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
[w] [U] [Ɛ]

3. 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
[w] oi moi
poisson
[U] ou poulet
rouge
[Ɛ] ai maison
è frère
ê fête
ei treize

4. Vocabulary
Below is a list of words associated with these sounds. Observe the different
possible spellings. Perhaps attempt to pronounce them.
[w] [U] [Ɛ]
au revoir vous aimer
bonsoir bonjour j‘ai
froid beaucoup mais
histoire boutique mai
mademoiselle cousine neige
noir douze règle
oiseau ou semaine
toi rouge treize
poisson trousse vaisselle
trois mouton vocabulaire
voilà moustache frère
soif mousse mère
moi souris père
poire poule maison
kangourou cousin parfait
goûter brouillard seize

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 ou-oi-ai easy:
Type the combination of letters that makes the sound you hear.
You do not need to type the whole word!
2. Game ou-oi-ai medium:
You have to match the word you hear with its corresponding
spelling in French.
2. Game ou-oi-ai hard:
You have to match the sentences you hear with the spelling of two
of the words included in the sentence. They need to be matched
in the order in which you hear them.
SUGGESTION: write the words on a separate piece of paper before
answering.