French pronunciation
The letter combinations eil (at the end of a word) and eill (almost anywhere*) have no English equivalent: they are pronounced like the short e in "let" plus a "y" sound. The IPA spelling is [ɛj], and the Lawless phonetic spelling is [ehy].
* eill followed by é (as in the past participle veillé) or by er (in the infinitive veiller) is pronounced [ej] but the y sound is transferred to the next syllable: [e je]. See lesson on e to learn the difference between [ɛ] and [e].
| Par exemple… |
| un orteil | toe |
| le soleil | sun |
| un appareil | device |
| une oreille | ear |
| la veille | eve, the night before |
| une merveille | marvel |
| surveillé | watched, surveyed |
| conseiller | to advise |
Related lessons
- Letters: E | I | L
- French vowels
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