4.5: Phonétique
- Page ID
- 195188
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In French, the letter e is often silent, such as at the end of a word, as in neige. Note, however, that the letter e is different from è, é, or ê. These letters are never silent.
Examples: père, mère, être, musée, marié.
There are several rules governing when e muet must be retained and when it must be deleted. Note however that retention or deletion also depends on the rapidity of speech, stylistic emphasis, and the type of consonants that precede or follow the e muet.
When the e is pronounced, as for example the vowel in the last word of faites-le, it is represented by the phonetic symbol /ə/. To produce this sound, round your lips and protrude them as for the pronunciation of deux.
Prononcez les mots suivants. Faites attention aux voyelles e, è, é, ê.
la côte
à côté
la fête
nous avons fêté
le frère
la fraternité
la pâte
le pâté
je nage
j'ai nagé
1. Phrase-final e muet is always dropped, unless it is the direct object pronoun le.
Examples: la musique, la carte, je mange; fais-le, regarde-le
2. Within a word or phrase, the e muet is often dropped if it is preceded by a single consonant. If, however, there are two consonants preceding the e muet, it is retained so as to avoid three consonants coming together.
Examples: rapidement, sous le bureau; mercredi, simplement
3. When there are multiple monosyllabic words in a row with the e muet, usually half of them will be dropped.
Examples: Je ne travaille pas. Je le fais.
Aknowledgment: some parts of this page are partially adopted from Francais Interactif.