Answers
Dec 01, 2010 - 09:25 AM
Unfortunately in French, pronunciation is not always consistent with a hard and steady rule. Sometimes the pronounciation of a word is different depending on whether the word is masculine or feminine.
Similar to English, the final -e in most words is not pronounced. For feminine adjectives and nouns, this generally means that the final consonant of the masculine form will now be pronounced.
consider vert vs verte or grand vs grande.
In vert and grand, the t and d are not heard, but in verte and grande, you do hear that last syllable, if only slightly.
On the following page http://www.ielanguages.com/frenchphon... if you scroll around two thirds of the way down, you can listen to examples. Look for the part titled "Silent Letters" to hear some examples.
Similar to English, the final -e in most words is not pronounced. For feminine adjectives and nouns, this generally means that the final consonant of the masculine form will now be pronounced.
consider vert vs verte or grand vs grande.
In vert and grand, the t and d are not heard, but in verte and grande, you do hear that last syllable, if only slightly.
On the following page http://www.ielanguages.com/frenchphon... if you scroll around two thirds of the way down, you can listen to examples. Look for the part titled "Silent Letters" to hear some examples.
Apr 25, 2011 - 08:28 AM
The -e on the end of most words is silent. An exception to this is if you really stress something? Consider the following dialogue between an apple vendor (V) and a customer (C):
V-Tu veux quelle pomme ?
C-Celle-là. (pointing to a green apple)
V-Celle-ci ? (Picking up a red apple)
C-Mais non ! La verte !
Here, the speaker would usually pronounce the -e as there is emotion and stress. But in general conversation, the -e would fall silent.
Very often, however, in Swiss French you will find that the -e is very softly pronounced at the end. It is, nevertheless, preferable to not pronounce an -e which falls at the end of a word.
A -c at the end of a word is always pronounced (I am sure I shall think of an exception as soon as I post this). It is pronounced like a -k in English. It is also always pronounced as a -k before the following vowels: a, o, u. The 'ss' sound in words like ça appears before the vowels -i and -e.
For example:
Un mec (A guy)
Avec (with)
et cetera.
V-Tu veux quelle pomme ?
C-Celle-là. (pointing to a green apple)
V-Celle-ci ? (Picking up a red apple)
C-Mais non ! La verte !
Here, the speaker would usually pronounce the -e as there is emotion and stress. But in general conversation, the -e would fall silent.
Very often, however, in Swiss French you will find that the -e is very softly pronounced at the end. It is, nevertheless, preferable to not pronounce an -e which falls at the end of a word.
A -c at the end of a word is always pronounced (I am sure I shall think of an exception as soon as I post this). It is pronounced like a -k in English. It is also always pronounced as a -k before the following vowels: a, o, u. The 'ss' sound in words like ça appears before the vowels -i and -e.
For example:
Un mec (A guy)
Avec (with)
et cetera.
Feb 07, 2017 - 12:50 PM
Here is a good webpage about the pronunciation of final consonants in French. The word CaReFuL is a good mnemonic :)
http://blogs.transparent.com/french/b...
http://blogs.transparent.com/french/b...
Feb 08, 2017 - 10:08 AM
In the word "avec", the E is pronounced like in the English words "get" or "bed".
There is not a single general pronounciation for E in French though, it depends on its place in the word and on which letters surround it. One general rule is that when it's at the end of a word it's silent, but apart from that it can vary, so the idea is to get used to how each word is said little by little.
Here the final letter is C, and it is part of the few consonants that are generally pronounced when at the end of a word, along with L, F and R (think of: Avec, Hôtel, Neuf, Avoir)
Yet, note I said "generally" because there are lots of exceptions, for example for ER verbs in the infinitive the final R is not pronounced (think of: Aller)
There is not a single general pronounciation for E in French though, it depends on its place in the word and on which letters surround it. One general rule is that when it's at the end of a word it's silent, but apart from that it can vary, so the idea is to get used to how each word is said little by little.
Here the final letter is C, and it is part of the few consonants that are generally pronounced when at the end of a word, along with L, F and R (think of: Avec, Hôtel, Neuf, Avoir)
Yet, note I said "generally" because there are lots of exceptions, for example for ER verbs in the infinitive the final R is not pronounced (think of: Aller)