How to pronounce ‘e’ in French

As any student of French knows very well, knowing what sound a given letter represents in a particular word or context is not always a simple matter. In this article, we focus on one specific and deceptively tricky area of ​​difficulty: deciding what sound to pronounce for the letter ‘e’ in French.

The (relatively) easy case: ‘e’ with written accent

French has two ‘e’ sounds that are often distinguished by a written accent. In these cases, the task of deciding how to pronounce the ‘e’ is usually easier. When written with the so-called grave accent (my), the letter represents an “open” ‘e’ sound. That is, an ‘e’ sound pronounced with the mouth relatively open and the tongue relatively low in the mouth, similar to the ‘e’ sound in the English word ‘set’. This same open ‘e’ sound also tends to be used when the ‘e’ is written with a circumflex (as in party).

When written with the so-called “acute” accent (my), this usually indicates a “closed” e: that is, an ‘e’ sound pronounced with the mouth less open and the tongue relatively high in the mouth. It is similar to the English vowel “ay” (as in “say”, “pay”) as in pronounced Northern English accents. (However, unlike the “ay” vowel in many other English accents, it is not a diphthong.)

More difficult cases: ‘e’ without written accent

The most difficult cases occur when the ‘e’ appears without a written accent. Depending on the context, the letter ‘e’ can represent open or closed ‘e’, ​​a completely different vowel, or no vowel at all.

Cases in which the vowel is usually the “closed” vowel e, as if written myincludes word endings -ez and -er (where the ‘r’ is not pronounced, as lastAhem or the infinitives of -er verbs) or before -ss- or -sc- (as in dmydrawing, dmylower). In “functional” words: AND more plural articles (HE, from, myetc.), the vowel ‘e’ is almost always pronounced my.

Cases in which the vowel is usually the “open” vowel e (as if written my) usually come before a double consonant other than “ss” (lance, call) or two consonants (eg. Fmysummer). When an unaccented ‘e’ is the first letter of a word (as in myexam), is also usually pronounced my.

Then there are cases, usually at the end of a word, where the vowel choice is not really fixed. One of the two pronunciations (my gold my), but you can choose either one. A common case is -AND end of deleteAND gold deliveredAND. A more conservative pronunciation has the opening my vocal. However, many speakers would use the closing my vowel at present. (This actually extends to other cases where an ‘e’ vowel occurs in the pronunciation, but another combination of letters is used in the spelling, for example, the -ais of Englishor the -Oh of whiteboard.)

The case of the schwa or “neutral” vowel

It could be said that the most complex case is that of the so-called schwa. This is a type of ‘e’ vowel that is normally pronounced with the tongue in a central or “neutral” position, similar to the English word “the”. It is generally not accented and you find it in the French word HE among other cases.

(In addition to when to pronounce it, the actual pronunciation of this vowel is also a complex issue. In reality, many speakers today pronounce this vowel like a French ‘eu’ vowel (either rounded or not), or pronounce it differently. under different circumstances. For the purposes of this article, we ignore these details and assume that it is a central vowel similar to the vowel in the English word “the”.)

This “neutral” vowel is usually pronounced for a letter ‘e’ in cases not mentioned above. Then where:

• the ‘e’ does not have a written accent;

• does not occur before a double consonant or multiple consonants;

• is not part of one of the other letter combinations (eg. -ez, -AND) which means it is pronounced as my gold my.

Examples of an ‘e’ representing a schwa are the ‘e’ vowels of yesmyhandmy, dmyhand, (he eatsmy, (U.S. vmyNo, almostmy and in fact the vowels ‘e’ of HE and Yo.

What is particularly complex about the vowel schwa is that it is not always pronounced (or, put another way, that it is sometimes “dropped”). It is beyond the scope of this article, and in fact, it would be beyond the scope of a PhD thesis on the subject, to go into all the details. But here are some general rules:

• the schwa is always deleted after another vowel (so in the words sawmy, shoutmyNew Testament gold gomythere is no possibility of pronouncing the ‘e’);

• is usually deleted before another vowel also, which is partly why you say the man rather *the manbut it also means that almost a year is pronounced “almost a year”, or that like a brother pronounced “like a brother”;

• otherwise in the end of a word or phrase (He givesmy, the ministermy), a final -e is almost always erasedbut may stand or be pronounced “partly” for emphasis.

• in the same first syllable of a sentence or phrase, a schwa is often removed in ordinary speech, even if that creates some “unusual” sound combinations: e.g. I love you it is usually pronounced “j’t’aime” or “ch’t’aime”;

• in many other cases in the middle of a word, sentence or phrasespeakers keep or drop the schwa to avoid “strange sound combinations” or make things “easier to pronounce”. So, for example, they would tend to remove the schwa in week (they perceive the phrase as “flow” a little better that way) but keep it in nine weeks (they perceive it as “awkward” to have two consonants ‘f’ and ‘s’ together without having a schwa before the next consonant).

We’re obviously missing a number of details here: for example, what makes an “awkward” sound combination in French (or more formally, what linguists call the phonotactics of the language). Part of mastering French means getting used to these various complex patterns. But the above general rules are nevertheless a starting point.