P

French consonant

The letter P is pronounced similarly in French and English, except that in French, it’s not aspirated (no air is expelled) when it’s at the beginning of a word. Phonetic symbol: [p].

Par exemple…
the letter p
le pain   bread
le parc   park
vous pétez   (you) repeat

  Unlike in English, when P precedes a consonant at the beginning of a French word, both the P and the consonant are pronounced.

le pneu   tire
la psychologie   psychology

 Related lessons

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French pronunciation

 

Stay up to date with Lawless French

Questions about French?

 Visit the Progress with Lawless French Q+A forum to get help from native French speakers and fellow learners.

More Lawless French

 Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter.

Support Lawless French

  This free website is created with love and a great deal of work.

If you love it, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation.

Your support is entirely optional but tremendously appreciated.

2 Responses

  1. Andy N 27 June 2018 / 2:12

    Is the silent p in compter an exception, or is there a rule when p’s are not pronounced?

    • lkl 29 June 2018 / 2:07

      Great question. It’s silent in all the related words: compte, compter, comptoir, comptabilité etc. And it’s silent in verb conjugations like je romps, il rompt. I can’t think of any others at the moment.

Leave a Reply