French pronunciation: silent letters, liaison and nasal vowels
Last updated 28 October 2026
French spelling and French sound are not the same thing. A word can have six letters and two sounds, and two written words can run together into one sound. Once you know the handful of rules that govern this, French listening gets much easier. This guide covers the four that matter most.
Silent final letters
Most final consonants are not pronounced. Petit sounds like "puh-TEE", grand like "grahn", trois like "trwah" and beaucoup like "boh-KOO". Verb endings are often silent too: parle, parles and parlent all sound the same.
- un petit chat a small cat
- nous sommes we are
- ils parlent they speak
- un grand homme a tall man
- beaucoup a lot
There is a helpful exception. The letters in the word CaReFuL (c, r, f, l) are often pronounced at the end of a word: sac, bonjour, neuf, hôtel. It is not a perfect rule (parler ends in a silent r), but it explains many words.
Liaison
Liaison means "linking". A final consonant that is normally silent is pronounced when the next word starts with a vowel sound, and it links to that vowel. The s and x sound like z, and d sounds like t.
- les amis the friends (lay-z-ah-MEE)
- vous avez you have (voo-z-ah-VAY)
- un grand arbre a big tree (grahn-t-AHRBR)
- deux enfants two children (duh-z-ahn-FAHN)
- ils ont they have (eel-z-ON)
Liaison is required in some places and forbidden in others, and the rest is a matter of style.
| Situation | Liaison? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Article or number + noun | Required | les amis, un homme, deux ans |
| Adjective + noun | Required | un petit enfant |
| Pronoun + verb, verb + pronoun | Required | nous avons, vont-ils |
| After et | Forbidden | un garçon et une fille |
| After a singular noun | Not made | un chat adorable (no link) |
| Before h aspiré (such as haricot) | Forbidden | les haricots (no link) |
| Elsewhere | Optional | formal speech makes more |
Learners are safest if they make the required liaisons, skip the forbidden ones, and ignore the optional ones. Natives vary: a news presenter makes more liaisons than a teenager.
Enchaînement
Related to liaison is enchaînement, where a pronounced consonant at the end of one word moves across to start the next. French does not stop between words the way English often does. Elle a sounds like "e-la", and il est like "i-lé". This is why French sounds like a continuous stream, and why listening to it feels hard at first.
- Elle habite à Paris. She lives in Paris.
- Il est italien. He is Italian.
- Une amie américaine. A female American friend.
- Quelle heure est-il ? What time is it?
Nasal vowels
French has three main nasal vowels, made by letting air flow through the nose and mouth together, and without a pronounced n or m at the end.
| Sound | Spellings | Example words |
|---|---|---|
| /ɑ̃/ | an, am, en, em | enfant, chambre, temps |
| /ɔ̃/ | on, om | bon, nom, maison |
| /ɛ̃/ | in, im, ain, ein, un | vin, pain, demain, lundi |
- un bon vin blanc a good white wine
- dans le jardin in the garden
- mon cousin Martin my cousin Martin
- un pain au chocolat a chocolate pastry
The nasal sound disappears when the n or m is followed by a vowel or another n or m. Compare bon (nasal) with bonne (a clear n), and un (nasal) with une (a clear n).
A short practice routine
- Listen to a short phrase with the audio buttons above, without reading it.
- Say it aloud, copying the rhythm. French stresses the last syllable of each group of words, not each word.
- Record yourself and compare.
- Write what you heard in a dictation, then check it against the text.
Practice
In "les amis", how is the s in "les" pronounced?
Dictation exercises are one of the best ways to train your ear on all of this. Start with introducing yourself to hear the sounds in context.
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Read the rule, then use it. Write your own sentences and get Pip's feedback on them.
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