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