French alphabet and pronunciation: How to pronounce letters in French

Learn the Alphabet in French: how to spell, write and pronounce the letters of the French alphabet with audio recordings, including the French alphabet song.

The French and English alphabets share the same letters. However, the way we pronounce the letters of the alphabet in French is a bit different.

This article features audio recordings. Click the blue text next to the headphone to hear me say that word or sentence in French.

French Alphabets/Letters with Examples & Pronunciation |

Silent letters

Some French words contain silent letters or letters that aren’t pronounced. Many different letters can be silent, depending on where in a word they’re placed.

Here are some general rules for silent letters in French:

• The letter h isn’t usually pronounced in French words unless it’s associated with a c, making the [ch] sound.
• The letter u isn’t pronounced if it appears after a g or q, but it changes the pronunciation of the g.
• The letter n is silent when associated with another letter that creates a nasal sound, like [en] or [an].
• The letter i isn’t pronounced if it comes after an o because oi in French is meant to sound like [wa].
• The e at the end of a word is typically silent unless the e has an acute accent symbol (é).
• The letters s, x, t, d, g, and p are usually silent if they appear at the ends of words.

French vowels

There are six vowels (a, e, i, o, u, y) in the French alphabet, but there are 19 vowel sounds: 12 oral, four nasal, and 3 for the semi-vowels (two vowels pronounced together).

The differences between them have to do with how they’re pronounced. Oral vowels are pronounced mainly using the mouth, while nasal vowels are pronounced when air passes through the nose and mouth. Semi-vowels are also known as “glides” because, to pronounce them, you have to glide quickly between the two vowel sounds that create the syllable.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) can be a helpful tool for understanding differences in pronunciation between languages. It’s an international alphabet designed by linguists to accurately represent the wide variety of sounds that make up human speech. Different sounds, also called phones or phonemes, are what distinguish one word from another within a language.

For example, in English, words like “sat,” “bat,” and “cat” can be distinguished from each other by the sounds that make up their first syllables.

We’ll use IPA below to share examples of how different French vowels sound when spoken and provide words with corresponding sounds in English.

Oral vowels

Oral vowels are covered by these IPA sounds: [a], [ɑ], [e], [ǝ], [Ɛ], [i], [o], [ø], [ↄ], [œ], [u], [y].

Here are a few examples of oral vowels, categorized by their IPA sound:

• The [a] sound uses the letter a, as in Paris. The English equivalent is apple.
• The [e] sound uses e-acute (é) and the letter combinations er, et, ai and ez. Examples in French include été (summer) and nez (nose). The English equivalent is okay.
• The [Ɛ] sound uses e-circumflex (ê), e and the letter combinations ai and ei. Examples in French include laine (wool) and lettre (letter). The English equivalent is felt.
• The [i] sound uses i, y and i-circumflex (î). Examples in French include livre (book) and île (island). The English equivalent is see.
• The [o] sound uses o, o-circumflex (ô), and letter combinations au and eau. Examples in French include eau (water) and mot (word). The English equivalent is float.

Comparing how letters are pronounced between two languages — and even between words in the same language — shows that a single letter can make multiple sounds, depending on its context.

Nasal vowels

Nasal vowels correspond to these IPA sounds: [ã], [ɛ̃], [œ̃], [ɔ̃].

There aren’t direct English equivalents to the French nasal vowels, so we provided similar sounds.

Here are a few examples of nasal vowels, categorized by their IPA sound:

• The [ã] sound uses letter combinations like an, am, aon, en and em. Examples in French include vent (wind) and sans (without). The similar English equivalent is man.
• The [ɛ̃] sound uses letter combinations like in, im, ain, aim, un, ym, en, ein and ain. Examples in French include vin (wine) and chien (dog). The English equivalent is pin.
• The [ɔ̃] sound uses letter combinations on and om. Examples in French include front (forehead) and compagnon (companion). The English equivalent is long.
• The [œ̃] sound uses letter combinations un and um. Examples in French include brun (brown) and parfum (perfume). The English equivalent is bunk.

Semi-vowels

French semi-vowels correspond to these IPA sounds: [j], [w], [ɥ].

Here are a few examples of semi-vowels, categorized by their IPA sound:

• The [j] sound uses the letters i, ll, il and y, as in payer (to pay) and travail (work). The English equivalent is yam.
• The [w] uses the letters ou and o, as in moyen (way) and oui (yes). The English equivalent is water.
• The [ɥ] uses the letter u, as in huit (eight). The English equivalent is suite.

French consonants

There are 20 French consonants and 19 consonant sounds. This is because some consonants make the same IPA sound. For example, k and hard c both have the IPA sound [k].

Here are a few examples of consonants, categorized by their IPA sound:

• The [b] sound uses the letters b and bb, as in beau (beautiful). The English equivalent is barbell.
• The [k] sound uses the letters c, k and que. Examples in French include cassé (broken) and kayak (kayak). The English equivalent is cake.
• The [s] sound uses the letters s, ss, c, ç and t. Examples in French include scie (saw) and garçon (boy). The English equivalent is center.

Reference: Learn French With Alexa — YouTube

Reference: Learn French By Suchita — YouTube

Hope you enjoyed this!

Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this post, follow on

Dharm Prakash Choudhary — Medium

Dharm Prakash (DP) Choudhary | LinkedIn

If you have any feedback or suggestions, leave it in the comments below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.