prononciation: Les lettres muettes

13 oct. 2017 08:46 - language-swap

Niveau intermédiaire plus

In French there is a whole bunch of letters that aren't pronounced even though they are written.
The most common is the -s il the plural. It is very important to write it but not to pronounce it.
Example:
* le chat → les chats
*l'arbre → des arbres

The second one is the -h that you have to write but you don't pronounce. It can be placed at the beginning of the word or in the middle of it.
Example:
* l'Homme
* une histoire
* une haie
* un souhait
* le théâtre

You can also count the -x, that sometimes is to be pronounced and sometimes not.
Example:
* la paix
* le prix
* heureux
* je peux

You can find some letters that are not pronounceable by putting a noun in its feminine way or by finding a word of its family.
Example:
* Un étudiant → une étudiante (here the -t isn't pronounced when it's a male subject)
* Un marchand → une marchande (here the -d isn't pronounced when it's a male subject)
* Une dent → un dentiste (here the -t isn't pronounced)
* remerciement → remercier (here the -e isn't pronounced)

However, sometimes it isn't possible to do so. To find the letters that aren't pronounced, you have to look for the word in the dictionary.
Examples:
* l'automne
* une sangsue
* l'alcool