Ways

I am going to give you some tips to get better at reading in the French language. There are a few points  that it is better if you know them. If you do not know them it is going to be harder to continue to improve your French language. If you do not know how to read  well, maybe it is going to be hard for you to sound like a French speaker. I suggest you to read this page until the end so you are going to know well how to read in French.  

Les lettres à la fin d’un mot / The final letters of a word

First of all. When we speak the French language the sound has more importance than the letters.

Les lettres muettes : les fin de mots avec les lettres P-D-T-S-X-Z / Silent letters : ends with the letters P-D-T-S-X-Z

The first point is that the silent letters are the letters that we do not say, we do not use them when we speak in the French language. They are always at the end of the word. So, there are 4 different types of silent letters (lettres muettes). The words with an ending with the letters P-D-T-S-X-Z. When a word is ending with one of those letters (P-D-T-S-X-Z) we do not say it. For example : du sirop (some syrup). We do not pronounce the last letter, we do not say the letter p. In English for « some syrup » we pronounce the last letter, we say the letter p, but we do not say it in French. For example, for the word un nid (a nest), we do not pronounce the last letter, we do not say the letter d. For the word un lit (a bed), we do not say the last letter, we donot say the letter T. For the word une souris (a mouse), we do not say the last letter, we do not say the S. For the word une toux (a cough), we do not say the last letter, we do not say the letter X. For the word un nez (a nose), we do not say the last letter, we do not say the letter Z.

Les lettres muettes : le pluriel / Silent letters : plural

The second point we are going to see is the plural of the words. If the plural of the verbs is made whit the letter S or the letter X we do not say them. For example, for the word : deux cafés (two coffees), we do not say the last letter, we do not pronounce the S. For the word Les couteaux (knives), we do not say the last letter, we do not say the letter X.  

Les lettres muettes : les mots qui finissent par la lettre E / Silent letters : the wordswith the letter E at the end

The third point is when the word ends with the letter E we do not say it. For example, the word la plage (the beach), we say just the letter G but we do not say the letter E. The word le téléphone (the phone), we do not say the letter E. This rule is very important, when the last letter of the word is an E because in the French language a lot of words has the letter E at the end. When you see the letter E at the end of a word you do not say it.

Les lettres muettes : le pluriel des verbes qui ont une fin en ENT /Silent letters : plural of the verbs which have the ENT end

The fourth point is the plural of verbs with the letter ENT at the end. For example if you want to say « they are walking » you are going to say ils marchent, you will not say the last letters ENT.  

Les liaisons en français / The connections in French

The second part is about the connections (les liaisons). It is about how we make the link between two words. People who learn the French language says that the French native speakers speak too fast, the reason is that we do not really seperate some words. We said them really fastly. If the end of a word is une consonne (a consonant) and that the word that comes right after starts with une voyelle (a vowel) the probability that we are going to link them is high.

Here are some examples :

De temps en temps (from time to time). The word temps ends with the consonant S, because en starts with the vowel E we make the link between the words temps and en.

Mes amis (my friends). The word mes ends with the consonnant (la consonne) S and the word amis begins with the vowel A, so when we speak we make the link between these two words.  

Nous nous sommes bien amusés (we had a lot of fun), we make the link between the consonnant N and the vowel A.

Quels autres produits ? (What other products ?), we make the link between the word quels because it ends with the consonnant S, and the word autres which begins with the vowel A.

Nous avons un rendez-vous (we have an appointment). We make the link between the word nous which ends whith the consonnant S and the verb avons which begins with the vowel A.

C’est un bon exercice (It is a good exercise). We make the link between the word bon that ends with the consonnant N and the word exercise that begins with the vowel E.

Les verbes à l’infinitif / The infinitive verbs

Peut-on aller au parc ? (Can we go to the park ?), we never make the link between an infinitive verb like the verb aller (to go) et the word au. We never make the link with infinitive verbs with anything else.

Quand la lettre H est au début du mot / When the letter H is at the beginning of the word

When the word starts with the letter H we do not make the link with the previous word.

Here are some examples :

The word un haricot (a bean) begins with the letter H, so when we speak we do not make the link between the word un and the word haricot.

Les héros (heroes) begins with the letter H, so when we speak we do not make the link between the word les and the word héros.