Since so many letters in French are silent or pronounced differently, what's the best way to learn word pronunciation?

Question

For example, I know that you are NEVER supposed to pronounce the letters ENT at the end of plural verbs, e.g. parlent, chantent, marchent, etc. but you ARE supposed to pronounce them when saying the name Laurent or how to pronounce words containing the letter E depending on what accent is on top of it, i.e. aigu, grave, or circonflex?

Answer 1

A lot of learning French pronunciation is memorization, sadly. However, as you become more and more familiar with the French language you will start to notice patterns which can indicate how something is pronounced. For example, you already realized that in the regular -er ending for 3rd person plural "-ent" you do not pronounce the "n" or the "t." In names like "Laurent" you may pronounce the "n" a little more (like "l-or-aun") than you would in those verb conjugations.

Other letter patters to recognize (though they all have exceptions):

1. If a word ends with a consonant, the last letter(s) are not pronounced, but if the word ends with an "e" the final consonant is pronounced.
2. e.g. "le lit" (the bed) is pronounced "l-uh l-ee" and the "t" is not pronounced or "le train" (the train) is pronounced "l-uh tr-aeh" and the "n" is not fully pronounced VS. "le frère" (the brother) is pronounced "l-uh fre-air" with a hard "r" at the end or "l'arbre" (the tree) is pronounced "l-ar-breh" though slight, still with the "b" and "r" pronounced.
3. This goes for the plural as well, "les lits" (the beds) is pronounced the "l-ay l-ee," with "lits" pronounced the same as "lit." This is the same for words that add an "-s" after an "e," "les frères" is pronounced "l-ay fr-air," with "frère" and "frères" pronounced the same way.
4. Endings like "-eux," "-eille," and "-eil" have their own pronunciation ("euh," "ayey," and "uye") that is consistent
5. There are many ways for a word to have an "é" or "aye" sounding ending
6. "-é"
7. "-er"
8. "-ez"
9. "-et"
10. "-ai," "-ais," "-ait," "-aient"

The different "e" accents can change the way a word sounds, but that is not always the case.

The circonflex accent "ê" usually does not change the pronunciation. Such as in the word "le forêt" (the forest") that word is pronounced as you normally would pronounce any French word "l-uh for-aye" (remember: no "e" at the end so the "t" is no pronounced and words that end in "-et" usually have an "aye" sounding ending).

The aigu accent "é" changes the ending of the word to sound like "aye" (see above) such as in "le café" or "le marché."

The grave accent "è" creates a more closed vowel sound. Think of how "café" ends with an open sound, the grave "è" sounds more like the "e" in "hello." Trying sounding the difference in "j'achète" (I buy) and "j'ai acheté" (I bought)

Answer 2

Hi, you actually don't pronounce the "NT" , only in plural verbs. We also don't pronounce the S or the Z at the end of words too. There are too many to list obviously and so many exceptions as well. In my opinion, the best way to get familiarized with pronunciation is by listening to it. Find videos online. I learned how to speak English this way.

Answer 3

Since pronouncing words in French can be so challenging, I suggest to my students that they go to the French to English Google translation website https://www.google.com/search?q=french+to+english&oq=french+to+english&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65j0l4.10350j0j8

&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8, type in any French word or text they want to hear pronounced and press the microphone icon at the top of the box. A native French speaker will pronounce whatever is in the text box exactly the way it is supposed to be pronounced.

I caution my students, however, not to rely on the English translation that appears on the other side since it may translate every single word literally or not translate something in context.