LinguaWhat you can already do
Three lessons in, you can read a French word you have never seen and spell aloud a word you have only heard. You know the letter names and the question Ça s’écrit comment ?; the five signs – accent aigu, accent grave, accent circonflexe, tréma, cédille – and what each does; the silence of the final consonant, the CAREFUL exceptions and the final e that wakes the consonant up; the liaison that glues les_amis and vous_êtes, the elision that turns je into j’ and le into l’; and the melody that makes a question out of a statement. This checkpoint puts all of it on the same page.
| Rule | Example | What you hear |
|---|---|---|
| a final consonant is silent | petit | no t at all |
| c, r, f, l are heard (CAREFUL) | hiver | the r sounds |
| a final e wakes the consonant | grande | the d sounds |
| h is never heard | homme | it starts with the vowel |
| liaison before a vowel | les amis | a z between the words |
| elision before a vowel | j’habite | je loses its e |
Spelling aloud, from the first letter to the last sign
Spelling in French is a small routine. You give the letter names in order, and each sign right after its letter: garçon is « gé, a, erre, cé cédille, o, enne », Noël is « enne majuscule, o, e tréma, elle ». A double letter can be announced as a pair: « deux esse ». The listener repeats the word and you confirm with C’est ça. Keep the letter names apart from the sounds: the letter g is « gé » even in garçon, where it sounds hard, and the letter e is « e » even in été, where both e’s carry an accent.
| Letters | Names |
|---|---|
| a b c d e f g | a bé cé dé e effe gé |
| h i j k l m n | ache i ji ka elle emme enne |
| o p q r s t u | o pé ku erre esse té u |
| v w x y z | vé double vé ixe i grec zède |
Ça s’écrit gé, a, erre, cé cédille, o, enne.It is spelled g, a, r, c with a cedilla, o, n.
Silent or heard, glued or apart
Two questions decide how a word ends. Is the last letter one of c, r, f, l? Then say it: chef, sel, avec, mer. Is the word followed by a vowel? Then even a silent letter comes back: les enfants “lé-zan-fan”, un ami “un-na-mi”, deux heures “deu-zeur”. Between the two sits the final e, which is silent itself but switches on the consonant before it: petite, grande, française. The glue works in the other direction too: before a vowel, le and la shrink to l’, je to j’, ne to n’, de to d’ – l’heure, j’habite, je n’ai pas, pas d’enfants. And two words never glue: after et, and before an h aspiré.
| Group | Link | Why |
|---|---|---|
| les enfants | liaison, s heard as z | les + vowel |
| un ami | liaison, n heard | un + vowel |
| l’heure | elision of la | la + silent h |
| et un ami | no link at all | never after et |
| le garçon | no link at all | a consonant follows |
Les enfants sont à l’école avec un ami.The children are at school with a friend.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| accent aigu | acute accent (é) | Le prénom Léa a un accent aigu. The first name Léa has an acute accent. |
| cédille | cedilla (ç) | Le c de garçon porte une cédille. The c of garçon carries a cedilla. |
| tréma | diaeresis, two dots (ë, ï) | Maïs s’écrit avec un tréma sur le i. Maïs is written with a diaeresis on the i. |
| épeler | to spell (aloud) | Tu peux épeler ton prénom ? Can you spell your first name? |
| majuscule | capital letter | Les noms de villes prennent une majuscule. City names take a capital letter. |
| petit | small, little (feminine: petite) | Un petit café, s’il vous plaît. A small coffee, please. |
| grand | big, tall (feminine: grande) | L’hôtel est grand et beau. The hotel is big and beautiful. |
| français | French (the language; as an adjective, feminine: française) | Le pain et le vin sont français. The bread and the wine are French. |
| heure | hour; o’clock (feminine) | Il est trois heures. It is three o’clock. |
| vous êtes | you are (vous) | Vous êtes anglais, monsieur ? Are you English, sir? |
| il y a | there is, there are | Il y a trois lettres dans mot. There are three letters in mot. |
| j’habite | I live | J’habite dans une petite rue. I live in a small street. |
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
Someone spells a word aloud: « ache, o accent circonflexe, té, e, elle ». Which word is it?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.