1. The relationship between the
sounds and their spelling in French
Produced with assistance from the Association of Independent Schools of NSW

2. The sounds
[œ] [o] [o]

3. * Only two main words in French have the sound attached to this spelling (oeu):
oeufs (eggs) and boeufs (steer)
Observe the following table to better understand the
relationship between these sounds and their possible
spellings in French:
Phonetic symbols Ways it can be spelt Examples
eu le professeur
oeu un oeuf
la soeur
eu bleu
oeu les oeufs*
[o] o la rose
le vélo
au chaud
eau le bateau, l’eau
le chateau, beau

4. Vocabulary
Below is a list of words associated with these sounds. Observe the different
possible spellings. Perhaps attempt to pronounce them.
[o]
heure jeudi Australie
le facteur bleu allô
neuf ce aujourd’hui
aspirateur déjeuner au revoir
professeur demain beaucoup
seul deux automne
seulement devoirs beau
soeur jeu chaud
coeur je mauvais
beurre mercredi pauvre
classeur monsieur à bientôt
boeuf peut-être numéro
peur il pleut vocabulaire
couleur courageux domicile
cheval jaune
trop

5. INSTRUCTIONS FOR INTERACTIVE GAMES
Now you should be ready to start training your ears to these sounds. We suggest doing it in
this order, but you don’t have to do it that way.
1. Game EU-EAU-AU easy :
You have to match the words you hear with the spelling (in
writing) of the corresponding word.
2. Game EU-EAU-AU medium:
You have to write down either simply the word you hear or the
word within a sentence containing the EU, AU, EAU sound.
3. Game EU-EAU-AU hard:
You have to match the sentences you hear with the spelling of one
of the words included in the sentence.
Note: It would be a good idea to have a pen and paper ready to write down the sentence you hear. This
would allow you to find the word(s) that might contain one of the sounds above.