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Chapter 4 of 16 · Explore the French path

The script · Chapter 4 of 16

Silent letters: the ones that go quiet, and the ones that come back

A final consonant usually goes silent, and a silent letter wakes up when the next word starts with a vowel. Learn which letters survive, so a line stops looking longer than it sounds.

≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter
  • A consonant at the end of a word is usually silent. Four normally do sound — c, r, f, l, “CaReFuL” — except that the verb ending -er is “ay”.
  • A final e is silent but wakes the consonant in front of it.
  • On a doing word the ending -ent is completely silent.
  • Before a vowel, a short word throws its own vowel away — and a silent final letter wakes up to start the next word.

The silent -e that wakes the consonant

A final e is not said, but it can bring back the consonant in front of it. Read each pair across and listen.

WrittenSaidWrittenSaidMeaning
petit“puh-tee”petite“puh-teet”small
grand“grah(n)”grande“grah(n)d”big
ami“ah-mee”amie“ah-mee”friend — no difference at all

The last row is not a mistake: after a vowel there is no consonant to wake, so the extra e changes nothing you can hear.

A verb ending you never hear

A doing word can carry an ending you never hear. Say both lines aloud and compare them.

il court“he runs”
“eel koor”
one runner
ils courent“they run”
“eel koor”
several — not one sound of difference. Only on doing words: the naming word ventvah(n)“wind” keeps its nasal vowel. Since the shape of a French verb usually cannot tell you who is acting, a little word has to sit in front of every verb — the next sections build on that.

The vowel that gets thrown away

Before a vowel, a short word drops its own vowel and joins on with an apostrophe.

le + arbre
l'arbrelar-bruh“the tree”
le arbre is never written
je + ai
j'aizhay“I have”
ce + est
c'estseh“this is”
the commonest phrase in the language

The silent letter that wakes up

A silent final letter comes back to life when the next word starts with a vowel.

les + amis
les amislay-za-mee“the friends”
the silent s comes back as a z and starts the next word
vous + êtes
vous êtesvoo-zet“you are”
un + ami
un amiu(n)-na-mee“a friend”
the vowel stays in the nose, and an n appears to start the next word. From here on, where two words glue together the respelling shows the glued result — “lay-za-mee”, not “lay ah-mee”.

Which letters survive?

  1. grande

    The final e wakes the letter in front of it.

    Show answer +
    grandegrah(n)d“big — with a feminine word”
  2. ils mangent

    The whole doing-word ending is silent.

    Show answer +
    ils mangenteel mah(n)zh“they eat”
  3. l'oiseau

    Which word gave up its vowel?

    Show answer +
    l'oiseaulwah-zoh“the bird” — le + oiseau.
  4. un ami

    The vowel stays in the nose, and a consonant appears to start the second word.

    Show answer +
    un amiu(n)-na-mee“a friend”
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