Dental consonants [ edit edit source ] The letters d , l , n , s , t and z are pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth and the middle of the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Here is a table of some basic h words that are aspirated and not aspirated:. Exercise Pronouncing b and p. Get a loose piece of printer paper or notebook paper. Hold the piece of paper about one inch or a couple of centimeters in front of your face.
Say the words baby , and puppy like you normally would in English. Notice how the paper moved when you said the 'b' and the 'p' respectively. Now, without making the piece of paper move, say the words belle the feminine form of beautiful in French, pronounced like the English 'bell. If the paper moved, your pronunciation is slightly off.
Concentrate, and try it again. If the paper didn't move, congratulations! You pronounced the words correctly! Click here! That's probably enough pronunciation practice for now! With these French lessons , remember the more you listen, the more you'll be able to recognize words as they're spoken.
I would recommend learning more about French accents and French numbers next. Learn French with Vincent has a particularly useful video, which uses a single letter to explain the differences between each accent. If you want a written guide to take away, however, The Grammarist is a great site to make a part of your learning routine.
The site focuses on phonetic spelling in order to mark the subtle differences, and also names the different accents. Browsing FluentU can show you the importance of accents in distinguishing some smaller—yet powerful—French words. FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. A perfect example is the following video, which will tell you about common pronunciation mistakes you should avoid in order to sound like a native:.
French uses a huge variety of different vowel pairings to produce a number of different sounds. Many pairs turn up time and time again, so they can be learned by heart.
Once again, The French Tutorial is a fantastic resource for lessons like these, as it contains a list of the most common vowel pairings and audio clips to prompt good pronunciation.
While certain pairings are easier to remember in French, there are others which take some getting used to. Choose one vowel pair to focus on each week.
Along with formal practice and online exercises, also look for words containing that vowel pair in authentic content—like news articles , TV shows and on Facebook.
As with all parts of French, mastering the French alphabet is best done over time. You can adapt them to learning letters in several ways. For one, you can do online exercises like this one , where you hear a letter, then write it down. Another option is to write down some words, then make yourself spell them out in French. To check your work, do an online search for the pronunciation of each letter in French. Learning the alphabet may not be essential to learning French, but it can be helpful.
Has knowing the French alphabet come in handy for you? Alysa Salzberg is an American writer, worrier, teacher, and cookie enthusiast who has lived in Paris, France, for more than a decade. She has taught English and French for more than ten years, most notably as an assistante de langue vivante for L'Education Nationale. She recently published her first novel, Hearts at Dawn , a "Beauty and the Beast" retelling that takes place during the Siege of Paris.
You can read about her adventures here , or feel free to stop by her website. Just make sure that your comment is relevant to the content of the article and adds to the conversation. Rude, racist and off-topic comments will not be approved. Please also make sure to proofread your comment before posting.
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