A1 · Spelling
French silent letters
French spelling is a museum. Spoken French threw a lot of final consonants out and kept them on the page. If you pronounce every letter you see, you sound like a dictionary, not a person. The skill is knowing what to leave on the page.
Most final consonants are quiet
Final -s, -t, -d, -x, -z, -p are usually silent: petit, grand, prix, nez, trop. The plural -s you write on nouns is almost never a sound of its own. les amis gets its extra sound from liaison, not from pronouncing the s on ami.
Final -e is often a mute e: table, porte. In careful speech some people give it a tiny schwa. In conversation it often disappears and the rhythm shortens.
Write it, don’t say it
petit
peh-tee — no t, until petite or petit_ami vous parlez
the z is silent; the -ez is the /e/ of parler beaucoup
bo-coo — p is decoration temps
the nasal vowel; p and s stay on the page
The letters that often stay
A classroom mnemonic is CaReFuL: final c, r, f, l are often pronounced — avec, mer, neuf, sel. It is a hint, not a law. blanc drops the c. gentil drops the l. The r in infinitives (-er) is silent: parler is par-lay, not par-lair.
Usually sounded vs usually not
| Final letter | Often | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| c, r, f, l | pronounced: parc, mer, neuf, sel | blanc, gentil, infinitive -er |
| s, t, d, x, z, p | silent: gros, petit, froid, paix | liaison can wake s, t, x, z |
| e | mute or tiny schwa | é, è, ê are different vowels, not mute e |
Masculine — consonant often off
grand
grahn — d silent
petit
t silent
gros
s silent
Feminine — the consonant often returns
grande
the d is said
petite
the t is said
grosse
the s is said (as s, not z)
h is not a puff of air
French h is never the English h in house. Some words have h muet (elision and liaison as if there were no h: l’homme, les_hommes). Some have h aspiré (no elision: le hibou, les hiboux — a tiny hiatus, still no puff). You learn which list a word is on. You do not breathe harder.
Try this out loud
Read these as speech, not as spelling.
Il est petit.
He is small. — no t on petit
Elle est petite.
She is small. — t comes back
Vous parlez français.
No z. -ez is /e/.
Le temps est froid.
Nasal + silent p/s; d silent on froid
Questions this page usually raises
Keep going
Next pronunciation pages — same English, next sound.
A2 · Connected speech
French liaison
When a silent final consonant is pronounced because the next word starts with a vowel — required, forbidden, and optional liaison.
Read this resourceA1 · Vowels
French nasal vowels
How an, in, on, and un work in French — air through the nose, no extra n at the end, and the spellings that map to each sound.
Read this resourceA1 · Vowels
French u vs ou
Why tu and tout are not the same word. How to make French u, ou, and eu when English only gave you “oo”.
Read this resource
If you want a lesson around this
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