FRENCH VOWEL SOUNDS.
The Simple, or Vowel sounds, in the French language, are as follows:—
| French. | English. | French. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | (short) like | a | in | bat, | exemplified by | mal. |
| â | (long) like | a | bar | âge. | ||
| e | sounded like | a | villă | me, je. | ||
| è, ê | e | e’er, there | père. | |||
| é | ai, e | air, eh! | été. | |||
| i | ea | peak | pique. | |||
| î | ie | field | gîte. | |||
| o | o | rob | mol. | |||
| ô | o | no | môle. | |||
| u | no equivalent in English (nearest approach is u in brunette) | exemplified by | suc. | |||
| û | no equivalent in English | sûre. | ||||
| eû | sounded like | e | in | her | (but longer and deeper) | jeûne. |
| ou | oo | root | exemplified by | goutte. | ||
| oû | oo | noose | voûte. | |||
| an | no equivalent in English | tan. | ||||
| in | fin. | |||||
| on | bon. | |||||
| un | brun. | |||||
Y, when alone, or when preceded or followed by a consonant, is pronounced like an i; except in pays, paysan, paysage. When placed between two vowels, it performs the office of two i’s, and is always preceded by a, e, o, or u. When preceded by a or e, it unites its first i with this vowel, and sounds è, as in rayon, which is pronounced rè-ion; when preceded by o, its first i is sounded in conjunction with o, like wa in the English word wag, as in joyeux, which is pronounced joa-ieû; and when preceded by u, its own two i’s preserve their natural sound, as in appuyer, which is pronounced appui-ié.
A is long in the termination aille, except in médăille, je travăille, détăille, émăille, băille (I give). It is also long in ation, as, nation, admiration, oblation; pronounce therefore, pāille, limāille, canāille, nātion, admirātion, oblātion, etc.
In the terminations of the imperfect of the subjunctive of verbs of the first conjugation, the a is always short; as que je parlăsse, que je donnăsse.