How to say the vowel ‘u’ in French
How to say the vowel ‘u’ in French? There is one constant French sound that you need to pronounce clearly if you want the French to understand you. You need to know how to pronounce the vowel ‘u’
Find out in today’s episode how to ace it perfectly!
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How to say the vowel ‘u’ in French
First, we’re going to start by learning how to make the sound /y/ (/y/ is the phonetic symbol, written with the letter ‘u’ in French), which is very French sounding.
#1 How to pronounce ‘OU’ in French
The sound ‘oo’ is spelled ‘ou’.
To make it, you’ll lift the back of your tongue
U = high pitch
Ou = low pitch
Le poulet (chicken)
Le couscous
La moule (mussel)
La moutarde (mustard)
Le pamplemousse (grapefruit)
Le yaourt (yogurt)
#2 How to pronounce the letter ‘u’ in French
You start by making with sound /ee/ (written by the vowel ‘i’ in French). To voice the sound /ee/ your mouth should be slightly stretched. Keep holding and purse your lips together without your tongue. The sound is high pitch, almost whistling 😗
Les légumes (the vegetables)
Le sucre (sugar)
La prune (plum)
La mûre (blackberry)
La morue (cod)
Les crudités (grated and sliced vegetables plate)
La charcuterie (cold cuts of meats, salamis, meat spreads, etc.)
Bien sûr ! (of course!)
Let’s repeat!
Practice
Now let’s have fun!
Le poulet est sur le mur (The chicken is on the top of the wall)
La mûre est sous le mur (The blackberry is under the wall)
Le poulet est dans la cour (The chicken is in the courtyard)
Le pamplemousse est au-dessus du mur (The grapefruit is above the wall)
Voilà, you know how to pronounce the letter ‘u’ in French and make the difference with ‘ou’ ! I hope it was a five-start experience for you. I really want to be helpful and share my knowledge with you. So if you want to help other listeners to discover my podcast, go ahead an leave a five star rating on Spotify (only in the app), Apple podcast, Audible….
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Merci et à bientôt, Séverine