Learn some of the particularities of French spelling.
French grammar is sometimes trumped by pronunciation, as in the case of euphonic adjectives. Because French does not like the hiatus created when a word ending with a vowel precedes a word that begins with a vowel or mute h, a few adjectives change their spelling—and thus their pronunciation—for purely euphonic reasons.A2 - Low-Intermediate French • adjectives • spelling
adjectives • adverbs • B1 - Intermediate French • French Abbreviations - Acronyms - Apocopes • spelling
Only three French vowels can take the grave accent: à, è, and ù, and the purpose of the accent depends on the letter in question.
Despite the name, the H aspiré is not aspirated or otherwise pronounced.A1 - Beginning French • spelling
The French H muet is not just silent, but essentially non-existent: words that begin with H muet act as if they begin with a vowel.A1 - Beginning French • spelling
The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is a set of characters used to standardize pronunciation explanations across languages. It uses a unique symbol for each sound, which makes discussions of different languages much easier.
French has a total of 20 French consonant sounds, and thus 20 IPA symbols for these sounds. However, three of these sounds are only in words borrowed from other languages and one is very rare, so there are really just 16 French essential consonant sounds.
French has 19 different vowel sounds and therefore 19 IPA symbols for vowels, divided into three categories: normal vowels, nasal vowels, and semi-vowels.
Five French adjectives (beau, fou, mou, nouveau, vieux) are particularly tricky because they have very irregular feminine forms as well as a special form used only for certain masculine nouns.A2 - Low-Intermediate French • adjectives • spelling
Most French nouns and adjectives become feminine with the addition of -e, but there are some exceptions. Some nouns require an additional spelling change, depending on the final letter(s) of the word.adjectives • agreement • gender • nouns • spelling
Most French nouns and adjectives become plural with the addition of -s, but of course there are exceptions.A2 - Low-Intermediate French • adjectives • agreement • nouns • plurals • spelling
When the letters o and e are pronounced as a single sound, they combine into a symbol called a ligature: œ. The pronunciation of this symbol depends on the letter(s) that follow it.