How to read French words

The French alphabet has 26 letters. Almost all of them are read differently, depending on diacritics, as well as position in the word. Therefore, almost the same sound can be displayed in writing using different letters, and vice versa, the same letter can mean different sounds.

Instruction manual

one

Please note: the phonetic system of this language includes 17 consonants, 15 vowels and 3 half-vowels. In addition, in the French language there are sounds that are completely absent in Russian, and sounds similar to Russian. Teachers of the French language advise at the initial stage when reading and pronouncing words to focus on the features of the pronunciation of those sounds that are similar to Russian.

2

Go to the pages http://linguerra.ucoz.ru/publ/francuzskij_jazyk/francuzskij_jazyk/fonetka_francuzskogo_jazyka_1/7-1-0-15 or http://kun-anton.narod.ru/grammaire/graphie_sons.html presents summary tables of reading and pronunciation rules adopted in French (with examples). So, for example, the vowels e, è, ê, é, ё under stress and in a closed syllable are read as [e]: fourchette [buffet] - a fork, and -e is not read at the end of the word (although it is sometimes pronounced when reading poetry) If there are any diacritical marks above this vowel, then it is read in any case, regardless of the position in the word (for example, rosé [rose] - rose wine).

3

The consonants -s, -t, -d, -z, -x, -p, -g (and their combinations) at the end of words are not read. Other consonants at the end of the word are not stunned, as is usually the case in Russian, but are attached to the next word, forming liaison (a bunch of two or more words).

4

Combinations of letters and diphthongs are read the same way, in different ways. Suppose -er at the ends of words (the postfix of French regular verbs) reads as [e]: parler [parle] - talk. The diphthong -ou, which is very widespread in this language, is read as [y] (souvenir [suvenir] - memory).

5

Thanks to enchaînement (cohesion), the French phrase is not divided into words, but into conceptual groups of words (syntagmas), each of which is pronounced together. The emphasis falls on the last syllable of the group. In this regard, it is important to preliminarily divide each sentence into syntagmas in order not only to practice the reading technique, but also to understand what has been read.