How to Pronounce Difficult Words in French: Part 2
Learn how to pronounce some of the most difficult French words submitted by the Talk in French community. With FREE audio.
Welcome to the second part of this series of articles about the most difficult French words to pronounce.
We asked the Talk in French community what French words they are having a hard time saying… And here are the results.
If you haven’t seen it yet, there is also a part 1 which can be found here, as well as parts 3 and 4.
| dehors | outside, outdoors |
| dessus, dessous | dessus means on top while dessous means underneath; both can be adverbs or nouns, and prepositions in certain constructions |
| deux | two, as in the number 2 |
| droit vs doigt | droit means straight while doigt means finger |
| écureuil | squirrel |
| en couleur | in color |
“I can’t say ‘en couleur’ without sounding very offensive. I dread the printers in work breaking down and explaining to the technician that there is a problem printing in colour !”
– Paulette, via Facebook
Note: Like Paulette, be careful when pronouncing “en couleur”: it can be confused with “enculer”, a very vulgar verb referring to anal sex. The related word “enculé” can be used as an offensive insult.
| en fait | in fact, actually |
| en haut | upstairs, at the top |
“I tried to say ‘en haut’ to a Frenchman but he couldn’t figure out what I was saying the first six times.”
– Hallie, via Facebook
| ennuyer | to annoy |
| enseigner | to teach |
| épanouissement | blossoming |
| étang | pond |
“I try it two or three different ways until I get the right one.”
-Yve French, via Facebook
| eux | them |
| fauteuil | armchair |
| feuille | leaf |
| feuilleté | flaky, as in flaky pastry |
| fille | girl |
| fleur de lis / fleur de lys | a lily flower; also the stylised lily used as a heraldic emblem |
| formidable | great, fantastic |
| fourrure | fur |
| genre | a type or kind |
| grenouille | frog |
| gris | grey |
| gros | big, large, fat |
“Helena-Anne J. Hill: Anything that involves a gr-sound in the beginning, like ‘gris’ or ‘gros’. Or just a gr- sound in general.”
Helena-Anne, via Facebook
| grouiller | to mill around, to swarm; se grouiller is a slang expression meaning “to hurry up” |
| gueule | mouth (of an animal; vulgar when used for a person) |
| Hermès | a French luxury brand |
| heure | hour |
| heureux, heureuse | happy |
| horreur | horror |
With regular practice and correct learning materials, these difficult words to pronounce won’t become so difficult anymore!
So… did you find any of these words difficult to pronounce? There are still parts 3 and 4, so you can check them out, too, and eventually master these hard French words!
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