Pronunciation of 'r' at the end of a word?

Question

I have been told in the past that you never pronounce the 'r' at the end of a word in French (where 'r' is the last letter and preceded by an 'e').This holds true for words such as:> manger, danger, déjeunerHowever, there are words with the exact same construction where you do indeed pronounce the 'r' at the end of the word (albeit a soft pronunciation), such as:> hier, enfer, hiverIs there a rule or an etymological basis for this? Or is this just an inconsistency?

Answer 1

You are right about some words where the "er" at the end are indeed pronounced. The rule of thumb is this: Words that are not infinitive verbs that end in the letters C R F L (the consonants in the English word "careful") are pronounced. Example: chic Luc cher sur Malouf chef il Daniel

Note that for ALL infinitive verbs ending in "er," those two final letters will be pronounced "ay" as in the English word "day."