French is an integral part of all hospitality management higher education programs. Students from countries like India already are struggling with English and here comes the mysterious French to make matters worse, Google Transalate & Google lens are very helpful in this regard.

1. Basic Understanding of French
Pronunciation
For Indian & ESL Students

2. This lesson is based on a video
available on YouTube. The link to
the video is shared below;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=92aQwVUBAYY

3. Saying words in French is very difficult!

4. French & English are similar as well as
different from each other!

5. Some special spellings & their key
sounds must be learnt.

7. Consonants in French
• Consonants are the group of letters in the
alphabet (a, b, c, d, e...) excluding vowels. (a,
e, i, o, u)
• Pronounced just like in English!
• But it does have some unique sounds.
• It has 3 distinct sounds for the letter ‘J’

8. Consonants at the beginning of the
word...
•
Jour ज़ू Day
Salut साल्यू Hello
Premier प्रमिय First

9. Consonants at the end of the word
• They are mostly ignored.
Vert वर/ वैर green
Salut साल्यू Hi
Blanc ब्ााँ White

10. Vowels (a, e, i, o, u)
• In French the vowel sounds are more clipped,
short and spoken quickly. That is why the
mouth doesn’t move much.
• In English, the sound is longer and mouth can
be seen moving while pronouncing the vowel
sounds.

11. Pronunciation of vowels in French
• A
• E
• I
• O
• U
• आ
• अ
• इ
• ओ
• ऊं

12. Pronunciation of ‘e’ in French
• There are three forms in which ‘e’ may be
regularly found in the spelling of French words
and they all sound different.
e No accent अ
é l'accent aigu, ए
è accent grave. ऐ

13. ‘e’ without accent marker
• Petit (पति)
• ‘e’ at the end of a word is not pronounced, like
the general rule for consonants at the end of
the French words.
• ‘e’ at the end of the word has one unique
characteristic. It allows us to pronounce the
consonant at the end of the word, which
otherwise would have been ignored
• Compare ‘grand’ (ग्ां) with ‘grande’ (ग्ांद).

14. “eu” “eux”
• This has the same pronunciation as a simple
‘e’.
• ‘x’ at the end of the spelling follows the
general rule for consonants. Ignored!
Heure अर Hour
Professeur प्रोफ़स्स Professor

15. é (l'accent aigu)
• This is pronounced as ‘ay’ in English.
école एक्को् School

16. è (accent grave)
• It is pronounced like the sound of the letter ‘a’
in the word ‘bat’.
Très त्रै Very
Après आप्रै After

17. “ss” & “s” in the spelling
• They both are different sounds.
• “ss” in the spelling indicates a hissing ‘s’ (स)
sound.
• “s” in the spelling indicates a buzzing (like the
honeybee) ‘z’ (ज़) sound.
poisson प्वास्सााँ fish
poison प्वाज्जों poison

18. “s” at the end of Plural words
• “s” at the end of plural words in French
follows the general rule for consonants at the
end of the ordinary words. Ignored!
Profs प्रोफ़ Teachers
Etudiantes एिुददयांि Students

19. Words ending with “er” “ez” “et”
• All three have the same pronunciation as “ay”
(ए) in “Day” in English.
Parler पा्े Talk
Vous parlez वू पा्े You speak
Buffet बुफ्फ़े Buffet

20. Words ending in “ou”
• It has the same pronunciation as “oo” in the
word “cool” in English
Bonjour बोंज़ू Hello
Vous वू You

21. The sound of “th” in French words
• The sound of “th” in English words like “think”
and “then” does not exist in French language.
• In French, we simply substitute it with the “t”
sound of words like “take”, “total”, but it is not
aspirated, meaning, not stressed or spoken
with force.
Enthousiaste आंटुमसयास्ि Enthusiastic

22. Words beginning with “en” “on” “an”
• They all have the same nasal sound “ahng”,
but “g” will not be voiced.
Enchanté ओन्शोंिे Nice to meet
you
Onze ओंज़ Eleven
Ans आं Years

23. Words having “oi” in the spelling
• They sound like “ohwah”, but h will not be
voiced.
Moi म्वा/ िोआ Me
Au revoir ओ र वोआ Good bye

24. “au” “aux” “eau” “eaux”
• “x” in the spelling follows the general rule for
consonants that occur at the end of the
French words. Ignored!
• All the four spellings have just one sound, like
“oh” in English, but “h” will remain silent.
Jaune ज़ोन्न Yellow
Beaucoup बोकू A lot
Les eaux ्े ज़ो Water

25. “ai” and “aï”; What’s the difference?
• The symbol with two dots “ ̈” are found
mostly on vowels (a e i o u). This symbol is
called “Trement” (ट्रेिााँ).
• The presence of “trement” symbol on one
vowel indicates that the two vowel sounds,
lying side-by-side, will be separately
pronounced. Without “trement”, the two
vowels can be joined.
Noël नोए् Christmas
Adélaïde आदे्ाईद Adelaide

26. “c” followed by an “e” or “i” in the
spelling
• For example “ce” & “ci”
• “C” in such words has a soft “s” (स)
pronunciation.
Recevoir रस्सवा To receive
Décembre देसाम्र December

27. “c” followed by “a” or “o” in the
spelling
• For example, “ca” and “co”.
• “C” in such words has a hard “k” (क) sound.
Calculatrice काल्कु ्ात्रीस Calculator
Combien कोंबबयााँ How many

28. “C” with a cedille (une cédille) mark
• What is the sound of “ç” इन French ?
• It has the soft “s” (स) sound.
Garçon गासों Boy

29. “ch” in French words
• It is different from the English sound.
• In French it sounds like “sh”(श) in the word
“ship”.
Chien शीयां Dog
Chez moi शे िोआ Home

30. Practice these difficult words.
• Une fleur (ऊाँ फ़््)
• Une maison (उन िेज़ों)
• Nouveau (नूवो)
• Troisième (त्र्वाज़ज़ऐम्ि)
• Tout le monde (िू ्
िााँद)
• A flower
• A house
• New
• Third
• Everybody

31. Pronunciation of vowels in FrenchVowels Pronunciation Guide Example What the
example means
a is pronounced like 'ah' in
English ्ा
La ्ा (the)
à is also pronounced like 'ah
Là ्ा (there)
â is pronounced like 'ah' but
longer
Âne आन (donkey)
e When placed in the middle
of a syllable, it is
pronounced like ai in 'fair'
Mer िैर (sea)

32. Pronunciation of vowels in French
Vowels Pronunciation Guide Example What the example
means
e When placed at the end of a
syllable, it is pronounced like
er in 'her'
Le ् (the)
e is silent at the end of a word Tasse िास (cup)
é is pronounced like 'ay' Été एिे (summer)
è is pronounced like ai in 'fair' Père पैर (father)

33. Pronunciation of vowels in French
Vowels Pronunciation Guide Example What the
example means
ê is also pronounced
like ai in 'fair'
Tête िैि (head)
i, y are pronounced like
ee in 'meet'
Ski स्की (skiing)
o is pronounced like o in
'not'
Poste पौस्ि (post
office)
ô is pronounced like 'oh' Hôtel ओिे् (hotel)

34. Pronunciation of vowels in French
Vowels Pronunciation Guide Example What the example
means
u this sound does not
exist in English; say 'ee'
with rounded lips
Vu वू (seen)
oi is pronounced like 'wah'
Roi रोवा (king)
ou is pronounced like 'oo'
Roue रू (wheel)
ai,
ei
are pronounced like e in
'let'
Laine
्ेंन
(oldest
boy)

35. Pronunciation of vowels in French
Vowels Pronunciation Guide Example What the example
means
au,
eau
are pronounced
like 'oh'
Au ओ (to the)
eu,
oeu
are pronounced
like er in 'her'
Neuf नफ़
soeur स
(nine,
new )
(sister)

36. Is “H” vowel in French?
• The letter H is always silent in French, yet
there are two different types: H muet, which
acts like a vowel. H aspiré, which acts like a
consonant.

37. H Muet (mute/ silent)
• Most French H's are mute — that is, they are
not pronounced and the word acts as if it
begins with a vowel. This means
that contractions and liaisons are required.
For example, le + homme contracts
to l'homme — you can't
say "le homme." And les hommes is
pronounced with a liaison: [lay zuhm].

38. H Aspiré
• H's in French words borrowed from other
languages are usually aspirate. Though the H
aspiré is not pronounced, it acts like a consonant;
that is, contractions are not permitted with it
and liaisons are not made in front of it.
• For example, le + hockey does not contract
to "l'hockey" but remains le hockey.
• And les héros (the heroes) is pronounced [lay ay
ro]. If you were to pronounce this with a liaison,
[lay zay ro], you would be saying les zéros (the
zeros).

39. Compilation & Presentation
Praveen Jha
Senior Faculty
IHM Hajipur
Vaishali, Bihar