French has 36 phonemes. English has roughly 44. The overlap is smaller than people expect.
This is a complete reference for French IPA — every vowel, every nasal vowel, every consonant, every semivowel — with example words and the mouth-position notes that make them clickable in your head.
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Oral vowels (12)
These are the vowels you can pronounce with airflow through the mouth only.
| IPA | Example | English approximation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /i/ | si /si/ | "see" but shorter and tenser | Lips spread, tongue high front. |
| /e/ | été /e.te/ | "ay" without the glide | Pure vowel, no /j/ off-glide. |
| /ɛ/ | père /pɛʁ/ | "eh" in "bed" | Slightly more open than /e/. |
| /a/ | patte /pat/ | "a" in American "cat" but front | The "front a" — disappearing in modern French. |
| /ɑ/ | pâte /pɑt/ | "ah" in "father" | The "back a" — also disappearing. Most speakers merge /a/ and /ɑ/. |
| /ɔ/ | botte /bɔt/ | "aw" in "thought" but shorter | Lips rounded, lower jaw. |
| /o/ | beau /bo/ | "oh" without glide | Pure rounded mid-back vowel. |
| /u/ | tout /tu/ | "oo" in "boot" but tenser | Lips tightly rounded. |
| /y/ | tu /ty/ | No English equivalent | Say /i/, then round your lips. |
| /ø/ | peu /pø/ | No English equivalent | Say /e/, then round your lips. |
| /œ/ | peur /pœʁ/ | No English equivalent | Say /ɛ/, then round your lips. |
| /ə/ | le /lə/ | "uh" in "sofa" | Schwa — appears in unstressed positions. |
The killer trio for English speakers: /y/, /ø/, /œ/. They don't exist in English. The trick is always the same: take the English-friendly unrounded vowel and add lip rounding. Hold a finger over your mouth if you have to.
Nasal vowels (4)
Air goes through both mouth and nose. These are what gives French its distinctive sound.
| IPA | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| /ɛ̃/ | vin /vɛ̃/, pain /pɛ̃/ | "eh" but with the soft palate lowered. |
| /ɑ̃/ | blanc /blɑ̃/, temps /tɑ̃/ | "ah" nasalized. The most common nasal vowel. |
| /ɔ̃/ | bon /bɔ̃/, mon /mɔ̃/ | "oh" nasalized, lips rounded. |
| /œ̃/ | un /œ̃/, brun /bʁœ̃/ | Increasingly merging with /ɛ̃/ in standard Parisian French. |
Critical rule: the n or m that creates the nasalization is not pronounced as a consonant. Bon is /bɔ̃/, two segments — not /bɔn/. The n exists only to tell you the vowel is nasal.
English speaker mistake: keeping the /n/ consonant. Bonjour should be /bɔ̃.ʒuʁ/, not /bɔn.ʒuʁ/.
Semivowels / Glides (3)
| IPA | Example | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| /j/ | yeux /jø/, bien /bjɛ̃/ | "y" in "yes" |
| /w/ | oui /wi/, roi /ʁwa/ | "w" in "we" |
| /ɥ/ | huit /ɥit/, nuit /nɥi/ | No English equivalent — like /w/ but with /y/ lip rounding. |
/ɥ/ is the most distinctive — it's basically /w/ but starting from /y/ lip position. Practice: say suis /sɥi/. Your lips start tightly rounded, then open into /i/.
Consonants (17)
| IPA | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| /p/ | pas /pa/ | Unaspirated — softer than English /p/. |
| /b/ | bas /ba/ | Like English. |
| /t/ | tu /ty/ | Dental, not alveolar — tongue touches teeth. |
| /d/ | du /dy/ | Dental. |
| /k/ | qui /ki/ | Unaspirated. |
| /ɡ/ | gare /ɡaʁ/ | Like English. |
| /f/ | foi /fwa/ | Like English. |
| /v/ | vous /vu/ | Like English. |
| /s/ | sa /sa/ | Like English. |
| /z/ | zoo /zo/ | Like English. |
| /ʃ/ | chat /ʃa/ | Like English "sh". |
| /ʒ/ | jeu /ʒø/ | Like the "s" in "measure". |
| /m/ | ma /ma/ | Like English. |
| /n/ | na /na/ | Like English. |
| /ɲ/ | agneau /a.ɲo/ | "ny" as in canyon, single segment. |
| /l/ | la /la/ | Always "light l" — never the dark /ɫ/ of English "milk". |
| /ʁ/ | rouge /ʁuʒ/ | Uvular fricative, not English /r/. |
The /ʁ/ trap: the French r is uvular — tongue back, gentle fricative vibration. Not American flap, not British approximant. The English speaker who substitutes English /r/ marks themselves immediately.
IPAtics' Speech Analyzer records your /ʁ/ and reports phoneme-level scoring you can compare across attempts.
Liaison and elision in IPA
Two French features that don't show up in single-word transcriptions:
- Liaison: silent final consonant becomes pronounced before a vowel. Les amis is /le.za.mi/, not /le.a.mi/.
- Elision: vowel deletion. Le ami → l'ami /la.mi/.
When you see these transcribed in connected speech, you'll see the linked consonant pulled across the word boundary. IPA captures it exactly.
What this list doesn't show you
This is a reference. References tell you what exists. They don't teach you to pronounce things — only practice does.
The fastest path is:
- Read French text with IPA visible alongside.
- Hear the audio for words you're unsure about.
- Record yourself and compare phoneme by phoneme.
That's the workflow IPAtics is built around. Download free or try the IPA translator.
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