Những Điều Cơ Bản
·
15 min
The French Alphabet
Learn the 26 letters of the French alphabet, their pronunciation, and the special accent marks.
The French Alphabet
French uses the Latin alphabet with 26 letters. Most letters look familiar, but their pronunciation differs significantly from English.
The Vowels: A, E, I, O, U, Y
French vowels are generally more stable than English ones — they rarely "slide" into diphthongs.
- A — like "ah" in "father" → chat [ʃa] (cat)
- E — like "uh" when unstressed → le [lə] ; like "ay" when accented → été [ete]
- I — like "ee" in "see" → livre [livʁ] (book)
- O — like "oh" → mot [mo] (word)
- U — unique French sound with no English equivalent: round your lips as if saying "oo" but try to say "ee" → lune [lyn] (moon)
- Y — treated as a vowel, sounds like "ee" → yeux [jø] (eyes)
Key Consonants
Most consonants are similar to English, but watch out for these:
- R — a guttural sound made in the back of the throat, not rolled → rouge [ʁuʒ] (red)
- H — always silent in French → hôtel [otɛl]
- G before e/i — like the "s" in "measure" → girafe [ʒiʁaf]
- C before e/i — like "s" → cité [site] (city)
- Silent final consonants — most final consonants are not pronounced → grand [gʁɑ̃], Paris [paʁi]
French Accent Marks
Accents are not optional in French — they change meaning and pronunciation!
| Accent | Name | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| é | accent aigu (acute) | été (summer) | [ete] — closed "e" |
| è / ê | accent grave / circonflexe | mère (mother) / tête (head) | [ɛ] — open "e", like in "bed" |
| ë | tréma (diaeresis) | Noël (Christmas) | each vowel pronounced separately |
| ç | cédille | garçon (boy) | [s] — the C sounds like S |
| à / ù | accent grave | à (at), où (where) | mostly distinguishes words in writing |
Liaison — Linking Words
When a word ending in a normally silent consonant is followed by a word starting with a vowel, the consonant is pronounced and links to the next word:
- les enfants → [lez‿ɑ̃fɑ̃] (the children) — the S links
- vous avez → [vuz‿ave] (you have) — the S links
Tip: Practice the alphabet out loud every day. Singing the French alphabet song is a great way to memorize the sounds quickly!