The charts below show the way in which theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents French pronunciations in Wikipedia and Wiktionary articles. It is important to note that the IPA symbols used for vowels are conventionally used in French dictionaries, but are based on the pronunciation of Parisian French from more than 100 years ago and no longer accurately represent current pronunciation for Parisian French. See the footnotes for more details.
English approximations are in some cases very approximate, and only intended to give a general idea of the pronunciation. SeeFrench phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds. In particular, English vowels are often diphthongs, while the French vowels are not.
French has no word-levelstress, so stress marks are not used in transcribing French words. Seehere for explanation.
| Consonants |
|---|
| IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|
| b | belle | bell | | d | doux | do | | f | fête;pharmacie | festival | | ɡ | gain;guerre | gain | | k | cabas; archaïque; aquarelle;kelvin | sky | | l | loup[1] | loop | | m | mou; femme | moo | | n | nous; bonne | no | | ɲ | agneaux[2] | roughly like canyon; Portuguesenh | | p | passé | spy | | ʁ | roue;rhume[3] | voiced counterpart of loch (Scottish English) or voiceless before and after voiceless consonants ; Portugueserr | | s | sa; hausse;ce; garçon; option;scie | sir | | ʃ | chou;schème;shampooing | shoe | | t | tout;thé | sty | | v | vous;wagon | view | | z | hasard;zéro | zeal | | ʒ | joue;geai | measure | | Non-native consonants |
|---|
| ŋ | camping[4] | camping | | x | jota;khamsin[5] | loch (Scottish English) | | Semivowels |
|---|
| j | fief; payer; fille; travail | yes | | w | oui; loi; moyen;web | we | | ɥ | huit | betweenyet andwet |
| | Vowels |
|---|
| IPA | Actual
modern
Parisian | Examples | English approximation |
|---|
| a | a | patte | roughly like pat | | ɑ | pâte; glas[6] | roughly like pat (or like bra in conservative accents and Quebec French) | | e | clé; les; chez; aller; pied | pay | | ɛ | ɛ | mère;est; abdomen; faite | best | | ɛː | fête; maître; reine; scène; caisse; reître[7] | says | | i | si;île;y | bee | | ə | ø | le; reposer[8] | again (oftenelided) | | ø | ceux; jeûne | roughly like bird (British English) | | œ | sœur; jeune | bird (British English) | | o | sot; hôtel; haut; bureau | roughly like law (British English) or note (American English) | | ɔ | sort; minimum | similar to not (British English) or caught (American English)[9] | | u | coup | too | | y | tu; sûr | roughly like too in Australian English | | Nasal |
|---|
| ɑ̃ | ɒ̃ | sans; champ; vent; temps; Jean; taon[10] | roughly like want (British English) or haunt (American English) | | ɛ̃ | æ̃ | vin;impair; pain; daim; plein; Reims; bien[11] | roughly like pant | | œ̃ | un; parfum[12] | roughly like pant (or, in conservative accents or Quebec French, roughly like burnt but without pronouncing ther). | | ɔ̃ | õ | son; nom[13] | roughly like don't (American English) or haunt (British English) | | | | Suprasegmentals |
|---|
| IPA | Example | Explanation |
|---|
| ˈ | moyen/mwaˈjɛ̃/[14] | phrasal stress | | . | pays/pe.i/[15] | syllable boundary | | ‿ | les agneaux/lez‿aˈɲo/ | liaison[16] |
|
- ^The French/l/ is clear, similar to the pronunciation in Spanish and German but unlike the dark /l/ of American English.
- ^In Parisian French,/ɲ/ is often pronounced[nj].
- ^The French rhotic varies from region to region, but isusually uvular. The more common pronunciations include avoiced uvular fricative[ʁ], auvular trill[ʀ], and[χ] (after voiceless consonants).
- ^In Parisian French,/ŋ/ is often pronounced[ŋɡ].
- ^/x/ may be replaced by/ʁ/.
- ^In Parisian French,/ɑ/ is normally replaced by/a/.
- ^In Parisian French,/ɛː/ is normally replaced by/ɛ/. In Quebec French,/ɛː/ is often pronounced[aɛ̯].
- ^In French,/ə/ is pronounced with some lip rounding[ɵ̞]; for a number of speakers, it is also more front and may even be phonetically identical to the vowel ofneuf[nœf]. In Parisian French,[ə] is rounded and fronted, making it phonetically similar to[ø].
- ^In Parisian French at least,/ɔ/ is partly unrounded, leading it to have somewhat of the quality of nut.
- ^In Parisian French,/ɑ̃/ is actually pronounced[ɒ̃], with rounding. In Quebec French,/ɑ̃/ is pronounced[ã].
- ^In Parisian French,/ɛ̃/ is actually pronounced[æ̃]. In Quebec French,/ɛ̃/ is pronounced[ẽ].
- ^In Parisian French,/œ̃/ is normally replaced by/ɛ̃/, pronounced[æ̃].
- ^In Parisian French,/ɔ̃/ is actually pronounced[õ].
- ^Stress falls on the last full syllable of aphrase, except in emphatic speech.
- ^Used sparingly.
- ^Latent final consonant is pronounced before a following vowel sound.
