Q&A for How to Pronounce the Letters of the French Alphabet

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How can I learn to pronounce French words?

Lorenzo Garriga
Native French Speaker
Lorenzo is a native French speaker and French language connoisseur. He has many years of experience as a translator, writer and reviewer. He is also a composer, pianist, and globe-trotter, who has been travelling the world on a shoestring for almost 30 years with a backpack.

Lorenzo Garriga

Native French Speaker

Expert Answer

Watch movies and TV shows in French with subtitles on, or listen to French music and look up the lyrics and their translations.

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What is some simple French vocabulary?

Community Answer

Download a GCSE French vocab list and aim to learn a page a week. This will provide you with a basic working vocabulary.

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I'm having trouble differentiating between the pronunciations of "E" and "U." They both sound extremely similar to me. Advice?

Community Answer

"E" is pronounced like the "oo" in wood, took, look, etc., kind of like a deeper version of "uh." "U" is pronounced pretty similarly to how it is in English (like the word "you" but with a bit of a stronger hard "E" at the beginning. If you exaggerate it would be "ee-yuu").

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How do I write "you" in French and what is its pronunciation?

Community Answer

If you is subject (if it can replace " he " in a sentence), then it is "tu" (pronounced "t-uh"). If you is object (if it can replace "him" in a sentence), then it is "toi" (pronounced "t-wah").

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But why is "you" in "je t'aime" not "tu"?

Community Answer

It is "tu," it is just shortened to "t" with an apostrophe because the next word begins with a vowel. Because two vowel sounds sound awkward together ("tu aime"), in the opinion of the French, the first vowel sound is eliminated. This is also done in the case where a word begins with a silent "h," as in "hais" (hate).

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How do I say "how are you?" in French?

Community Answer

A very basic way of saying 'How are you' in French is 'Ça va?'. The accent on the 'c' just makes it make a soft 'c' sound (like an 's') rather than a hard 'c' sound (like a 'k').

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How do I pronounce "c'est belle bouquet" in French?

Community Answer

It is pronounced as say-bell-bookay. The t and es are usually not pronounced. Also, it would be spelled "c'est un bel bouquet".

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