A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation
The alphabet
The same 26 letters as English, with different names.
French uses the same 26 letters as English. The only new things are the marks above and below them — é, è, ê, à, ç, ï — and the joined letters œ, as in sœur.
The names of the letters are different, and a few of them catch out an English speaker. The French i sounds like the English letter E (“ee”), and the French e is a short, neutral “uh”. u is a sound English does not have: say “ee” with your lips rounded as for “oo”. g sounds like “zhay” and j like “zhee”, both with the soft sound in the middle of “measure”. The w is double v and the y is i grec, the Greek i.
When you spell a word out, you name the accents too: e accent aigufor ée accent gravefor èc cédillefor ç Double letters are said with a number: deux l, deux s. The question that goes with all this is Ça s’écrit comment ? — how is that spelt?
The form
| a short, neutral “uh” | e |
| like the “ay” in “day”, but shorter | é — e accent aigu |
| “ee” with rounded lips | u |
| “zhay” and “zhee” | g, j |
| “vay” | v |
| “doobl-vay” | w — double v |
| “ee-grek” | y — i grec |
| “ash” and roughly “kü” | h, q |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
g and j both start with the soft sound of “measure”: g is “zhay”, j is “zhee”.
G comme Gérard, J comme Julie.G as in Gérard, J as in Julie.
An accent is named when you spell a word out.
Hélène : H, E accent aigu, L, E accent grave, N, E.Hélène: H, E with an acute accent, L, E with a grave accent, N, E.
Double letters are said with a number.
Anne s’écrit avec deux n.Anne is spelt with two n’s.
A capital letter is a majuscule, a small one a minuscule.
Paris s’écrit avec une majuscule.Paris is written with a capital P.
How to spot it
- épeler
- s’écrit
- deux
- accent
Example sentences
Tu peux épeler ton nom, s’il te plaît ?Can you spell your name, please?
Ça s’écrit comment ?How is that spelt?
Je m’appelle Weber : double v, E, B, E, R.My name is Weber: W, E, B, E, R.
Garçon s’écrit avec un c cédille.Garçon is written with a c cedilla.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Spelling out a name in French is where the letter names really bite. An English speaker says “ee” for E — and a French listener writes i: the French i is your “ee”, and the French e is a short “uh”. W is the other trap. “Double you” means nothing to a French ear, and a hurried “vay” turns Wagner into “Vagner”. A W is called double v.
The French i sounds like the English letter E.
Your turn
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