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French grammar

French liaison and silent letters: the rules

French spelling shows more letters than you hear. Most final consonants are silent, the plural -s is silent, and a word like chat ends on its vowel. The same letters are not gone for good: a final -e wakes the consonant before it (petit, petite), and liaison lets a silent consonant sound when the next word starts with a vowel (les écoles). These rules cover most of what makes spoken French differ from the page.

In short

  • Final consonants are usually silent: chat (shah), petit (puh-TEE), restaurant (res-toh-RAHN). C, r, f and l are the usual exceptions: parc, bonjour, neuf, hôtel.
  • Numbers break the habit when said on their own: the q of cinq, the x of six and dix (said as s), and the t of sept and huit are all heard.
  • A final -e wakes the consonant before it: étudiant / étudiante, grand / grande, petit / petite. That is how you hear a feminine form.
  • The plural -s is silent: chat and chats sound the same, so the article (le or les) tells you the number.
  • Liaison: a silent final consonant sounds when the next word starts with a vowel. les écoles is lay-zay-kohl, but les chats has no z, and et never links.

French hides its letters

French spelling hides sounds: final consonants often go quiet, and the n of a nasal vowel folds into the vowel instead of sounding on its own. First word: «bonjour», hello, said bohn-ZHOOR. You learn which letters sleep by listening, one word at a time. (In the sound-spellings on this page, CAPITALS mark the stressed syllable.)

  • Bonjour

    hello

  • Au revoir

    goodbye

  • Merci

    thank you

  • Non merci

    No, thank you.

Four more numbers — say what you see? Never.

«zéro, cinq, six, sept» — zero, five, six, seven: zay-RO, sank (the q speaks!), seess, set (the p hides). Numbers are the LOUD exception to the quiet-letter habit. And when someone says «enchanté» — nice to meet you, on-shon-TAY — you say it right back.

  • Zéro

    Zero

  • Enchanté

    nice to meet you

  • Six

    six

  • Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq

    one, two, three, four, five

The letter that wakes up

«étudiante», a woman student. «étudiant» ends in a silent t (ay-tu-DYAHN), but the final -e of «étudiante» wakes it up: ay-tu-DYAHNT. That is how you hear French gender, the same masculine (le) and feminine (la) split that gives you «bon» and «bonne». «Il est étudiant. Elle est étudiante.»

  • Il est étudiant

    He is a student.

  • Elle est étudiante

    she is a student

  • Je m'appelle Léa

    My name is Léa.

  • Je suis de Paris

    I'm from Paris

The plural door

«les» — the plural 'the' (lay), one article for both sides: «les chats» — the cats, «les chiens» — the dogs. The French secret: the plural -s is SILENT — chat and chats are one sound. The word you HEAR is «les». From today, your ears follow the article.

  • Les chats

    the cats

  • Les chiens

    the dogs

  • Le chat

    The cat (just one).

  • Elle est très grande

    she is very tall

  • Les chats et les chiens

    the cats and the dogs

The sound between words

Before a vowel, «les» hands over a hidden z: «les écoles» — lay-Z-ay-kohl. The z isn't written anywhere; it lives between the words. And it's choosy: consonants refuse it («les chats» — no z), and «et» NEVER links. Your ear learns the junctions now.

  • Les écoles

    the schools

  • Je voudrais deux croissants s'il vous plaît

    I'd like two croissants, please

  • Les hôtels

    the hotels

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