French Pronunciation
The letter combination ai has two different pronunciations.
1) At the end of a verb, ai is pronounced like é.
| j’ai | present tense of avoir | |
| je serai | future tense of être | |
| je donnai | passé simple of donner |
2) Otherwise, ai is pronounced like è.
| j’aime | present tense of aimer | |
| je serais | conditional of être | |
| je donnais | imperfect of donner |
Note how the -s changes the pronunciation so that you can hear the difference between
- future and conditional
- passé simple and imperfect
In words that are not verbs, ai is almost always pronounced è.
 |
Par exemple… |
| é sound | è sound | |||
| j’ai | I have | je t’aime | I love you | |
| je serai | I will be | je serais | I would be | |
| je donnai | I gave | je donnais | I was giving | |
| anglais | English | |||
| frais | fresh, cool | |||
| lait | milk | |||
AI is pronounced differently in other letter combinations: AIL | AIN
The pronunciation of the letter combination ai is a matter of some debate among French speakers. This lesson is based on my personal experience and extensive research, but there are regional variations and opposing viewpoints: some say that there is a difference between ai and ais at the end of verbs, some recognize it but don’t pronounce it themselves, and others insist it simply doesn’t exist. À vous d’y écouter.
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