Free French pronunciation guide

What's inside

• Silent lettersWhy most last consonants vanish, the CaReFuL rule with its honest exceptions, how a final -e wakes up the letter before it (petit, petite), -ent in verbs and nouns, and the silent h.
• Vowelsou and u with a simple trick for the tricky u, pairs like vous and vu, then é, è, eu, au, oi and ill in one table with plain English sound hints.
• Nasal vowelsThe four nasal sounds and their spellings, how a vowel or a double n cancels them (bon, bonne), and sets like vent, vont, vin to read aloud.
• LinkingLiaison (les amis, ils ont or ils sont), when to link and when never to, élision (l'ami, j'ai, c'est) and enchaînement, the reasons spoken lines blur together.
• Spoken French and practiceWhat shows really say: chais pas, chuis, y a, t'as, the dropped ne, the French r and where the stress falls. Then twelve lines from shows with the silent letters in grey and link marks to read aloud.

How to use it

1. Learn a few basic words first, so the examples feel familiar.
2. Read one page a day out loud. Skip the grey letters and say the pink ones.
3. Say the pairs on the vowel and nasal pages slowly, then fast.
4. Cover the answers on the practice page, then listen for the same lines in French shows with Kitsumi.

More free French printables

• Next stepFrench verbs guideMake verbs say who and when: silent endings, the present, the passé composé, aller + verb and ne... pas.
• 100 French phrases from showsThen pick up the lines shows use all the time: Ça marche, je t'aime or je t'aime bien, Laisse-moi tranquille and what ouf and chelou really mean.
• Basic French wordsStart here. Silent letters and nasal vowels made simple, then 214 first words with le and la in colour.

Questions