Sounds and spelling
How French letters sound and how sounds are written: silent endings, an, on and in, é, è and ê, ç, ou against u, and liaison.
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Sounds and spelling, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Leave most final consonants, and the final e, silent
A consonant at the end of a word is usually silent: dans, trop, un lit. A final e is silent too, but it makes the consonant before it heard: vert ends in an r sound and verte in a t, while timide ends in a d. Some final consonants are sounded, as in sac, neuf, animal and jour.
Say a, i, ou, u and e
A is short and open, as in animal, and i or y is the ee of see, as in midi. Ou is the oo of food (nous, jour), but u has no English match: round your lips for oo and say ee (tu, rue). A single e in a short word is a soft uh: je, me, ce.
Know the sounds of eu, au, eau and o
Eu at the end of a syllable is closed, an uh with rounded lips (deux, bleu); before a sounded consonant it opens up, and œu does the same (heure, peur, cœur). Au, eau and ô give the closed o of oh (gauche, chapeau, côté), while an o before a sounded consonant is open, as in porte and robe.
Know é, è, ê and ai
É, and the endings -er and -ez, make a short ay sound with no glide at the end: thé, écrire, chercher, assez. È, ê and ai make the open e of bed: mère, tête, vrai.
Say the nasal vowels
An, en, am and em share one nasal sound (enfant, temps, chambre); on and om another (non, nom, pont); in, ain, aim and im a third (vin, train, faim, simple), heard too in -ien (bien, chien); and un a fourth, as in un and brun. The air goes through the nose and the n or m is not sounded. When a vowel follows, the sound is not nasal: un against une.
Know oi, ch, j, gn, qu and ç
Oi and oy sound like wa (voir, trois, envoyer). Ch is sh (chercher), j is the s of pleasure (jour, jardin) and gn is the ny of canyon (ligne, montagne). Qu is a plain k (question, quatre), and ç, like c before e or i, is an s (garçon, ici).
Know h, th, r, -s-, -tion, -ill- and -ail
H is always silent (heure, hiver), th is a plain t (thé) and the French r is made at the back of the throat (rue, très). A single s between vowels is a z (maison, rose), and -tion is said sion (attention, natation). -ill- is usually a y sound (fille, juillet), and -ail or -aille sounds like eye (taille, détail).
Link words with liaison
When a word ending in a silent consonant meets a word starting with a vowel, the consonant is often sounded across the gap. An s or x becomes a z (des amis, six ans), a t or d becomes a t (c'est un ami, quand il pleut), and an n carries over (un ami, on arrive).
Sounds and spelling key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Sound-symbol correspondence
- The link between a letter or group of letters and the sound it makes, such as ch and the sh sound. The DfE lists 35 for French, tested in reading aloud and in the dictation.
- Silent letter
- A letter that is written but not said, such as the final s of dans or the h of heure.
- Nasal vowel
- A vowel said with air through the nose, written with a vowel and n or m, as in enfant, non, vin and un.
- Liaison
- Sounding a silent final consonant before a vowel, so des amis is said with a z between the two words.
- u and ou
- Two different vowels: u is said with rounded lips and the tongue forward, as in rue; ou is the oo of food, as in roue.
- Accent
- A mark that changes or shows the sound of a vowel: é is closed, as in thé, and è and ê are open, as in mère and tête.
- Cedilla
- The hook under ç, which keeps a c soft, like an s, before a, o or u: garçon, reçu.
- Open and closed vowels
- Two versions of a vowel: closed, with the mouth less open, as in deux, and open, as in heure. Which one you need depends on the spelling and on what follows.
Common mistakes in Sounds and spelling
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Sounding the final consonant of words like trois, dans or vert.
Most final consonants are silent, so trois ends on the wa sound. Sound the consonant only when an e follows it, as in verte, or in a liaison before a vowel.
Saying the n of a nasal vowel, so vin sounds like the English been.
In a nasal vowel the air goes through the nose and the n is not said: vin, train, non. Only a following vowel brings the n back, as in une.
Saying u like ou, so rue (street) sounds like roue (wheel).
For u, round your lips as for oo but keep your tongue forward as for ee. Practise the pairs rue and roue, and tu and tous, until you can hear the difference.
Sounding the h at the start of words like heure and hiver.
The French h is always silent, so heure begins with its vowel. Keep the h when you write, and leave it out when you speak.
Saying -tion the English way, as shun, in words like attention.
In French -tion is said sion, with a nasal on at the end: attention, natation, information.
Practice
Try a Sounds and spelling question
A GCSE-style original question from this topic. Have a go before you open the working - deciding on an answer first is what makes the working stick.
In which pair of words do you hear the s of the first word, as a z sound?
- les livres
- vous jouez
- trois chats
- les amis
Show the answer and the working
Answer: les amis
When a word ending in a silent s is followed by a vowel, the s is sounded as z and joins the next word: this is liaison. In les amis you hear lay-za-mee. Before a consonant, as in les livres, the s stays silent.
- Liaison links a silent final consonant to a following vowel.
- Amis starts with a vowel; livres, jouez and chats do not.