Lessons for English speakers

Learn to read French

A short, active path into reading French: decode real words before revealing their sound, learn the silent endings and the joins between words, follow where the pieces of a sentence sit, and read a small story before opening your first book.

13 core sections · ≈ 34 min + 3 optional lookups · ≈ 51 min with everything

The script

1 section

Letter reference: look up, do not recite

Optional lookup · ≈ 6 min

What you'll learn

Open this when a letter or a group of letters will not make a sound; the two stories do not need any of it.
The alphabet is the same twenty-six letters as English, so the cards below say only where French disagrees.
The marks on e change the sound; the marks on a and u only keep two words apart.
The little hat ê usually marks an s that fell out of the word, and the English word often still has it.
h is never pronounced anywhere in French.

You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Nothing ahead of it depends on anything in it. Open it when a letter or a group of letters will not make a sound in your head, find the row, and go straight back to where you were. Do not sit down and learn it.

The twenty-six letters, and where French disagrees with English

aah
ah, the a in father — not the a in cat
chat rhymes with “shah”, never with “cat”
chatshah
“cat”
bbay
b as in bed
bonboh(n)
“good”
csay
k before a, o, u — but s before e and i
soft vowel, soft c: e and i turn it into an s
cielsyel
“sky”
dday
d as in dog
dansdah(n)
“in”
euh
uh, the u in fur — and at the end of a word, next to nothing
leluh
“the”
feff
f as in fox
forêtfoh-reh
“forest”
gzhay
g as in go before a, o, u — but zh, the s in measure, before e and i
g obeys the same rule as c: e and i soften it
rougeroozh
“red”
hahsh
never pronounced; every h in French is there for the eye
homme is “om” — the h is for the eye, not the ear
hommeom
“man”
iee
ee as in see
iciee-see
“here”
jzhee
zh, the s in measure — the j of jam only in borrowed words like jazz
the j of Jacques (“zhahk”), not of Jack
jourzhoor
“day”
kkah
k as in kite; rare, and mostly in borrowed words
lell
l as in leaf
lunelewn
“moon”
mem
m as in mouse
mèremehr
“mother”
nen
n as in night — except after a vowel at the end of a syllable, where it turns the vowel nasal instead
nuitnwee
“night”
ooh
oh, the o in go, with no w slide at the end
porteport
“door”
ppay
p as in pig
pèrepehr
“father”
qkew
almost always written qu, and in ordinary words the u is silent: just k
q hardly ever travels without its u, and rarely says it
quikee
“who”
rehr
the famous one: a soft scrape at the back of the throat, closer to gargling than to the English r
gargle it, do not roll it — the French r lives in the throat
renardruh-nar
“fox”
sess
s as in sun — but z when it sits between two vowels
one s between vowels buzzes; French doubles it when it wants the hiss
maisonmeh-zoh(n)
“house”
ttay
t as in tree
troistrwah
“three”
uew
the hardest sound in French: round your lips as if for “oo” and say “ee” instead
lips say “oo”, tongue says “ee”
lunelewn
“moon”
vvay
v as in van
ventvah(n)
“wind”
wdoo-bluh-vay
rare; only in words French borrowed, said v or w
xeeks
ks in the middle of a word, gz in a few; usually silent at the end — but six and dix, said alone, end in an s sound
deuxduh
“two”
yee-grek
ee, like i — its French name means “Greek i”
its own name gives it away: “Greek i” sounds like i
il y aeel yah
“there is”
zzed
z as in zoo
zérozay-roh
“zero”

Two letters do the most damage to an English reader: j, which in French words is never the j of jam, and h, which on its own is never a sound at all — though it teams up in the pairs ch, ph and th below.

The letters with marks on them

ée accent aigu
ay — a sharp, closed sound, the ay in day without the y
the mark rises to the right and the mouth closes: “ay”, as in the café English borrowed whole
désoléday-zoh-lay
“sorry”
èe accent grave
eh — open, the e in bed
the mark falls to the left and the mouth opens: “eh”
mèremehr
“mother”
êe accent circonflexe
eh — the same open sound as è
the little hat marks a lost s: forêt is forest
forêtfoh-reh
“forest”
àa accent grave
ah — exactly the same as plain a; the mark is there to keep two words apart
a name tag, not a sound: à is “to”, bare a is “has”
àah
“to”
ùu accent grave
oo — it appears in one ordinary word, où
the mark is the only thing separating où (where) from ou (or)
oùoo
“where”
çc cédille
s — the tail forces c to stay soft in front of a, o, u
the tail drags the c down to an s
garçongar-soh(n)
“boy”
â î ô ûcirconflexe
no change worth hearing — the hat marks an s that fell out of the word centuries ago
put the s back and you often get the English word: île / isle, hôpital / hospital
îleeel
“island”

So the marks on e change the sound and the marks on a and u do not: àah“to” against aah“has”, and oùoo“where” against ouoo“or”.

Vowels that travel together

Spelling	Sound	Example
ou	oo — but a w glide when another vowel follows, as in ouiwee“yes”	jourzhoor“day”
au	oh	jaunezhohn“yellow”
eau	oh — three letters, one sound	oiseauwah-zoh“bird”
oi	wah	noirnwahr“black”
ai	eh, the e in bed — but “ay” in j'ai and in short verb endings	maismeh“but”
ei	eh — the same as ai	neigenezh“snow”
eu	uh, the u in fur	peupuh“few”
œu	uh — the same sound, an older spelling	sœursuhr“sister”
ui	wee	nuitnwee“night”
-er	ay, at the end of a word	mangermah(n)-zhay“to eat”
-ez	ay, at the end of a word	vous avezvoo-za-vay“you have”

Consonants that travel together

ch
sh, as in ship — never the ch of church. In a handful of Greek-flavoured words (écho, chaos) it is k
the ch of chef — a French word English kept whole, sound and all
chatshah
“cat”
gn
ny, as in canyon
champagne already says it the French way
montagnemoh(n)-tah-nyuh
“mountain”
qu
k; in ordinary words the u is silent
quiche, not queen: qu is a plain k
quatrekat-ruh
“four”
ill
y, as in yes — except in ville (“veel”, town), mille (“meel”, thousand) and words built on those two, which keep the l
fillefeey
“girl”
eil / eille
ay-y, ending in the y of yes
Marseille — the eille is a y, exactly as English already says it
soleilsoh-lay-y
“sun”
ph
f, as in English
photofoh-toh
“photo”
th
plain t; French has no th sound at all
French never bites its tongue: the h is along for the ride
théâtretay-ah-truh
“theatre”
ss
s — a single s between vowels would be z, so French doubles it to keep the hiss
two letters for the fish (poisson), one for the poison
poissonpwah-soh(n)
“fish”

The four nasal vowels

Spelling	Respelling	Example
an / en	ah(n) — the vowel of father, nasal. Yes, en sounds like an	enfantah(n)-fah(n)“child”
on	oh(n) — the vowel of go, nasal	bonboh(n)“good”
in / ain / ein	a(n) — the vowel of bang, nasal. With a y sound in front it is spelt ienya(n)	chienshya(n)“dog”
un	u(n) — the u of sun, nasal. Most French speakers now say it exactly like in	brunbru(n)“brown”

Inside a word the nasal disappears the moment another vowel follows the n: bonboh(n)“good” is nasal, bonnebon“good — with a feminine word” is an ordinary n. Same word, and that difference is one you can hear.