Consonants
IPA |
Examples |
English approximation
|
b
|
bon
|
about
|
d
|
deux, grande, Djibouti
|
today
|
f
|
faire, vif
|
festival
|
ɡ
|
garçon, longue
|
again
|
k
|
corps, avec, quand, Irak
|
sky
|
l
|
laisser, possible, seul, ville
|
law
|
m
|
même
|
moo
|
n
|
nous, bonne
|
no
|
ɲ
|
gagner, champagne
|
canyon
|
ŋ
|
camping, funk
|
camping
|
p
|
père, groupe
|
spy
|
ʁ
|
regarder, nôtre
|
Scottish English loch, but voiced; Northumbrian burr
|
s
|
sans, ça, assez, soixante, six
|
sir
|
ʃ
|
chance, tchèque
|
shoe
|
t
|
tout, thé, tchèque
|
sty
|
v
|
vous, wagon, neuf heures
|
vein
|
z
|
zéro, raison, chose, deuxième
|
zeal
|
ʒ
|
jamais, visage, Djibouti
|
measure
|
Semivowels
|
j
|
fief, payer, fille, travail, hier
|
yet
|
w
|
oui, loi, moyen, web, whisky
|
wet
|
ɥ
|
huit, Puy
|
between wet and yet
|
|
Vowels
Oral vowels
|
IPA |
Examples |
English approximation
|
a
|
patte, là, femme
|
trap
|
ɑ
|
pâte, glas
|
father
|
e
|
clé, et, les, chez, aller, pied, journée
|
mace
|
ɛ
|
baie, faite, mettre, renne, crème, peine, violet
|
best
|
ɛː
|
fête, maître, reine, reître, caisse, presse, Levesque
|
fairy
|
ə
|
reposer, monsieur, faisons
|
again (often elided, see e muet)
|
i
|
si, île, régie, pays, fils
|
seat
|
œ
|
sœur, jeune, club (Europe)
|
bird (RP)
|
ø
|
ceux, jeûner, queue
|
burn (RP)
|
o
|
saut, haut, bureau, chose, tôt, cône
|
story
|
ɔ
|
sort, minimum, pomme
|
off
|
u
|
coup, roue
|
pool
|
y
|
tu, sûr, rue
|
roughly like too in some dialects such as Australian; in other dialects, somewhat like cute; German über
|
Nasal vowels
|
ɑ̃
|
sans, champ, vent, temps, Jean, taon
|
roughly like song; nasalized (Europe) or (Canada)
|
ɛ̃
|
vin, impair, pain, daim, plein, Reims, synthèse, sympathique, bien
|
roughly like hang; nasalized (Europe) or (Canada)
|
œ̃
|
un, parfum
|
roughly like non-rhotic burn; nasalized
|
ɔ̃
|
son, nom
|
roughly like drawn (Australian); nasalized (France) or (Canada)
|
|