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Voyelles dures et douces*
French vowels are divided into two categories: hard and soft.
1) Hard vowels (A, O, U) cause the consonant that precedes them to be pronounced with a hard sound (HS). (Note that consonants – R, L, etc. – are always preceded by the hard sound.)
2) Soft vowels (E, I, Y) are preceded by a soft sound (SS).
The consonants affected by this hard/soft distinction are C and G.**
| C | G | |
| HS
A O U Cons. |
[k] |
[g] |
| SS
E I Y |
[s] |
[ʒ] |
Consonant softening
When a French word needs a soft sound in front of a hard vowel, it’s necessary to change the spelling in order to maintain the desired pronunciation.
C Ç |
prononcer nous prononçons |
|
| recevoir je reçois |
||
| Provence Provençal |
||
| G GE |
manger nous mangeons |
|
| protéger il protégea |
This is the reason for spelling-change verbs.
* Though this important distinction exists in many languages, the term voyelles dures et douces doesn’t seem to be widely used when describing French pronunciation.
** The letters S and X also have two pronunciations, but they’re not dependent on the vowel.
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