Help:IPA/French

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of French on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of French in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Shortcuts

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents French language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

French has no word-level stress so stress marks should not be used in transcribing French words. See French phonology and French orthography for a more thorough look at the sounds of French.

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^[1]	canyon
ŋ	camping, funk^[2]	camping
p	père, groupe	spy
ʁ	regarder, nôtre^[3]	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^[4]	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^[4]	fairy
ə	reposer, monsieur, faisons^[5]	again (often elided, see e muet)
i	si, île, régie, pays, fils^[6]	seat
œ	sœur, jeune	bird (RP)
ø	ceux, jeûner, queue	burn (RP)
o	saut, haut, bureau, chose, tôt, cône	story
ɔ	sort, minimum, pomme	off
u	coup, roue^[6]	pool
y	tu, sûr, rue^[6]	roughly like too in some dialects such as Australian;^[7] somewhat like cute in other dialects; German über
Nasal vowels
ɑ̃	sans, champ, vent, temps, Jean, taon	roughly like song; nasalized [ɒ] (Europe) or [a] (Canada)
ɛ̃	vin, impair, pain, daim, plein, Reims, synthèse, sympathique, bien	roughly like hang; nasalized [æ] (Europe) or [ei̯] (Canada)
œ̃	un, parfum^[4]	roughly like non-rhotic burn; nasalized [œ]
ɔ̃	son, nom	roughly like Australian drawn; nasalized [o] (Europe) or [ou̯] (Canada)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Example	Description
.	pays [pe.i]^[8]	syllable boundary
‿	les agneaux [lez‿aɲo], grand-oncle [ɡʁɑ̃t‿ɔ̃kl]	liaison

^ In European French, /ɲ/ is merging with /nj/, but in Quebec, /ɲ/ is distinguished from /nj/.
^ In European French, /ŋ/ is often pronounced [ŋɡ]. In Quebec, some speakers merge it with /ɲ/ and some speakers pronounce it exactly as in English.
^ The French rhotic /ʁ/ is usually guttural (uvular), but it varies by region. For example, in Quebec, [ʁ], [r], and [ʀ] are all used, but nowadays, most speakers use [ʁ]. This sound may also be devoiced to [χ] in certain contexts; see French phonology § Consonants for details.
^ ^a ^b ^c In Parisian French, /œ̃/ is usually merged with /ɛ̃/, /ɑ/ is often merged with /a/, and /ɛː/ is normally merged with /ɛ/. These pairs are always distinguished in Belgian, Swiss, and Quebec French.
^ In Metropolitan French, while /ə/ is phonologically distinct, its phonetic quality tends to coincide with either /ø/ or /œ/.
^ ^a ^b ^c
In Quebec, /i/, /u/, and /y/ may be laxed before a consonant to [ɪ], [ʊ], and [ʏ], e.g.
- film [fɪlm] "kit"
- route [ʁʊt] "foot"
- jupe [ʒʏp] roughly like Scottish "goose"; German "müssen"
For more details, see Quebec French phonology § Vowels.
^ More dialects include New Zealand, most accents of Southern England (including Multicultural London, Cockney, Estuary and modern Received Pronunciation), Scouse, Mancunian, Scottish, Ulster, Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and younger Californian.
^ The syllable break ⟨.⟩ is used sparingly.

[1] In European French, /ɲ/ is merging with /nj/, but in Quebec, /ɲ/ is distinguished from /nj/.

[2] In European French, /ŋ/ is often pronounced [ŋɡ]. In Quebec, some speakers merge it with /ɲ/ and some speakers pronounce it exactly as in English.

[3] The French rhotic /ʁ/ is usually guttural (uvular), but it varies by region. For example, in Quebec, [ʁ], [r], and [ʀ] are all used, but nowadays, most speakers use [ʁ]. This sound may also be devoiced to [χ] in certain contexts; see French phonology § Consonants for details.

[merger-4] In Parisian French, /œ̃/ is usually merged with /ɛ̃/, /ɑ/ is often merged with /a/, and /ɛː/ is normally merged with /ɛ/. These pairs are always distinguished in Belgian, Swiss, and Quebec French.

[5] In Metropolitan French, while /ə/ is phonologically distinct, its phonetic quality tends to coincide with either /ø/ or /œ/.

[lax-qc-6] In Quebec, /i/, /u/, and /y/ may be laxed before a consonant to [ɪ], [ʊ], and [ʏ], e.g.
film [fɪlm] "kit"

route [ʁʊt] "foot"

jupe [ʒʏp] roughly like Scottish "goose"; German "müssen"
For more details, see Quebec French phonology § Vowels.

[7] film [fɪlm] "kit"

[8] route [ʁʊt] "foot"

[9] jupe [ʒʏp] roughly like Scottish "goose"; German "müssen"

[y-7] More dialects include New Zealand, most accents of Southern England (including Multicultural London, Cockney, Estuary and modern Received Pronunciation), Scouse, Mancunian, Scottish, Ulster, Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and younger Californian.

[8] The syllable break ⟨.⟩ is used sparingly.

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