Optional Liaisons

Liaisons facultatives

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Some French liaisons in front of a vowel or h muet are optional, so it’s up to you to decide whether to pronounce them. However, that decision matters: more liaisons means more formal speech, so fewer liaisons obviously means more informal, possibly even familiar speech.

Here are types of liaisons from most common to least common: even teenagers will usually pronounce the first type of liaison, but very few people will pronounce the last type. The ones in the middle are where it starts getting tricky. 😉

Each sound file includes the phrase pronounced with the liaison and then without.

1. After plural nouns

des livres utiles	[day leev reu zu teel]	[day lee vru teel]*
les hommes arrivent	[lay zuhm zah reev]	[lay zuh mah reev]*

2. Between two-part verbal structures**

ils ont eu	[eel zo(n) tu]	[eel zo(n) u]
je suis allé	[zheu swee zah lay]	[zheu swee ah lay]
tu vas aller	[tu vah zah lay]	[tu vah ah lay]

3. Present tense of être + adjective,  adverb, or noun

il est heureux	[ee lay teu reu]	[ee lay eu reu]
il est ici	[ee lay tee see]	[ee lay ee see]
il est idiot	[ee lay tee dyoh]	[ee lay i dyoh]

4. After multi-syllable adverbs and prepositions

après être venu	[ah preh zehtr]	[ah preh ehtr]
assez utile	[ah say zu teel]	[ah say u teel]
depuis un an	[deu pwee zu(n)]	[de pwee u(n)]
tellement avare	[tehl ma(n) tah var]	[tehl ma(n) ah var]

5. After some conjunctions***

mais enfin	[meh za(n) feh(n)]	[meh a(n) feh(n)]
puis on est arrivé	[pwee zo(n)]	[pwee o(n)]

6. Verb + article, noun, or preposition

This liaison is found only in very formal French.

Elle prend un livre	[pra(n) tu(n)]	[pra(n) u(n)]
Ils arriveront à midi	[ah ree vro(n) tah]	[ah ree vro(n) ah]

 Notes

* If you don’t make a liaison with the normally silent s at the end of livres and hommes, the always pronounced vr and m still require enchaînement.

** Two-part verb structures:

• Compound tenses / moods
• Semi-auxiliary verbs

*** Also see required liaisons and forbidden liaisons

 Related lessons

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

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