Consonants | ||
---|---|---|
IPA | Examples | English approximation |
b | beau | beau |
d | doux | do |
f | fête; pharmacie | festival |
ɡ | gain; guerre | gain |
k | cabas; archaïque; aquarelle; kelvin | sky |
l | loup | loop |
m | mou; femme | moo |
n | nous; bonne | no |
ɲ | agneaux | roughly like canyon |
ŋ | parking | sing |
p | passé | spy |
ʁ | roue; rhume[1] | guttural r |
s | sa; hausse; ce; garçon; option; scie | sir |
ʃ | chou; schème; shampooing | shoe |
t | tout; thé | sty |
v | vous; wagon | view |
z | hasard; zéro | zeal |
ʒ | joue; geai | measure |
Semivowels | ||
j | fief; payer; fille; travail | yes |
w | oui; loi; moyen; web | we |
ɥ | huit | between yet and wet |
Vowels | ||
---|---|---|
IPA | Examples | English approximation |
a | patte | pat |
ɑ | pâte; glas[2] | bra |
e | clé; les; chez; aller; pied | pay |
ɛ | mère; est; abdomen; faite | best |
ɛː | fête; maître[3] | long [ɛ] |
ə | le; reposer[4] | minor (often elided) |
i | si; île; y | beet |
œ | sœur; jeune | roughly like bird (esp. in RP) |
ø | ceux; jeûne | |
o | sot; hôtel; haut; bureau | mole |
ɔ | sort; minimum | sore |
u | coup | coo |
y | tu; sûr | roughly like cute |
Nasal vowels | ||
ɑ̃ | sans; champ; vent; temps; Jean; taon | nasalized [ɑ] |
ɛ̃ | vin; impair; pain; daim; plein; Reims | nasalized [ɛ] |
œ̃ | brun, parfum[5] | nasalized [œ] |
ɔ̃ | son; nom | nasalized [ɔ] |
Suprasegmentals | ||
IPA | Example | Explanation |
ˈ | moyen [mwaˈjɛ̃][6] | phrasal stress |
. | pays [pe.i][7] | syllable boundary |
‿ | les agneaux [lez‿aˈɲo] | liaison[8] |