Explore liaison and elision in French pronunciation with clear examples and pronunciation guides. Learn how to connect words naturally and improve your flow and accent for confident spoken French.
Learn liaison and elision in French pronunciation with easy-to-understand examples and practice exercises. Improve your fluency and make your speech more natural and effortless.
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La liaison et l'élision françaises façonnent le flux musical de la parole en reliant les sons et en sautant certains voyelles. Ce guide couvre quand elles se produisent et fournit des exemples pour s'entraîner.
French liaison and elision shape the musical flow of speech by linking sounds and skipping vowels. This guide covers when they happen and gives examples to practice.
Liaison
La liaison se produit lorsqu'une consonne finale normalement muette est prononcée pour connecter un mot se terminant par cette consonne à un mot suivant commençant par une voyelle ou un h muet. Elle aide à rendre la discours fluide.
Liaison occurs when a normally silent final consonant is pronounced to connect a word ending in that consonant to a following word that begins with a vowel or mute h. It helps speech run smoothly.
When Liaison Happens
Liaison is common in contexts like between function words (articles, pronouns, prepositions) and nouns, between adjectives and nouns, and in set expressions. It also occurs in formal speech and careful pronunciation.
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When Liaison Is Forbidden
Liaison does not happen after singular nouns, after certain adverbs, after et, and in some informal speech contexts. Forcing liaison where it is forbidden sounds unnatural.
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Optional Liaison
Some liaisons are optional and depend on speech register: speakers may choose to link or not in casual conversation. These optional liaisons tend to occur between an auxiliary and a past participle, or between a verb and a pronoun.
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Examples
Elision
L'élision consiste à supprimer une voyelle finale non accentuée, généralement e, avant un mot débutant par une voyelle ou un h muet, en la remplaçant par une apostrophe dans l'écriture. Elle maintient le rythme et évite des pauses gênantes.
Elision is the process of dropping a final unstressed vowel, usually e, before a word that begins with a vowel or mute h, replacing it with an apostrophe in writing. It maintains rhythm and avoids awkward pauses.
Common Elisions
Elision regularly occurs with articles le*, *la, pronouns je*, *me*, *te*, *se, and short function words like ne, de, and que when the next word starts with a vowel or mute h.
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Fixed Forms Without Elision
Some expressions resist elision for emphasis or because they are fixed phrases, such as la haut (when haut is not mute h) or je before certain words in poetry or song.
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Examples
Summary
Liaison links a final consonant sound to a following vowel to smooth speech, while elision cuts out an unstressed vowel and replaces it with an apostrophe to keep rhythm. Both are guided by rules about which words trigger them and which contexts allow or forbid them.
Practice
Listening and repeating set phrases aloud helps internalize liaison and elision patterns. Pay attention to whether liaisons sound natural or forced, and practice both reading and hearing them in context.
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