How to pronounce ‘e’ in French

As any student of French knows very well, knowing what sound is represented by a certain letter in a particular word or context is not always a simple matter. In this article, we focus on a specific and deceptively complicated area of ​​difficulty: deciding which sound to pronounce for the letter ‘e’ in French.

The (relatively) easy case: ‘e’ with written accent

French has two ‘e’ sounds that are often distinguished by a written accent. In these cases, the task of deciding how to pronounce ‘e’ is usually easier. When written with a so-called grave accent (me), the letter represents an “e” “open” sound. That is, an ‘e’ sound pronounced with the mouth relatively open and the tongue relatively low in the mouth, similar to the ‘e’ sound in the English word “set”. This same open ‘e’ sound also tends to be used when the ‘e’ is written with a circumflex (as in Game).

When written with the so-called “acute” accent (me), this usually indicates a “close” e: that is, an “e” sound pronounced with the mouth less open and the tongue relatively high in the mouth. It is similar to the vowel “ay” in English (as in “say”, “pay”) as it is pronounced in Northern English accents. (However, unlike the vowel “ay” in many other English accents, it is not a diphthong).

More difficult cases: ‘e’ without written accent

The most difficult cases occur when the ‘e’ appears without a written accent. Depending on the context, the letter ‘e’ can represent open or closed ‘e’, ​​a completely different vowel, or no vowels at all.

Cases in which the vowel is usually the vowel e “close”, as if it were written me, includes word endings -ez and -er (where the ‘r’ is not pronounced, like latester or the infinitives of the verbs -er) or before -ss- or -sc- (as in Dmessin, Dmespit). In “functional” words: and more plural articlesthe, from, me, etc.), the vowel ‘e’ is almost always pronounced me.

The cases in which the vowel is usually the vowel e “open” (as if it were written me) are usually before a double consonant other than “ss” (throw, call) or two consonants (eg. Fmestival). When an ‘e’ without an accent is the first letter of a word (as in mexamen), is also generally pronounced me.

Then there are cases, typically at the end of a word, where the vowel choice is not really fixed. One of the two pronunciations (me gold me), but you can choose any. A common case is the -and end of efand gold deliveredand. A more conservative pronunciation has the me vocal. However, many speakers would use the closure me vowel today. (Actually, this extends to other cases where a vowel ‘e’ appears in the pronunciation, but another combination of letters is used in the spelling, eg. -ais from English, wave -Oh from whiteboard.)

The case of the vowel schwa or “neutral”

Arguably the most complex case is that of the so-called schwa. This is a type of vowel ‘e’ that is typically pronounced with the tongue in a central or “neutral” position, similar to the English word “the”. It is generally not accented and you find it in the French word the among other cases.

(Besides when to pronounce it, the actual pronunciation of this vowel is also a complex issue. In reality, many speakers today pronounce this vowel as a French vowel ‘eu’ (rounded or not rounded), or pronounce it differently under different circumstances. For the purposes of this article, we ignore these details and assume that it is a middle vowel similar to the vowel of the English word “the”.)

This “neutral” vowel is generally pronounced for a letter ‘e’ in the cases not mentioned above. Then where:

• the ‘e’ has no written accent;

• it does not occur before a double consonant or multiple consonants;

• is not part of one of the other letter combinations (eg. -ez, -and) that means it’s pronounced like me gold me.

Examples of an ‘e’ representing a schwa are the vowels ‘e’ of smehandme, Dmehand, (ateme, (U.S. vmeno, almostme and in fact the vowels ‘e’ of the and I.

What is particularly complex about the vowel schwa is that it is not always pronounced (or, put another way, that it is sometimes “erased”). It is beyond the scope of this article, and indeed, it would be beyond the scope of a doctoral thesis on the subject, to go into all the details. But here are some general rules:

• the schwa is always erased after another vowel (so in the words sawme, shout outmeNew Testament gold to gome, there is no possibility to pronounce the ‘e’);

• is usually removed before another vowel also, which is partly why you say the man instead of *the man, but it also means that almost a year is pronounced “almost a year”, or that like a brother it is pronounced “like a brother”;

• otherwise in the end of a word or phrase (The dayme, the ministerme), a final -e is practically always erased, but can be kept or pronounced “partially” for emphasis.

• in the very first syllable of a sentence or phrase, a schwa is often eliminated in ordinary speech, even if that creates some “unusual” sound combinations: for example, I love you it is generally pronounced “j’t’aime” or “ch’t’aime”;

• in many other cases in the middle of a word, sentence or phrase, the speakers maintain or eliminate the schwa to avoid “awkward combinations of sounds” or make things “easier to pronounce”. So, for example, they would tend to eliminate schwa in week (they perceive the phrase “flows” a little better that way) but keep it in nine weeks (They perceive it as “strange” to have two consonants ‘f’ and ‘s’ together without having a schwa before the next consonant).

Obviously, we are missing several details here: for example, about what makes an “awkward” combination of sounds in French (or more formally, what linguists call the phonotactics of the language). Part of mastering French means getting used to these various complex patterns. But the general rules above are nonetheless a starting point.