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:
Understanding silent letters in French
The sounds you make when you read French out loud are sometimes different to 鈥巘he ones you鈥檇 make in English. 鈥
One of the big differences are the silent letters.鈥
Take the word duvet. Even English speakers say this word like French speakers. They don't pronounce the 't' at the end - 'duvay'鈥.
Like le parent - which means - you guessed it - parent. 鈥
The 't' at the end of the word is silent. 鈥
鈥**'d'** at the end of a word is silent - as in grand,
鈥**'x'** is usually silent at the end of a word - like deux,
's' is very often silent at the end of a word鈥 as in trois or souris,鈥
and if 'h' is the first letter of a word - it is always silent. 鈥
So: J'habite dans un h么tel 脿 Hawaii - I live in a hotel in Hawaii. 鈥
When you see the 't','d','s' or 'x' at the end of the word鈥 or 'h' at the start shhhhhhh!鈥
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
- 尝鈥hippopotame est heureux.
- 尝鈥h么tel est en Hongrie.
- 尝鈥homme est tr猫s h辞苍苍锚迟别.
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
- bon
- beaucoup
- les parents
- chat
- 驳芒迟别补耻x
- vous mangez
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
- Les enfants aiment jouer au tennis.鈥
- C鈥檈st tr猫s ennuyeux.
- Ma grand-m猫re avait deux enfants.
- Il est heureux.
- Il est all茅 dans un bon h么tel en Italie鈥.
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