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Pronuncation

Vowel Sounds I ([e], [ɛ], [ə])

The sound [e] is much like the vowel sound of day.  The letter é is always pronounced [e].

été
armée
summer
army
arrivé
légal

legal

The letter combinations er, es, and ez at the end a word are pronounced [e].

-er répéter
téléphoner

to repeat
to telephone

-ez nez
chez
nose
-es les
ses
 

In addition, the letter combination ai at the end of a verb is pronounced [e].

-ai
j'ai
je finirai 
je donnai

I have
I will finish
I gave

English speakers tend to pronounce [e] with a diphthong, a slightly wavery sound caused by movement in the tongue.  In French, the [e] sound is tense -- pronounced with little tongue movement.  Observe...

English [e] French [e]
bay
say
okay
 
ses
oké
 


The [ɛ] sound is identical to the vowel sound of pet.  The letters ê, è and e are normally pronounced [ɛ].

bête
belle
mène
beast
beautiful
bring
mère
telle
mother
such


In most of France, ai at the end of a word is pronounced [ɛ] (except with verbs as we already mentioned). In addition the ending ai plus any consonant, et endings, and the es ending when an accent appears over the e are pronounced [ɛ] as well. When [ɛ] comes at the end of a sentence, it sounds much more like [e] and to the untrained ear might sound exactly like [e]. To most French speakers, the difference is real and important.

le palais
le lait
le fait
palace
milk
fact
près
dès
la forêt


forest

On the left are words with endings that are pronounced [ɛ]. On the right the endings are pronounced [e].

dès
et
épais
fait
la claie
mais
prés
tais
je parlerais
  des
il est
l'épée
fée
la clé
mes
pré
tes
je parlerai
 


Overlap: [e] or [ɛ]
The letter combinations ai and ei are pronounced at times as [e] and at times as [ɛ]. If ai or ei are found within a syllable that ends in a vowel sound (an open syllable) the pronunciation is [e]...

laid
enseigner
peiner
j'ai
     

If they are found within a syllable that ends in a consonant sound (a closed syllable) the pronunciation is [ɛ]... 

laide
enseigne
peine
j'aide
  claire
aile
faible
 


The [ə] sound is similar to the u sound of knuckle.  The letter e of these short one syllable words is pronounced as [ə]. 

je
me
te
le
se
ce
que
de
ne

The [ə] sound also occurs in the first syllable of Monsieur and the two syllable forms of the verb faire.

Monsieur

  nous faisons  

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