoiselle.

[ ø ] - gives the letter combination “eu”, similar to [ œ ], only when pronounced, the lips are even more extended forward, tense and compressed.

[y] – gives “u”, reads like the Russian “yu”, only without the [th] sound. The tongue lies below in a relaxed state, the lips are slightly extended forward and relaxed.

[ɛ̃] – gives the letter “n” or “m”, or rather the letter combination “in”, “im”; in other combinations “n” or “m” are pronounced purely. This sound is also read as [ɛ], only it is a nasal sound, where the root of the tongue is involved, which rises upward during pronunciation, closing with the soft palate. What is the soft palate? Run your tongue across the roof of your mouth, and the further you bend it towards your throat, the more you understand that at a certain level the hard body ends, and it is the soft palate that you feel. So, the tongue closes and opens, resulting in a nasal sound. It is similar to the Russian “yon”, only without [y], and “n”, unlike Russian, in which the tongue touches the upper teeth, in French the tongue with a nasal sound does not touch the front teeth at all, it rises at the root, the tip remains inside.

[œ̃] – created by the combination “un”, “um”, also a nasal sound based on [œ].

[ɔ] – gives the letter “o”, a closed sound, that is, the lips are more compressed when pronouncing and more tense.

[o] – gives the letter “o”, an open sound.

[u] – gives the letter combination “ou”, sounds simply like Russian [y].

[õ] – nasal sound, gives the combination

[ α ] – gives the letter “a”, the sound is deeper, the root of the tongue is pressed harder, unlike [ a ].

[ã] – gives the letter combination “em”, “en”, read as “a” plus a nasal sound.

[w] – gives the combination “ou”, is considered a semivowel sound. It reads like the Russian combination “ua”.

[j] – gives the letter combination “i” and any vowel after it, read “th”.

[b] – gives the letter of the same name, read “p”.

[p] – gives the letter of the same name, read “p”.

[d] – gives the letter of the same name, read “d”.

[t] – gives the letter of the same name, read “t”.

[ʒ] – gives the letter “g” when followed by “e”, “I”, “y”.

[g] – gives the letter of the same name, reads like “g”, with some exceptions.

[ʃ] – gives the letter combination “ch”, read “sh”.

[k] – gives the letter of the same name, read “k”.

[z] – gives the letter of the same name, read “z”.

[s] – gives the letter of the same name or “s”, followed by “e”, “I”, “y”, read “s”.

[v] is given by the letter of the same name or “w”, read “v”.

[f] – gives the letter “f” or the letter combination “ph”, read “f”.

[m] – gives the letter of the same name, read “m”.

[n] – gives the letter of the same name, read as “n”.

[η] – gives the letter combination “gn”, reads like the Russian letter combination “н”.

[l] – gives the letter “l”, read as [el].

[r] – given by the letter of the same name, the Russian letter “r” is taken as the basis for pronunciation.

[ : ] – a sign indicating the length of pronunciation.

[ - ] – a sign indicating the division of a word into syllables.

On a note:

• The stress in French always falls on the last syllable!
• There is no [x] sound in French!
• The letter "h" is unreadable!
• The letter “t” at the end of words is not readable, except for borrowed ones!
• Remember that the French do not like “eaten” sounds, which is why they easily recognize a Russian-speaking person. To do this, you need to clearly pronounce each beech, trying to make even dull Russian sounds voiced French, for example “p”.
• There is such a thing as “explosive” sounds. These are “m” and “n” located at the end of words or covered by the final “e”. How are they pronounced? Let's take the word "madam". In Russian, when you finish pronouncing, you leave your mouth closed, but in French, you must open your lips, slightly emphasizing the last letter with the height of intonation and sound.

These are the main points that will make it easier for you to start learning. It is important, firstly, to understand how to pronounce them correctly, and secondly, to remember them, or better yet, learn them. And finally, open any dictionary and try to read any words that catch your eye. Good luck in your endeavors!

There are 26 letters in the French alphabet, many of which are read differently depending on their position in the word and their superscript and subscript characters. This means that the same letter can represent different sounds, and the same sound can be represented in writing by different letters.
To be able to speak French, you must first learn to pronounce sounds correctly, isolated in the flow of speech, and to be able to read French, you need to learn the correspondence between letters and sounds. Therefore, when memorizing a letter, you must simultaneously remember that conventional phonetic sign that represents the sound associated with a given letter.
For example, A, a is a letter
[a] is a sign representing sound.

Recording speech using a system of phonetic signs is called transcription.
The phonemic composition of the French language is expressed in International Transcription signs as follows:

Vowels :
Consonants : .

Not only isolated sounds are transcribed, but also words and entire sentences. When transcribing a word or sentence, we depict each syllable separately, separating it from another syllable with a hyphen, and enclose the transcribed word or sentence in square brackets. Capital letters are not highlighted.
For example, papa- graphic image of the word, - phonetic image of the word. Il rest- graphic representation of the proposal, - phonetic image of a sentence.
The number of phonetic signs reflecting the pronunciation of a given word does not always coincide with the number of letters, since there are letters that are not readable, and there are letter combinations that are pronounced as one sound.

For example, in the words:
beaucoup- 8 letters madame- 6 letters eau- 3 letters
- 4 sounds - 5 sounds [o]- 1 sound

In addition, the same letter, depending on its position in the word and some other features, can be pronounced differently. For example,e in a word ferpronounced like an open vowel[ɛ] , and in the word nezlike a closed vowel[e]. Letter o in a word pommepronounced as a pure vowel[ɔ] , and in the word pont- like a nasal vowel [ õ] .
Using phonetic signs, not only sounds and division into syllables are recorded, but also the length of the vowel is displayed (a colon is placed after a long vowel[α:r]), nasal character of the vowel (a wavy line is placed above the nasal vowel[έ] ), syllable stress (an accent mark is placed before the stressed syllable )

Thus, phonetic transcription is the most accurate representation of pronunciation. Therefore, in the introductory course, reading any word and sentence should begin with transcription. Only when you learn the correct pronunciation with the help of transcription, will you be able to move on to reading the lettered spelling of words and sentences without resorting to transcription.
Phonetic system French includes 15 vowels, 3 semivowels And 17 consonants- i.e. 35 sounds, whereas in the alphabet there is only 26 letters.
The greatest difficulties are presented by vowel sounds.
Vowels can be front and back, they can be open and closed, rounded and unrounded, clear and nasal. To understand these definitions, you need to imagine the articulatory (i.e., sound-pronunciation) apparatus with the help of which sounds are pronounced.

The division of vowels into front and back, open and closed depends on the position of the tongue. The division of vowels into rounded and unrounded depends on the detachment of the lips. The division of vowels into pure and nasal depends on the position of the velum.

When mastering the articulation of each sound, you must strictly observe the correct position of the tongue, lips, and palate.

You will receive all specific information and instructions about the articulation of sounds in the lessons of the Introductory Course. It is advisable, however, that you have a general idea of ​​the sound structure of the French language in advance.

When we perceive French speech by ear, the first thing that attracts attention is the division of the French phrase, which is unusual for us.

French phrase is divided not into words (like a Russian phrase), but into groups of words. Each such group of words is pronounced together, no pauses are allowed between words within the group, the stress falls only on the last syllable of the last word in the group. Such groups of words are called rhythmic groups.

Due to the fact that words within rhythmic groups are pronounced together, in one breath, the final sounds The ki of the previous word are connected with the initial sounds of the subsequent word, and this further blurs the boundaries between words within rhythmic groups.

Therefore, at the first auditory perception, French speech is felt as a single sound stream. Special training is needed to learn how to identify rhythmic groups in this single flow and capture their vocabulary.
Vowel sounds The French language is distinguished by the intensity of articulation. All French vowels, stressed and unstressed, are pronounced clearly, energetically, with tense muscles of the lips, tongue, cheeks, and palate. French vowels are never swallowed, never pronounced with the sound of another vowel.
In speech, it is necessary to clearly pronounce and contrast long and short, open and closed, pure and nasal vowels, since the meaning of words and phrases as a whole depends on this. Often it is enough to pronounce a closed vowel instead of an open one, a nasal instead of a pure one, and vice versa, and the meaning of what was said instantly changes.
There are no vowels in French that are completely similar to Russian ones. The vowels are only partially similar [ i] , [ t] ,[ɛ] , [A],[ɔ] , [u]. Vowels [ œ ] , [ ø] , [y], [O], [α] and nasals have no equivalents in Russian.
Consonants French languages ​​differ in that. they never soften before vowels, and voiced consonants at the end of words are not deafened, as is typical of Russian voiced consonants.
In the French language there are sounds that are completelynot in Russian, and there are ones that are similar tocorresponding sounds of the Russian language. But it's a similarityalways relative.

Let's start with the rules of reading. I just beg you: don’t try to learn them right away! Firstly, it won’t work - after all, there are a lot of them, and secondly, it’s not necessary. Everything will settle down over time. You can just look at this page periodically. The main thing is to read them carefully (maybe more than one sitting), look at the examples, try to do the exercises and check yourself - next to the exercises there is a sound - how the French pronounce the same words.

During the first six lessons, in a separate tab you will find a cheat sheet for all French reading rules, so you will always have all the material from this page in a compressed form at your fingertips. :)

During the first six lessons, in a separate tab you will find a cheat sheet for all French reading rules, so you will always have all the material from this page in a compressed form at your fingertips. :)

The main thing you need to remember is that the reading rules There is. This means that, knowing the rules, you can always - almost always - read an unfamiliar word. This is why French does not require transcription (only in the case of fairly rare phonetic exceptions). The beginnings of the first five lessons are also devoted to reading rules - there you will find additional exercises to consolidate skills. Starting from the third lesson, you can download the sound and listen to detailed explanations of the reading rules made by a professional phonetician.
Let's start learning :) Let's go!

In French, the stress ALWAYS falls on the last syllable... This is news to you, isn't it? ;-)

-s, -t, -d, -z, -x, -p, -g (as well as their combinations) at the end of words are NOT READABLE.

Vowels

e, è, ê, é, ё under stress and in a closed syllable it is read as “e”: fourchette [buffet] - fork. “But there is a nuance” (c) that can be neglected at the initial stage. Reading a letter e in all its guises is discussed in detail in the third lesson from the very beginning - I must say, there is a lot there.

e V unstressed syllable reads approximately like the German "ö" - like the letter "e" in the word Möbius: menu [menu], regarder [rögarde]. In order to make this sound, you need to stretch your lips forward like a bow (as in the picture below) and at the same time pronounce the letter “e”.

In the middle of words in an open syllable, this letter is dropped completely during pronunciation (e is fluent). So, for example, the word carrefour (crossroads) is read as [kar "fur] (the unstressed "e" in the middle of the word is not pronounced). It would not be a mistake to read it [karefur], but when you speak quickly, it falls out, as it turns out to be a weak sound Épicerie (grocery) is read as [epis"ri]. Madeleine- [madeleine].

Madeleine metro station in Paris

And so - in so many words. But don’t be afraid - weak “e” will fall out on their own, because this is natural :)

This phenomenon also happens in our speech, we just don’t think about it. For example, the word “head”: when we pronounce it, the first vowel is so weak that it falls out, and we practically do not pronounce it and say [glava]. I’m not even talking about the word “eleventh”, which we pronounce as [one] (I discovered this in my son’s notebook; at first I was horrified: how could so many mistakes be made in one word, and then I realized that the child simply wrote this word down by ear - we really pronounce it that way :).

e at the end of words (see exceptions below) is not read (it is sometimes pronounced in songs and poems). If there are any icons above it, it is always readable, no matter where it stands. For example: régime [mode], rosé [rose] - rose wine.

In monosyllable words e at the end of words it is read - if it is not read there, a syllable cannot be formed at all. These are articles, prepositions, pronouns, demonstrative adjectives: le [le], de [de], je [zhe], me [мё], ce [сё].

Unreadable ending -s, forming the plural of nouns (something familiar, right?) and adjectives, if it appears, does not make a letter -e at the end of the word readable: régime and régimes are read the same - [mode].

-er at the ends of words it is read as "e": conférenci er[entertainer] - speaker, ateli er[studio], dossi er[dossier], canotier, collier, croupier, portier and, finally, foyer [foyer]. You will find -er at the end of all regular verbs: parl er[parle] – talk, mang er[manzhe] - there is; -er is the standard ending for French regular verbs.

a- reads like “a”: valse [waltz].

i(including with icons) - reads like "and": vie [vi] - life (quickly remember "C" est la vie" :).

o– reads like “o”: locomotive [locomotive], compote[compote] - fruit puree.

u reads like the "yu" in the word "muesli". Example: cuvette is read [ditch] and means “ditch”, parachute [parachute] - means “parachute” :), the same happens with purée (puree), and c configuration(jam).

To make an open sound “u”, use the combination ou(this is familiar from English: you, group [group], router [router], tour [tour]). Souvenir [souvenir] - memory, fourchette [buffet] - fork, carrefour [carrefour] - crossroads; pronouns nous (we) read [well], vous (you and you) read [vu].

Consonants

Letter l read softly: étoile [etoile] - star, table [table] - table, banal [banal] - banal, canal [channel], carnaval [carnival].

g read like "g", but before e, i And y it is read as "zh". For example: général - read [general], régime [mode], agiotage [excitement]. A good example is the word garage - read [garage] - first g before a reads firmly, and the second g before e- like "w".

Letter combination gn read as [н] - for example, in the name of a city Cognac[cognac] - Cognac, in the words champi gn ons [champignon] - mushrooms, champa gn e [champagne] - champagne, lor gn ette [lorgnette] - binoculars.

c pronounced as "k", mas ca rade [masquerade], already mentioned by us co mpote and cu vette. But before three vowels e, i And y it is read as "s". For example: ce rtificat read [certificate], vélo ci pède - [bicycle], moto cy cle - [motorcycle].

If you need to change this behavior, that is, make this letter read like [s] before other vowels, attach a tail to it at the bottom: Ç And ç . Ça is read as [sa]; garçon [garson] - boy, maçon (mason), façon (style), façade (facade). The famous French greeting Comment ça va [coma~ sa va] (or more often just ça va) means “how are you”, and literally “how is it going”. In films you can see - they say hello like that. One asks: “Ça va?”, the other answers: “Ça va, Ça va!”.

At the ends of words c is rare. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule about when to read it and when not to. This is simply remembered for each word - fortunately there are few of them: for example, blanc [bl "an] - white, estomac [estoma] - stomach and tobacco[taba] is not readable, but cognac and avec are readable.

h NEVER read. It's as if she doesn't exist. Except for the combination "ch". Sometimes this letter acts as a separator - if it occurs inside a word between vowels, then this indicates their separate reading: Sahara [sa "ara], cahier [ka "ye]. In any case, it itself is not readable. For this reason, by the way, the name of one of the most famous cognac houses Hennessy correctly pronounced (surprise!) as [ansi]: “h” is not readable, “e” is fluent, double ss is used to silence s and as double [s] is not readable (see below for the rule for reading the letter s); other pronunciations are categorically incorrect. I bet you didn't know that! :)

Combination ch gives the sound [w]. For example, chance [chance] - luck, luck, chantage [blackmail], cliché [cliché], cache-nez [muffler] - scarf (literally: hides the nose);

ph read as "f": photo. th read as “t”: théâtre [theater], thé [those] - tea.

p reads like a Russian "p": portrait [portrae]. In the middle of the word, the letter p before the t is not readable: sculpture [sculpture].

j- reads like a Russian "zh": bonjour [bonjour] - hello, jalousie [blinds] - envy, jealousy and blinds, sujet [plot] - plot.

s reads like Russian “s”: geste [gesture], régisseur [director], chaussée [highway]; between two vowels s is voiced and reads like “z”: fuselage [fuselage], limousine [limousine] - very intuitive. If you need to make s unvoiced between vowels, it is doubled. Compare: poison [poison] - poison, and poisson [poisson] - fish; the same Hennessy - [ansi].

The rest of the consonants (how many of them are left? :) - n, m, p, t, x, z- read more or less obviously. Some minor features of reading x and t will be described separately - rather for the sake of order. Well and n And m in combination with vowels they give rise to a whole class of sounds, which will be described in a separate, most interesting section.

Here is a list of words given above as examples - before doing the exercise, it is better to listen to how the French pronounce these words.

menu, regarder, carrefour, régime, rosé, parler, cuvette, parachute, confiture, souvenir, fourchette, nous, vous, étoile, table, banal, canal, carnaval, général, valse, garage, cognac, champignons, champagne, certificate, chance, théâtre, thé, portrait, sculpture, bonjour, sujet, geste, chaussée.

Pure vowels (voyelles orales):

a(front a) - pronounced like the Russian sound a, but the tip of the tongue is pressed against the lower teeth ( la table - table)

a, â (rear a) - pronounced like the Russian sound a ( la classe - class)

e(er, ed, ez), é , ai(ais), (closed e) - average between e and i ( parler - talk, l ’é t é - summer, je parlais - I spoke)

e(+ double consonant),è , ê , ei, ai(open e) - pronounced like the Russian sound e, the tip of the tongue is pressed against the front lower teeth ( terre - earth, la m è re - mother, la f ê te - holiday, treize - thirteen, la chaise - chair)

e(silent e) - pronounced briefly with slightly rounded lips ( la le ç on - lesson)

i, y- like Russian and, but more intense

o, ô (closed o) - sound, average between o and y; When pronouncing this sound, the lips are strongly rounded ( trop - too, t ô t - early)

o, au(open o) - more open sound than Russian o ( la gome - gum, mauvais - bad)

ou- like Russian u, but more intense ( rouge - red)

eu, œ , u- to pronounce this sound, the lips are set in the position for y, and it is pronounced e (deux - two, les œ ufs - eggs)

eu, œ , œ u, ue- to pronounce this sound, the lips are set in position for o, and pronounced e (la fleur - flower, la s œ ur - sister, l ’ orgueil - pride)

u, û , eu- to pronounce this sound, the lips are set to the position for y, and it is pronounced u (la rue - street, s û r - confident, j ’ ai eu - I had) Nasal vowels ( Voyelles nasales)

The four nasal vowels of the French language are indicated in writing by the following letter combinations (if these letter combinations are not followed by a vowel):

am, an, em, en(nasal a) - articulation is the same as for sound a la lampe - lamp, dans - in, entrer - enter)

in, im, yn, ym, ain, aim, ein, eim(nasal e) u , however, when pronouncing, the air flow is directed simultaneously through the mouth and nose ( le vin - wine, simple - simple, le s indicat - trade union, le symbole - symbol, le pain - bread, la faim - hunger, plein - full)

on, om(nasal o) - articulation is the same as for sound o , however, when pronouncing, the air flow is directed simultaneously through the mouth and nose ( mon - mine, le nom - name)

un, um(nasal –) - articulation is the same as for the sound œ, however, when pronouncing, the air flow is directed simultaneously through the mouth and nose ( un - one, le parfum - aroma)

Semi-voyelles

In French there are 3 semi-consonant sounds: short ones that do not form a separate syllableou, u And i. They can be indicated in writing by the following:

vowels if they are followed by a vowel sound ( l ' ouest - west, oui - yes, huit - eight, muet - dumb, le ciel - sky, les yeux - eyes)

word combinations that convey diphthongs that include these semivowels:

oi, oê (ou short + a), oin (ou short + e nasal) ( moi - I, po ê le - oven, loin - far)

uin(ou short + e nasal) (le juin - June)

ilafter a vowel at the end of a word,illereads like Russian i ( le travail - work, la fille - girl)

Consonants)

French has 17 consonants:

b, bb- reads like Russian b ( beau - beautiful, l ’ abb é - abbot)

d, dd- reads like Russian d ( danser - dance, l ’ addition - addition)

f, ff, ph- reads like Russian f ( le caf é - cafe, l ’ effort - effort, le t é l é phone - telephone)

g before e, i, y - reads like Russian w ( le genou - knee)

g, gg- reads like Russian g ( grand - big, agglom é rer - pile up)

gg- before e, i, y - reads as mzh ( sugg é rer - to suggest)

x- read as ks; after ex -, inex - before a consonant- like gz (le texte - text, l ’ exemple - example)

c, cc, ch, k- reads like Russian k ( le camarade - comrade, accompagner - to accompany, chlore - chlorine, kilo - kilogram)

l, ll- reads softer than Russian l ( la lampe - lamp)

m, mm- reads like Russian m ( le mai - May, nommer - to appoint)

n, nn- reads like Russian n ( la neige - snow, l'ann é e - year)

gn- reads like n ( la montagne - mountain)

p, pp- reads like Russian p ( la Patrie - Motherland, la nappe - tablecloth)

r, rr, rh- reads as r (la route - road, la guerre - war)

s, ss- reads like Russian with ( le soleil - sun, la classe - class)

s- between two vowels reads like Russian z ( poser - to put)

ch- reads like Russian sh ( chercher - search)

j- reads like Russian w ( le jour - day)

Syllability and stress

French words, like Russian ones, are divided into syllables. There are as many syllables in a word as there are pronounced vowels.

A syllable ending in a pronounced vowel is called open:

A syllable ending with a pronounced consonant is called closed:

When pronouncing any final consonant, quickly stop articulating to avoid additional sounds.

Say:

When pronouncing final [m], [n], immediately and vigorously open your lips to prevent nasalization of the preceding vowel.

Say:

Remember that final voiced consonants [b], [d], [v] are never devoiced.

Pronounce final voiced consonants: [рab]

Pronounce, paying attention to the clear contrast between final voiceless and voiced consonants:

Read:

pa, ba, ta, da, fa, va, ma, na, la, ap, ab, at, ad, af, av, am, an, al, pab, dab, tad, fab, nam, vap, nat, pad, lad.

In a stressed syllable before the final [v], the vowel is lengthened, i.e., pronounced longer. A colon after a vowel indicates its length.

Say:

Pronounce clearly, distinguishing between the final voiceless [f] and the final voiced [v]:

Open syllables

ma - ;fa - ; ta - ; va -

Letter s at the end of the word is not readable and the syllable remains open:

pas - ;bas - ;

Closed syllables

fat -; paf - ;

Letter e at the end of the word is not readable, and the syllable remains closed.

Read the following words, consisting of one closed syllable. Remember that double consonants are pronounced as one sound, and the final letter e unreadable:

date - date, femme - woman, nappe - tablecloth,

dame - damapanne - accident, breakdown

In a French word, the stress is always on the last syllable of the word, regardless of the number of syllables.

Read, emphasizing the last syllables:

papa [ra-'ra] - dad, banane - banana, madame - madam,

Consonant sound [r]

When pronouncing the consonant [r] graded, the tip of the tongue rests on the lower incisors; the back of the back of the tongue rises to the soft palate; the lateral edges of the tongue are pressed against the lower row of teeth; a small tongue begins to vibrate under the influence of a stream of exhaled air.

The Parisian version of French [r] has some peculiarities. When pronouncing it, the back of the tongue takes the position necessary for the articulation of the subsequent vowel. The small tongue is down but does not vibrate. A stream of air passing through the resulting gap creates a friction sound.

Remember!

1. The vowel before the final [r] is long: bar:

2. The final [r] in the position after a consonant is deafened: maître [mεtr];

Read:

ha, rat, rab, ram [ha - rat - rab - ram], pa, ra, ar, rat, rab. pab, dat, ram;

Read the words:

parade- parade, rame - oar;

 Listen to the audio lesson with additional explanations

These sounds are among those that have no analogue in the Russian language.

When they say “French pronunciation,” this is what they mean.

So where do these sounds come from?

Firstly, in French there are two nasal consonants - n and m.

If In front of them there are certain vowels, then they also become nasal, that is pronounced through the nose.

Attention! n and m themselves in this case not pronounced!

Now, in order. Vowels can become nasal A, O, uh and the sound is average O And e.

"A" nasal

Advice: say a normal sound first A.

Then repeat it slightly pinching your nose. Just not too much, otherwise you’ll end up with a nasal sound that we don’t really need.

Have you felt a difference in your physical sensations?

If you have a runny nose now, everything will work out by itself. But since I wish you good health, let’s specially practice this sound.

So, in what positions will the nasal sound appear? A?

am, an/em, en

As stated above, either the letter n or the letter m must be present.

If one of them is preceded by a vowel a or e, and a nasal is born A.

Let me remind you that you don’t need to pronounce n and m themselves :)

gran d, lam pe, an, chan ter, dan ser, avan t, plan, pélican, charman t, divan, cam p
den t, septem bre, tren te, en tre, sem bler, aven ture, appartemen t, tem ps, cen tre

C"est en ten du!
Il fait mauvais tem ps.
Ven dredi, le tren te novem bre, il ren tre à Rouen.
Commen t ça va?

"O" nasal

If there is a letter o before n or m, then O nasal

om, on

son, pardon, ouvron s, bom be, pom pe, con te, poumon, ron de, mon ter, bon jour

Nous allon s au con cert.
Tu as raison.
Nous dessinon s un balcon et un wagon marron.

"E" nasal

If there is a letter i or y before n or m, then uh nasal

im , in / aim , ain/eim , ein/ym , yn

dessin, sin ge, lin ge, in viter, in terdire, in térêt, in dustrie
im porter, tim bre, im poser, im pôt, im possible, sim ple
plain te, main te, sain te, crain te, main, vain cre, plain dre, faim
plein, pein dre, tein dre, cein dre, étein dre, tein ture, frein, serein
syn thétique, sym patique, syn drome, syn taxe, syn ode, sym bolisme

Chaque matin le petit Martin donne du pain à ses lapin s.
On vous in vite à Vin cennes à la fin de la semaine.

And also how uh nasal read combination ien.

In this case, i turns into th.

rien, mien, tien, sien, chien, parisien, italien, musicien, pharmacien

Tout est bien qui finit bien.
Le temps perdu ne revien t pas.

The nasal sound is intermediate between “o” and “e”

It will be born if there is a letter u in front of n or m.

um/un

To be fair, it must be said that this sound in the French language is on the verge of extinction and is increasingly pronounced as uh nasal or even A nasal But we will still touch a little on the classical phonetics of the language :)

un, brun, chacun, parfum, tribun, commun, hum ble, défun t, lun di, quelqu"un

C"est un bon prin tem ps.
C"est bon vin blanc c.
Pren ds un bon bain.
Deman de ton chemin à quelqu"un.
En ce momen t mon appartemen t n"est pas gran d malheureusemen t.

Attention! Nasal sounds may disappear!

This happens even in the above positions if the consonants are n/m double or after them coming vowel.

Let's see in comparison:

Simon - Simone
un don – il donn e
un son – ça sonn e
elles fon t – elle telephone
le bon vin – la bonn e vie
le lin – la laine
le pain – la pain
un an – un âne
fin – fine
brun – brun
chacun – chacune
Jean – Jeanne
plan – plane r / pardon – pardonn er / nom – nomm er / mon – monn aie

Simonn e donn e la pomm e à la bonn e d"Ivonn e.

Lesson summary"Nasal sounds":

• vowels before n and m are pronounced nasally, while n and m themselves not pronounced!
• am, an/em, en – A nasal:
  J"aime chan ter et dan ser.
  Il ren tre à Rouen.
• om, on – o nasal:
  Non, nous reston s à la maison.
  Cette pom pe ne marche pas.
• im, in / aim, ain / eim, ein / ym, yn / ien – uh nasal:
  Le copain donne au lapin le dessin avec le train.
  C"est un patien t im patien t.
• um / un – nasal sound between O And e(lips for sound O, with a straw, but we pronounce uh):
  Chacun aime son parfum.
• nasal sounds can disappear, if the consonants are n/m double or after them coming vowel:
  plan – plane r
  pardon - pardonn er