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In French, some letters are silent, either at the start or at the end of a word. Here are some rules to look out for:

The silent 鈥榟鈥欌

In French, the letter h is silent. Before most words that start with h, if you need a definite 鈥巃rticle use l鈥 rather than le or la.鈥

  • 尝鈥hippopotame est heureux - The hippo is happy.鈥
  • 尝鈥h么tel est en Hongrie - The hotel is in Hungary.鈥
  • 尝鈥homme est tr猫s h辞苍苍锚迟别 - The man is very honest.鈥

Silent letters at the ends of words

When the following letters are at the very end of a word, they are usually not 鈥巔ronounced:
n, p, s, t, x, z.

  • bon - good 鈥
  • beaucoup - a lot
  • les parents - parents 鈥
  • chat - cat
  • 驳芒迟别补耻x - cakes
  • vous mangez - you (plural, formal) eat

Liaisons

When a word ends in s, x, t or n and the next word starts with a vowel or an h, the s and 鈥巟 will sound like z, and the t and the n will be pronounced. This is called 鈥巃 鈥榣iaison鈥, as the words are linked together.鈥

  • Le_s_ enfants aiment jouer au tennis - The children like playing tennis.鈥
  • C鈥檈st tr猫_s_ ennuyeux - It鈥檚 very boring.鈥
  • Ma grand-m猫re avait deu_x_ enfants - My grandmother had two children.鈥
  • Il es_t_ heureux - He is happy.鈥
  • Il est all茅 dans un bo_n_ h么tel en Italie - He went to a good hotel in Italy.鈥

Game - FestiLingo: French. game

Visit the festival and practise French language skills in this game

Game - FestiLingo: French

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