Forbidden Liaisons

Liaisons interdites

Some French liaisons are forbidden: they aren’t—can’t be—pronounced even in the most formal French. Sometimes this is to avoid confusion with similar expressions, sometimes it has to do with a sort of respect for names and foreign words, and other times there’s no apparent logic to it.

1.	Before h aspiré	IPA
	en haut	[ã o]	[a(n) oh]
	les héros	[le e ʁo]	[lay ay roh]
	deux homards	[dø o maʁ]	[deu oh mahr]
2.	Before onze and oui
	les onze enfants	[le ɔ̃ zã fã]	[lay o(n) za(n) fa(n)]*
	deux oui et un non	[dø wi e œ̃ nɔ̃]	[deu wee ay u(n) no(n)]
3.	After names
	Robert a 15 ans.	[ʁo bɛ ʁa kɛ̃ zã]	[ro beh ra keh(n) za(n)]
	Nicolas est prêt.	[ni ko la ɛ prɛ]	[nee ko la ay preh]
4.	After singular nouns
	mon chat aime jouer	[mɔ̃ ʃa ɛm ʒwe]	[mo(n) shah ehm zhoo ay]
	un garçon intelligent	[œ̃ gaʁ sɔ̃ ɛ̃ tɛ li ʒã]	[gar so(n) eh(n) teh lee zha(n)]
5.	After et
	avant et après	[a vã e a prɛ]	[ah va(n) ay ah preh]
	un homme et une femme	[œ̃ nɔ me yn fam]	[u(n) nuh may un fahm]
6.	After interrogative adverbs** and toujours
	Comment est-elle ?	[kɔ mã e tɛl]	[ko(n) ma(n) eh tehl]
	Combien en vois-tu ?	[kɔ̃ bjɛ̃ ã vwa ty]	[ko(n) byeh(n) a(n) vwah too]
	Quand aimes-tu étudier ?	[kã ɛm ty e ty dje]	[ka(n) ehm too ay too dyay]
	toujours aimable	[tu ʒu ʁɛ mabl]	[too zhu reh mahbl(eu)]
7.	After inversion
	A-t-on osé ?	[a tɔ̃ o ze]	[ah to(n) oh zay]
	Parlez-vous espagnol ?	[paʁ le vu ɛ spa ɲɔl]	[par lay voo eh spah nyuhl]
	Ont-elles étudié ?	[ɔ̃ tɛ le ty dje]	[o(n) teh lay too dyay]
	Vont-ils habiter bien ?	[vɔ̃ ti la bi te bjɛ̃]	[vo(n) tee lah bee tay byeh(n)]

* Note that the pronunciation of the z in onze at the beginning of enfants is enchaînement, not a liaison.

** Also see required liaisons and optional liaisons

 Related lessons

• Lawless French pronunciation key
• Introduction to liaisons
• Consonants
• Enchaînement
• H muet
• Vowels

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