Appendix:French pronunciation

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The charts below show the way in which the International 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. See French 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-level stress, so stress marks are not used in transcribing French words. See here for explanation.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	beau	beau
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; Portuguese nh
p	passé	spy
ʁ	roue; rhume^[3]	voiced counterpart of loch (Scottish English) or voiceless before and after voiceless consonants ; Portuguese rr
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	between yet and wet

Vowels
IPA	Actual modern Parisian	Examples	English approximation
a	a	patte	roughly like pat
ɑ	a	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	ɛ	fête; maître; reine; scène; caisse; reître^[7]	says
i		si; île; y	bee
ə	ø	le; reposer^[8]	again (often elided)
ø	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	æ̃	un; parfum^[12]	roughly like pant (or, in conservative accents or Quebec French, roughly like burnt but without pronouncing the r).
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]

Notes

^ 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 is usually uvular. The more common pronunciations include a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], a uvular 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 of neuf [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 a phrase, except in emphatic speech.
^ Used sparingly.
^ Latent final consonant is pronounced before a following vowel sound.

[1] The French /l/ is clear, similar to the pronunciation in Spanish and German but unlike the dark /l/ of American English.

[2] In Parisian French, /ɲ/ is often pronounced [nj].

[3] The French rhotic varies from region to region, but is usually uvular. The more common pronunciations include a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], a uvular trill [ʀ], and [χ] (after voiceless consonants).

[4] In Parisian French, /ŋ/ is often pronounced [ŋɡ].

[5] /x/ may be replaced by /ʁ/.

[6] In Parisian French, /ɑ/ is normally replaced by /a/.

[7] In Parisian French, /ɛː/ is normally replaced by /ɛ/. In Quebec French, /ɛː/ is often pronounced [aɛ̯].

[8] 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 of neuf [nœf]. In Parisian French, [ə] is rounded and fronted, making it phonetically similar to [ø].

[9] In Parisian French at least, /ɔ/ is partly unrounded, leading it to have somewhat of the quality of nut.

[10] In Parisian French, /ɑ̃/ is actually pronounced [ɒ̃], with rounding. In Quebec French, /ɑ̃/ is pronounced [ã].

[11] In Parisian French, /ɛ̃/ is actually pronounced [æ̃]. In Quebec French, /ɛ̃/ is pronounced [ẽ].

[12] In Parisian French, /œ̃/ is normally replaced by /ɛ̃/, pronounced [æ̃].

[13] In Parisian French, /ɔ̃/ is actually pronounced [õ].

[14] Stress falls on the last full syllable of a phrase, except in emphatic speech.

[15] Used sparingly.

[16] Latent final consonant is pronounced before a following vowel sound.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

Appendix:French pronunciation

Notes

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