User:W.andrea/sandbox/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.

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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^ⓘ ^{[note 1]}	canyon
ŋ	camping^ⓘ, funk^ⓘ ^{[note 2]}	camping
p	père^ⓘ, groupe^ⓘ	spy
ʁ	regarder^ⓘ, notre^ⓘ ^{[note 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^ⓘ, puis^ⓘ	between wet and yet

Vowels
Oral vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	patte^ⓘ, là^ⓘ, femme^ⓘ	trap
ɑ	pâte^ⓘ, glas^ⓘ ^{[note 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^ⓘ, Lévesque^ⓘ ^{[note 4]}	fairy
ə	reposer^ⓘ, monsieur^ⓘ, faisons^ⓘ ^{[note 5]}	again (often elided, see e muet)
i	si^ⓘ, île^ⓘ, régie^ⓘ, pays^ⓘ, fils^ⓘ ^{[note 6]}	seat
œ	sœur^ⓘ, jeune^ⓘ, club^ⓘ (Europe)	bird (RP)
ø	ceux^ⓘ, jeûner^ⓘ, queue^ⓘ	burn (RP)
o	saut^ⓘ, haut^ⓘ, bureau^ⓘ, chose^ⓘ, tôt^ⓘ, cône^ⓘ	story
ɔ	sort^ⓘ, minimum^ⓘ, pomme^ⓘ	off
u	coup^ⓘ, roue^ⓘ ^{[note 6]}	pool
y	tu^ⓘ, sûr^ⓘ, rue^ⓘ ^{[note 6]}	roughly like too in some dialects such as Australian;^{[note 7]} in other dialects, somewhat like cute; 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^ⓘ ^{[note 4]}	roughly like non-rhotic burn; nasalized [œ]
ɔ̃	nom^ⓘ, son^ⓘ	roughly like drawn (Australian); nasalized [o] (France) or [ou̯] (Canada)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Example	Description
.	pays^ⓘ [pe.i] ^{[note 8]}	syllable boundary
‿	un homme^ⓘ [œ̃.n‿ɔm], grand-oncle^ⓘ [ɡʁɑ̃t‿ɔ̃kl]	liaison

Notes

^ 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].
^ ^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.
gîte [ʒɪt] "kit"

boucle [bʊkl] "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].

[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.
gîte^ⓘ [ʒɪt] "kit"

boucle^ⓘ [bʊkl] "foot"

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

[7] gîte^ⓘ [ʒɪt] "kit"

[8] boucle^ⓘ [bʊkl] "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.

[note 1]

[note 2]

[note 3]

[note 4]

[note 5]

[note 6]

[note 7]

[note 8]

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See also

Notes