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French consonant
The letter R is very difficult for many French learners.* It has nothing at all in common with the English R or the Spanish R, so it’s helpful to think of it as a completely different letter. Phonetic symbol: [ʁ].
The French R is pronounced in the throat, in the same place where you say G as in "get." The difference is that the French R is fricative, meaning that you must not close your throat completely, but rather press the back of your tongue against it while pushing air through (much like you press the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth to pronounce Z).
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Par exemple… |
| the letter r | ||
| un radis | radish | |
| ravi | delighted | |
| ronronner | to purr | |
| la gare | train station | |
| gérer | to manage | |
| grand | big, tall | |
| le frère | brother | |
| le sucre | sugar | |
* There’s nothing even remotely resembling the French R in English, but several other languages have more or less similar sounds:
| Arabic | غ |
| German | ch |
| Greek | γ |
| Hebrew | ר |
| Persian | غ |
| Russian | х |
| Scottish | ch |
| Spanish | j |
| Swedish | r |
Related lessons
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The French lessons and comprehension exercises on this site are ranked according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which describes six levels of language proficiency.
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