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
3 sections2
Your first reading job: the word you see is longer than the word you say
≈ 2 min
What you'll learn
- French reads left to right with the same twenty-six letters as English — about half say something else.
- Three habits close most of the gap: the last letter is usually silent, vowels in groups make one sound, and a vowel before n goes through the nose.
- Two sounds and the nasal vowels have no English equivalent, so this section says what to do with your mouth instead.
- Read every French word from here on out loud — the habits do not come from looking.
The three habits
| The habit | What you see | What you say |
|---|---|---|
| The last letter of a word is usually silent | petit · trois | “puh-tee” · “trwah” |
| Vowels next to each other make one sound | eau · ou · oi | “oh” · “oo” · “wah” |
| A vowel before n or m goes through the nose, and the n vanishes | vent · bon | “vah(n)” · “boh(n)” |
Nothing here needs memorising: the next section makes you use all three habits on real words.
The three sounds you have to be told how to make
| Sound | What to do with your mouth |
|---|---|
| uew — as in tutew“you” | Say “ee” as in see and hold it. Without moving your tongue, push your lips into a tight circle, as if to whistle. Test the pair: tutew and touttoo“all” are different words, and only the tongue moves between them. |
| r — as in renardruh-nar“fox” | Do not curl or roll your tongue. Rest its tip behind your bottom teeth and make the noise at the very back of the throat — the place you gargle from. Start from that scrape and soften it. |
| the nasal vowels — as in ventvah(n)“wind” | Say “ah” with your mouth open, then let the air go out through your nose as well — without touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth, because the n is not a consonant here. Pinch your nose: the sound should change. |
Try the three habits once each
Say each word aloud from the habit named in the hint, then reveal.
- eau
Three letters standing together. How many sounds?
Show answer +Hide answer −
eauoh“water”. One sound. - trois
oi is one sound, and the last letter is silent.
Show answer +Hide answer −
troistrwah“three” - vent
The vowel goes through your nose; neither the n nor the t is said.
Show answer +Hide answer −
ventvah(n)“wind”