French Alphabet Pronunciation (with Audio)
French Alphabet
Master the French alphabet and its unique pronunciation. The French alphabet has 26 letters, just like English, but with different sounds and special characters.
The French Alphabet
Here are all 26 letters of the French alphabet with their pronunciation:
Special Characters
French has special characters called diacritics that change pronunciation:
Spelling Practice
Practice spelling common French words using the alphabet:
French alphabet chart: letter names, IPA and sound-alikes
French uses the same 26 letters as English, but almost every letter has a different name. The chart below gives the name of each letter as it is written in French, its pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and the closest English sound. Use it together with the audio cards above: listen first, then read the IPA to check exactly which sound you are hearing.
| Letter | French name | IPA | Sounds like (English) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | /a/ | "ah" as in "father" |
| B | bé | /be/ | "bay", without the y-glide |
| C | cé | /se/ | "say" |
| D | dé | /de/ | "day" |
| E | e | /ə/ | "uh" as in "about", lips slightly rounded |
| F | effe | /ɛf/ | "eff" |
| G | gé | /ʒe/ | "zhay" ("zh" as in "measure") |
| H | ache | /aʃ/ | "ahsh" |
| I | i | /i/ | "ee" as in "see" |
| J | ji | /ʒi/ | "zhee" |
| K | ka | /ka/ | "kah" |
| L | elle | /ɛl/ | "ell" |
| M | emme | /ɛm/ | "em" |
| N | enne | /ɛn/ | "en" |
| O | o | /o/ | "oh", without the w-glide |
| P | pé | /pe/ | "pay" |
| Q | qu | /ky/ | no English match: say "ee" with rounded lips, after a k |
| R | erre | /ɛʁ/ | "air" with a throaty French R |
| S | esse | /ɛs/ | "ess" |
| T | té | /te/ | "tay" |
| U | u | /y/ | no English match: say "ee" with lips rounded as for "oo" |
| V | vé | /ve/ | "vay" |
| W | double vé | /dubləve/ | "doo-bluh-vay" |
| X | ixe | /iks/ | "eeks" |
| Y | i grec | /iɡʁɛk/ | "ee-grek" |
| Z | zède | /zɛd/ | "zed" |
The letters English speakers mix up
Three pairs cause most spelling mistakes. G is pronounced /ʒe/ ("zhay") and J is /ʒi/ ("zhee"), which is the reverse of what English speakers expect. E is /ə/, a short "uh", while I is /i/, the "ee" sound. U is /y/, a sound English does not have: say "ee", keep your tongue where it is, and round your lips as if to say "oo". Q is that same sound with a k in front, /ky/. If you can say these letters without hesitating, you can spell your name, your street and your email address to any French speaker.
French accents and special letters
French adds five accent marks and two joined letters (ligatures) to the basic alphabet. Accents are part of the spelling, not decoration: they change how a vowel is pronounced, or they tell apart two words that would otherwise be spelled the same way. Capital letters keep their accents in careful writing (É, À, Ç), and official documents in Canada follow this rule.
| Letter | Name in French | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| é | e accent aigu | /e/ | été /ete/ Closed "ay" sound, as in "café". The most common accent in French. |
| è | e accent grave | /ɛ/ | père /pɛʁ/ Open "eh" sound, as in English "bed". |
| ê | e accent circonflexe | /ɛ/ | fête /fɛt/ Same open "eh" as è. The circumflex often marks an s that has disappeared (fête, compare English "feast"). |
| ë | e tréma | — | Noël /nɔɛl/ The two dots mean the vowel is pronounced on its own instead of joining the vowel before it: No-ël, not "nol". |
| à | a accent grave | /a/ | à /a/ No change in sound. It separates à ("to, at") from a ("has"), and là ("there") from la ("the"). |
| â | a accent circonflexe | /ɑ/ ~ /a/ | pâte /pɑt/ A slightly deeper a. The difference is clear in Canadian French and often lost in France. |
| ç | c cédille | /s/ | garçon /ɡaʁsɔ̃/ Makes c sound like s before a, o and u: ça, garçon, reçu. Without it, c before these vowels sounds like k. |
| î | i accent circonflexe | /i/ | île /il/ No change in sound. Like ê, it often marks a lost s (île, compare "isle"). |
| ï | i tréma | — | maïs /mais/ Pronounce the i separately: ma-ïs (corn), not "may". Also in naïf and Loïc. |
| ô | o accent circonflexe | /o/ | hôtel /otɛl/ Closed "oh" sound, as in hôtel, côte and drôle. |
| û | u accent circonflexe | /y/ | sûr /syʁ/ Same sound as plain u. It separates sûr ("sure") from sur ("on") and dû from du. |
| ù | u accent grave | /u/ | où /u/ Appears in only one word, où ("where"), to separate it from ou ("or"). |
| ü | u tréma | — | capharnaüm /kafaʁnaɔm/ Rare. Pronounce the u separately from the vowel before it, as in capharnaüm (a cluttered mess). |
| ÿ | y tréma | /j/ | L'Haÿ-les-Roses /laj le ʁoz/ Very rare. Found almost only in place names such as L'Haÿ-les-Roses, near Paris. |
| œ | e dans l'o | /œ/ ~ /ø/ | cœur /kœʁ/ The o and e joined together. Usually an "uh" made with rounded lips, as in cœur (heart), sœur (sister) and œuf (egg). |
| æ | e dans l'a | /e/ | curriculum vitæ /kyʁikylɔm vite/ The a and e joined together, pronounced like é. Found only in a few Latin words. |
Tips for learning the French alphabet
Spell accents out loud
When you spell a word, say the accent after the letter: "e accent aigu", "c cédille". Say "majuscule" for a capital letter and "deux l" ("two l") for a double letter, so belle is spelled "b, e, deux l, e".
Learn the email symbols
@ is "arobase", a dot is "point", a hyphen is "tiret" and an underscore is "tiret bas". You will need these for phone calls, forms and the speaking part of the TEF Canada and TCF Canada.
Expect silent final letters
Most final consonants are silent: petit, grand, trois. The letters c, r, f and l are often pronounced at the end of a word (avec, finir, neuf, avril). A final e without an accent is usually silent too.
H is always silent
French never pronounces h: hôtel is /otɛl/. Words with an "h aspiré", such as le héros, block liaison and elision, but the h itself still makes no sound.
Practise with your own details
Spell your first name, last name, street and email address out loud every day for a week. These are the words you will be asked to spell most often in real life in Canada or France.