How to pronounce ‘e’ in French

As any student of French knows very well, knowing what sound a given letter represents in a particular word or context is not always a simple matter. In this article, we focus on a specific and deceptively tricky area of ​​difficulty: deciding what sound to pronounce for the letter ‘e’ in French.

The (relatively) easy case: ‘e’ with a written accent

French has two ‘e’ sounds that are often distinguished by a written accent. In these cases, the task of deciding how to pronounce the ‘e’ is usually easier. When written with the so-called grave accent (me), the letter represents an “open” ‘e’ sound. That is, an ‘e’ sound pronounced with the mouth relatively open and the tongue relatively low in the mouth, similar to the ‘e’ sound in the English word “set”. This same open ‘e’ sound also tends to be the one used when the ‘e’ is written with a circumflex accent (as in party).

When written with the so-called “acute” accent (star), this usually indicates a “closed” e: that is, an ‘e’ sound pronounced with the mouth less open and the tongue relatively high in the mouth. It is similar to the English vowel “ay” (as in “say”, “pay”) as in pronounced accents of Northern English. (However, unlike the “ay” vowel of many other English accents, it is not a diphthong.)

More difficult cases: ‘e’ without written accent

The most difficult cases occur when the ‘e’ appears without a written accent. Depending on the context, the letter ‘e’ can represent open or closed ‘e’, ​​a completely different vowel, or no vowel at all.

Cases where the vowel is usually the “closed” vowel e, as if written starincludes word endings -ez Y -er (where the ‘r’ is silent, like latestAhem or the infinitives of -er verbs) or before -ss- or -sc- (as in YHe drew, Ygo down). In “functional” words: Y more plural articles (the, from, meetc.), the vowel ‘e’ is almost always pronounced star.

Cases in which the vowel is usually the “open” vowel e (as if written me) are usually before a double consonant other than “ss” (lance, call) or two consonants (eg. FYsummer). When an unaccented ‘e’ is the first letter of a word (as in Yexam), is also usually pronounced me.

Then there are cases, usually at the end of a word, where the vowel choice is not really fixed. One of the two pronunciations (star Prayed me), but you can choose either one. A common case is -Y end of RemoveY Prayed deliveredY. A more conservative pronunciation has the opening me vocal. However, many speakers would use the closing star voice today. (This actually extends to other cases where an ‘e’ vowel appears in the pronunciation, but another combination of letters is used in the spelling, e.g. -ais from Englishor the -Oh from whiteboard.)

The case of the schwa or “neutral” vowel

Arguably the most complex case is that of the so-called schwa. This is a type of ‘e’ vowel that is normally pronounced with the tongue in a central or ‘neutral’ position, similar to the English word ‘the’. It is usually not accented and you find it in the French word the among other cases.

(In addition to when to pronounce it, the actual pronunciation of this vowel is also a complex issue. In reality, many speakers today pronounce this vowel as a French ‘eu’ vowel (whether rounded or not), or pronounce it differently. under different circumstances. For the purposes of this article, we ignore these details and assume that it is a central vowel similar to the vowel in the English word “the”.)

This “neutral” vowel is usually pronounced for a letter ‘e’ in cases not mentioned above. Then where:

  • the ‘e’ has no written accent;
  • does not occur before a double consonant or multiple consonants;
  • is not part of one of the other letter combinations (eg. -ez, -Y) which means it is pronounced like star Prayed me.

Examples of an ‘e’ representing a schwa are the ‘e’ vowels of sYhandY, Yhand, (he eatsY, (U.S. vYnot, almostY and in fact the vowels ‘e’ of the Y I.

What is particularly complex about the vowel schwa is that it is not always pronounced (or, to put it another way, it is sometimes “dropped”). It is beyond the scope of this article, and indeed it would be beyond the scope of a doctoral dissertation on the subject, to go into all the details. But here are some general rules:

  • the schwa is always deleted after another vowel (so in the words sawY, screamYNew Testament Prayed GoYthere is no possibility to pronounce the ‘e’);
  • is usually deleted before another vowel also, which is partly why you say the man instead of *the manbut it also means that almost a year pronounced “nearly a year,” or that like a brother pronounced “like a brother”;
  • otherwise in the end of a word or phrase (he givesY, the ministerY), a final -e is almost always deletedbut it can be kept or pronounced “partially” for emphasis.
  • in the same first syllable of a sentence or phrase, a schwa is often deleted in ordinary speech, even if that creates some “unusual” sound combinations: for example, Love you it is usually pronounced “j’t’aime” or “ch’t’aime”;
  • in many other cases in the middle of a word, sentence or phrasespeakers keep or drop the schwa to avoid “strange combinations of sounds” or make things “easier to pronounce”. So, for example, they would tend to drop the schwa in week (they perceive that the sentence “flows” a little better that way) but keep it in nine weeks (they perceive it as “awkward” to have two consonants ‘f’ and ‘s’ together without having a schwa before the next consonant).

Obviously, we’re overlooking several details here: for example, what makes an “awkward” combination of sounds in French (or more formally, what linguists call the phonotactics of the language). Part of mastering French means getting used to these various complex patterns. But the general rules above are, however, a starting point.

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