The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents French language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

English approximations are in some cases very approximate, and only intended to give a general idea of the pronunciation. See French phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of French.

Unlike most European languages, French has no stress at the level of the word, so stress marks should not be used in transcribing French words. See here for explanation.

Consonants
IPA Examples Nearest English equivalent
b beau beau
d doux do
f fête festival
ɡ gain gain
ɥ huit (simultaneous y and w)
j fief, fille yes
k queue, cabas sky
l loup clean
m mou moo
n nous no
ɲ agneau canyon
p passé spy
ʁ[1] roue (French "r")
s sœur, hausse sir
ʃ chou shoe
t tout sty
v vous view
w oui we
z zain, hase zoo
ʒ joue, geai measure
Marginal consonants
ŋ parking parking
Vowels
IPA Examples Nearest English equivalent
a patte pat
ɑ[2] pâte bra
ɑ̃ sans Nasalized [ɑ]
e clé clay
ɛ faite festival
ɛː[3] fête (as [ɛ], but longer)
ɛ̃ saint Nasalized [ɛ] or [æ]
ə[4] repeser about, sofa
i si see
œ sœur similar to bird
œ̃[5] brun Nasalized [œ]
ø ceux similar to bird
o sot sole
ɔ sort sort
ɔ̃ son Nasalized [ɔ] or [ɒ]
u sous zoo
y tu similar to cute

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The French rhotic varies from region to region, though it is often uvular (especially in Northern France); the more common pronunciations include a voiced uvular fricative ([ʁ]) and a uvular trill ([ʀ])
  2. ^ often replaced by [a]
  3. ^ often replaced by [ɛ]; not found in standard French
  4. ^ In French, /ə/ is pronounced with some lip rounding; for a number of speakers, it is also more front and may even be phonetically identical to the vowel of sœur.
  5. ^ often replaced by [ɛ̃]