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:
*** 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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