LinguaLiaison: the sleeping consonant wakes up
A final consonant is usually silent – but only asleep. When the next word begins with a vowel or a silent h, the consonant wakes up and glues itself onto that word. This is the liaison: les amis is “lé-za-mi”, vous êtes “vou-zèt”, un homme “un-nom”, c’est un “sè-tun”, deux ans “deu-zan”, des enfants “dé-zan-fan”. The sound changes on the way: s and x wake up as z, d wakes up as t (grand ami “gran-ta-mi”), n sounds while the vowel before it stays nasal. The liaison is obligatory after the little words that go with a noun or a verb – articles (les, des, un), pronouns (nous, vous, ils, elles), numbers (deux, trois, six, dix) – and in c’est un, c’est une. It never happens after et: un homme et une femme keeps a clear gap before une.
| Written | Heard | What wakes up |
|---|---|---|
| les amis | lay-za-mee | the s, as a z |
| vous êtes | voo-zet | the s, as a z |
| un homme | uh(n)-nom | the n; the h is silent |
| c’est un | seh-tun | the t |
| deux ans | duh-zah(n) | the x, as a z |
| des enfants | day-zah(n)-fah(n) | the s of des; the final s stays silent |
Nous avons deux enfants et un chat.We have two children and a cat.
Elision: the vowel that disappears
Little words that end in e or a – le, la, je, ne, que, de, ce – lose that vowel before a word starting with a vowel or a silent h, and an apostrophe marks the place: l’ami, l’école, l’homme, j’habite, je n’ai pas, qu’est-ce que, d’accord, c’est. This elision is not a choice: je habite does not exist in French. Before a consonant nothing happens – le garçon, je parle, je ne parle pas. The apostrophe is part of the spelling, with no space on either side, and it always stands for exactly one letter. Other words keep their vowel: tu stays tu in careful French (tu es), and si elides only before il – s’il vous plaît.
| Full form | Before a vowel | Example |
|---|---|---|
| le, la | l’ | l’ami, l’école, l’homme |
| je | j’ | j’habite |
| ne | n’ | je n’ai pas |
| que | qu’ | qu’est-ce que |
| de | d’ | d’accord, pas d’enfants |
| ce | c’ | c’est un ami |
Qu’est-ce que c’est ? – C’est l’école de Léa.What is it? – It’s Léa’s school.
The rhythm of French: even syllables, rising questions
English words carry a strong stressed syllable – PHO-to, ho-TEL. French words do not: every syllable has the same weight, and only the last syllable of a group is a little longer – pho-TO, ho-TEL, les amis de Lé-A. That is why French sounds like one smooth line. On that line the melody does the work of grammar. A statement falls at the end: Vous êtes étudiant. The same words with a rising voice become a yes/no question: Vous êtes étudiant ? – no extra word is needed. Il y a (“there is”, “there are”) follows the same rule: Il y a des enfants. falls, Il y a des enfants ? rises. To ask about a thing, Qu’est-ce que opens the sentence: Qu’est-ce que c’est ?
| Melody | Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| falls | C’est un ami. | He is a friend. |
| rises | C’est un ami ? | Is he a friend? |
| falls | Il y a des enfants. | There are children. |
| rises | Il y a des enfants ? | Are there children? |
Il y a un homme à la porte ?Is there a man at the door?
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| les amis | the friends | Les amis de Tom sont anglais. Tom’s friends are English. |
| un homme | a man | Un homme entre dans le café. A man walks into the café. |
| vous êtes | you are (vous) | Vous êtes de Paris ? Are you from Paris? |
| c’est un | it is a, he is a | C’est un ami de l’école. He is a friend from school. |
| j’habite | I live | J’habite à Lyon avec ma sœur. I live in Lyon with my sister. |
| l’école | the school (feminine) | L’école est petite. The school is small. |
| qu’est-ce que | what (in a question) | Qu’est-ce que tu épelles ? What are you spelling? |
| il y a | there is, there are | Il y a un tréma dans Noël. There is a diaeresis in Noël. |
| des enfants | children, some children | Il y a des enfants dans le parc. There are children in the park. |
| deux ans | two years | Ma fille a deux ans. My daughter is two years old. |
| je n’ai pas | I do not have | Je n’ai pas de vélo. I don’t have a bike. |
| d’accord | OK, all right | – À demain ? – D’accord ! – See you tomorrow? – OK! |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
In which phrase does the s of les wake up and sound like a z?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.