Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Lire le français !

What is reading ?

What is reading ?

1. Reading is a comprehension issueRead and understand the meaning

What is reading ?

1. Reading is a comprehension issueRead and understand the meaning

2. Reading is a pronunciation issueRead and know how to pronounce

Let’s try to read some French! Meaning ? Pronunciation ?

L’AIT est un institut de technologie international dont la mission est de former des professionnels qualifiés capables de participer activement au développement de la région Asie-Pacifique et à son intégration à l'économie globale.

L’AIT est un institut de technologie international dont la mission est de former des professionnels qualifiés capables de participer activement au développement de la région Asie-Pacifique et à son intégration dans l'économie globale.

l’ = theest = isun = an

de = of todont= whose

la = thedes = someau = to theet = andà = to

son = itsdans = into



















































Your teacher’s advice

Try to focus on mastering grammatical words because they are the most frequent words in the language and provide the link between the vocabulary words. Due to their complexity, you need a teacher to guide you.

Don’t focus too much on vocabulary words because those words can be easily find in dictionaries. You don’t need a teacher to increase your vocabulary.

French LanguageLe français

Pronunciation issue

French pronunciation

Some differences with English

1. Intonation or word stress doesn’t matter

2. Length of vowels doesn’t matter3. French vowels makes no voice

variation4. French consonants are harder

Most final consonants are silent

raParilon

blan

tsgc

Except –r , –l and sometimes -s

bartour

chauffeur

civiltotalhôtel

busatlasplus

Final –e is silentIt is there to pronounce the final consonant

problèmtourist

ThaïlandItali

eeee

VOWELS

6 vowels from the alphabet

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R

S T U V W X Y Z

5 basic sounds

English example

A [a] apple Canada

E [e] the menu

I = Y [i] physics Italie

O [o] opera moto

U [u] Lips as a kiss culture

The 5 basic vowels can go through 4 types of transformations

1 2 3 4

+ i / u + n/m + accents + il(le)a ai - au an/am à â ail(le)

e ei - eu en/em é è ê ë eil(le)euil(le)

o oi - ou on/om ô ouil(le)

i x in/im î ï ille

u x un/um û ü ù

1st transformationIf you add i or u to a/e/o you get a new sound

+ i + u

a [a] ai [è] paire au [o] audio

e [e] ei [è] beige eu [eu] feu

o [o] oi [wa] loi ou [ou] coup

2nd transformation add accents on top of the vowel

Λ \ / ¨

No effect

on sounds

a [a] â à - - - -o [o] ô - - -u [u] û ù - üi [i] î - - ï

2nd transformation add accents on top of the vowel

- / Λ \ ¨the [e] medal [é] may [è]

Affects sound

e é ê è ë

Accents are not apostrophe!

Summery

a [a] i [i] u [u]

ou [u]

é [é]

è [è]

place [plas] Chine [chin] vu [vu] route [rout] thé [té] mètre [mètr]

open vowels

closed open

e [e] / [è] menu [me.nu] gel [jèl]

eu [eu]/[EU] bleu [bleu] fleur [flEUr]

o [o]/[O] moto [mo.to] forme [fOrm]

1 sound / many forms

è [è] crêpe[krèp]

paire[pèr]

beige[bèj]

o [o] pôle [pol]

auto [o.to]

beau [bo]

3rd transformation add n/m to get a «nose sound»

+n+C +m (p,b,m)

ae

[ã] [want]

[ã]

France [frãs]

entre [ãtr]

ambulance [ã.bu.lãs]

ensemble [ã.sãbl]

i[ĩ] [went] instinct [ĩs.tĩ] Impossible [ĩ.po.sibl]

o [õ] [won’t] long [lõ] bombe [bõb]

u [ũ] [undo] jungle [jũgl] humble [ũbl]

Nasal + C or + Ø

Not nasal + V or + ng

ancêtre [ã.sètr]

sombre [sõbr]

prince [prĩs]

animal [a.ni.mal]

inaction [i.nak.syõ]

bonnet [bo.nè]

camp [kã]

parfum [par.fũ]

pigeon [pi.jõ]

Tintin [tĩ.tĩ]

shopping [cho.ping]

ng ≠ n

4th transformation add il/ille to get a «y» sound

il ill- ill-

a [a]

e [e]

eu [eu]

ou [ou]

i [i]

ail aill- [ay]

eil eill- [èy]

euil euill- [euy]

ouil ouill-[ouy]

ill- [iy]

paille [pay]

soleil [so.lèy]

deuil [seuy]

nouille [nouy]

sillon [si.yõ]

3 semi-vowels

+ V

i [i][y] or [i.y] bière [byèr]

client [kli.yã]

u [u][ɥ] cuisine [kɥ i.zin]

ou [ou] [w] ouest [wèst]

Finals are silent

fau =

cou =

sau =

mon =

Except

faute

coupe

saute

monte

barre

balle

fauté (fo-té)

coupé (kou-pé)

sauté (so-té)

monté (mõ-té)

barré (ba-ré)

ballet (ba-lè)

faut

coup

saut

mont

bar

bal

Finals are silent

pa =

mi =

ban =

lon =

por =

passe

mite

banque

bance

longe

longue

porte

passé [pa.sé]

mité [mi.té]

banquet [bã.kè]

longé [lõ.jé]

longuet [lõ.gè]

porté [por.té]

pas

mit

banc

long

port

Finals are silent

rou = rouge

route

roule

rousse

rouble

rougi

routé

roulé

roussi

roupie

roue roux

+ u / i + n / m + accent

a au / ai an/am

e eu / ei en/em é / è ê

o ou / oi on/om

i in/im

u un/um

Consonants

Alphabet (letters similar to English)


S T U V W X Y Z

Alphabet (letters with the sound -é)


S T U V W X Y Z

Alphabet (letters with the sound -a)


S T U V W X Y Z

Alphabet (letters with the sound -i)


S T U V W X Y Z

Alphabet (letters with the sound -u)


S T U V W X Y Z

Alphabet (others)


S T U V W X Y Z

Acronymes et sigles

ADN - AIT – BMW - CIA CDRom - CV - DVD - VIH ONG – OGM – QI - SOS TVA – USA – VHS – OTAN RSVP – IBM - TIC – ISO http – .fr - .be - .ca

Spelling names : A comme Animal

A - AnimalB - BananeC - CanadaD - DinosaureE - ÉléphantF - FamilleG - GénéralH - HôpitalI – Image

J - JournalK - KaratéL - LionM - MadameN - NationO - OccasionP - PacifiqueQ - QuestionR - Rapide

S - SystèmeT - TéléphoneU - UniversitéV - VitamineW - double VX - XylophoneY - i grecZ - Zéro

Consonants with 2 sounds

Like in English

C S cigare K café

G J girafe G garage

S S stop Z rose

H is silent

HôpitalHôtel HumbleHarmonie

Other specific letters

ch sh

charme - riche

gn compagnie - champagne

ç s

français - leçon

Rare consonants

K W X Y Z

French likes to haveDouble consonants + e

ette - esse – elle – enne - erre

trompette – cigarette – toilette omelette – baguette – squelette

presse – adresse - femelleguerre – terre - antenne - italienne

2 phenomenon in front of a vowel

- Liaison (links)

- Apostrophe

Liaisons (sound link)In front of a word starting by a vowel

excellent / article

excellent_article Read: excellen-tar-ticle

Apostrophe(to replace final -e)

Gramatical words le / je / de / te / me / quedrop their -e in front of a vowel

je + arrive = j’arrive (I arrive)le + éléphant = l’éléphant (the elephant)

de + Italie = d’Italie (from Italy)

exercices de lecture

a + m + ou + r = amour (a-mour)I + m + a + ge = image (i-mage)

Documents

Reading Guide