Required Liaisons

Liaisons obligatoires

French required liaisons
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Liaisons between syntactically related words, such as an article and its noun, or a subject pronoun and its verb, are required. Of course, there are always exceptions, but here are the main types of required liaisons.

1. Nominal group

a) Article + noun  or  adjective
  les amis [lay zah mee]
  les anciens élèves [lay za(n) syeh(n) zay lehv]
b) Number + noun  or  adjective
  un homme [uh(n) nuhm]
  deux enfants [deu za(n) fa(n)]
c) Adjective + noun  or  adjective
  les anciens élèves [lay za(n) syeh(n) zay lehv]
  mes élèves [may zay lev]
  petit ami [peu tee tah mee]

2. Verbal group

a) Pronoun + pronoun
  Nous en avons [noo za(n) nah vo(n)]
b) Pronoun + verb  or  adjective
  Nous en avons [noo za(n) nah vo(n)]
  Ont-ils [o(n) teel]
  Vous avez [voo zah vay]

3. Single-syllable adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions*

bien étrange [byeh nay tra(n)zh]
chez elle [shay zehl]
quand on décidera [ka(n) to(n) day see deh rah]
tout entier [too ta(n) tyay]
très utile [treh zu teel]

4. Quand + est-ce que **

Quand est-ce que [ka(n) teh skeu]

5. Fixed expressions

Par exemple…

avant hier [ah va(n) tyer]
c’est-à-dire [say tah deer]
comment allez-vous ? [ko ma(n) tah lay voo]
plus ou moins [plu zoo mwa(n)]

 Notes

* See exceptions in optional liaisons.

** Also see forbidden liaisons.

 Related lessons

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French liaisons

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1 Response

  1. Koko 24 September 2014 / 9:55

    I just found your amazing french lessons today,I am very inspired to read more and looking forward to teach my french students.
    Thank you verey much!

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