c. Listen to the following combinations and try to imitate them as precisely as you can.

a / é / è / e / i / o / u

d. Dictation: write down the vowel sounds you hear.

You should have written: A, O, U, I, E, É, OU, OI, AN, IN .

In these notes, we will use terms such as: syllables, sounds, vowels, consonants, and intonation. It is important you understand exactly what they mean.

In English the same sound can have different spellings:

Machine eve feet field leave people key

They all contain the same vowel sound but the spelling is different. In French the same phenomenon occurs:

The vowel E is also written EU and OEU

The vowel É is also written ET and …EZ and …ER (at the end of a verb)

The vowel È is also written Ê, AI and EI

The vowel O is also written AU and EAU

The vowel IN is also written UN, AIN and EIN

The vowel AN is also written EN

As we have seen some letters in English are not pronounced at all. The same is true for French:

The consonant letters S T D X Z are generally mute at the end of a word.

The vowel letter E is mute at the end of a word.

We will learn to pronounce these spellings gradually as we learn some more vocabulary.

e. Now try to see if you can pronounce these words correctly. Remember that the stress is placed always on the last syllable.

budget, capital, vacant, zone, menace, minute, final, golf, date, dispute, docile, canal, canon, plateau, taxes, assassin, absence, accent, accident, animal, aptitude, volume.

previous | next