How to Sound French: 12 Things You Need To Remember About Liaison
Improve the way you can speak French by learning all about liaison. Liaisons are exactly what makes you think French is complicated.
On this page
1. So… what is a liaison?2. “No Boundaries”3. Final Consonants… what final consonants?4. So liaisons appear when…5. Some liaisons are required6. Some liaisons are optional7. Some liaisons must NEVER see the light of day8. Changes in pronunciation9. Some examples for s, x, and z liaisons10. Some examples for t and d liaisons11. It is different from enchaînement12. It is quite different from elision tooDifficulty: Intermediate
There is a huge line between sounding like an actual French speaker and sounding like you’re spewing gibberish. We call it liaisons. When done right, congratulations, you will actually sound French-y and coherent. But when used poorly, you will appear as an unintelligible, bumbling mess.
Pardon??
We are here to help you navigate the disparity between the two.
1. So… what is a liaison?
Liaison (French) is what makes listening to and speaking French so darn difficult for newbies (and even not so newbies). Liaisons happen when a consonant which is normally silent, dead, or phonologically null, suddenly gets pronounced at the beginning of the word that follows it.
Think of it as just like your normally silent and docile friend who suddenly acts up under a specific set of circumstances. Like probably the quiet guy who turns loud and rambunctious after a bottle of beer (yeah you know those types). That’s exactly what liaison is like.
2. “No Boundaries”
Before we go into when and how liaisons occur, remember that syllable boundaries in connected French speech do not always coincide with written word boundaries. A consonant can become part of the next syllable. French still has word and syllable boundaries; liaison is one way sounds cross a word boundary.
3. Final Consonants… what final consonants?
Many final consonants in French are silent, but this is a tendency rather than a universal rule. The letters c, f, l and r are often pronounced, with exceptions; other consonants can also be pronounced, as in bus or ouest. Liaison applies to a normally silent final consonant in particular contexts.
4. So liaisons appear when…
The liaison steps into the spotlight and gets some airtime when a word that ends with a consonant (which is normally silent), is followed by a word that begins with a vowel or a mute h. The reason for this is to facilitate the melodious link between words in the contexts where liaison is required or allowed; a following vowel alone does not make every liaison mandatory.
When this happens, the sound of the last consonant will be merged with the syllable that follows it.
For example: ils ont.
As you can see, the first word ils ends with the consonant s while the second word ont begins with a vowel. To pronounce this, you say |eel zon| instead of saying |eel on| which would be so un-French and so wrong. See how s gets pronounced as z and becomes the start of the second word or syllable? That’s liaison for you, guys.
Compare this with ils sont which ends and starts with a consonant, and therefore does not require the services of the liaison. It is pronounced as |eel son|.
See the difference?
5. Some liaisons are required
We call this liaison obligatoire, and as the name implies, you should always use liaison in some cases.
Here’s when it is terribly necessary that you use liaisons:
Between a determiner and its noun or following adjective: un, les, des, ces, mon, ton, quels, etc.
Between a personal pronoun and its verb, or certain successive pronouns: nous avons, vous êtes, ils ont, nous en, etc.
Between an adjective and the noun it precedes: bon ami, petit enfant, grand hôtel, etc.
After the monosyllabic prepositions: chez, dans, sous, en, etc.
After comment in the conventional greeting Comment allez-vous ?; this is not a general rule for every health-related sentence.
After some monosyllabic adverbs, such as très and bien. Liaison after plus depends on its meaning and construction; it is not always mandatory. It is optional after pas, trop and fort.
After est, liaison is frequent but generally optional before a complement or past participle. Between a verb and an inverted personal pronoun, however, it is required, as in est-elle or sont-ils.
6. Some liaisons are optional
We call this liaison facultative. In some cases, you may or may not use liaisons because it is not mandatory at all (hooray!) So when do you need to use these optional liaisons?
When you feel fancy and you want to put your knowledge of liaisons to good use,
When you’re a bit on the older, more formal crowd,
When you’re giving a speech at the Académie française,
When you just wanna show off for no reason at all, and
When you haven’t bothered memorizing the list of required and optional liaisons.
Optional liaisons tend to be more frequent in careful or formal speech. Outside the examples here, check the construction: some liaisons are required, some optional, and some prohibited.
This is when liaison is optional:
After some single syllable adverbs like pas, trop, fort,
After forms of être, including est, before a complement or past participle. Liaison with an inverted personal pronoun is required.
Between a plural noun and a following adjective or preposition: des enfants aimables, for example.
7. Some liaisons must NEVER see the light of day
Remember when we said liaisons are used so that the sound of the string of words remains melodious, unbroken and pleasing to the ears? Well, there we said it. So in cases when liaisons ought to be used (theoretically) but they just don’t sound right at all when used, these are times when it is prohibited.
These include:
after the word et,
before words that begin with h aspiré (such as les héros)
before the word onze
after singular nouns or proper names
A plural noun is not a blanket prohibition: liaison with a following adjective or preposition can be optional, as in des chansons originales.
Inside certain plural compound nouns, such as porcs-épics and arcs-en-ciel. This does not prohibit liaison in every compound word: États-Unis has a liaison.
So remember if you feel like using liaisons at some point during those words, please…
8. Changes in pronunciation
There are some changes in the sound of the consonants when they are used in liaisons.
If the word ends in -s or -x, it will be pronounced as z,
If the word ends in -d or -t, it will be pronounced as t,
With final -n, liaison adds an “n” sound. The preceding vowel sometimes loses its nasal quality, as in bon ami, but often stays nasal, as in un ami, en effet or bien entendu. There is no general rule making a final -m sound appear in liaison.
Sometimes during formal speech, the -g ending is pronounced as k, but most of the time, it is left as it is — a g sound.
Neuf is pronounced with a v sound instead of f, but only when it is used with ans and heures.
9. Some examples for s, x, and z liaisons
trois amis
les enfants
aux enfants
mes élèves
certaines idées
vieux hôtels
les avenues
petits hommes
chez eux
nous avons
vous êtes
10. Some examples for t and d liaisons
petit ami
Où sont-ils?
Où est-elle?
un grand hôtel
Ils sont en haut
11. It is different from enchaînement
Enchaînement is when an already pronounced final consonant links to the initial vowel or mute h of the following word, as in avec elle. This is quite unlike liaison wherein a previously silent consonant gets pronounced because of the word that follows it.
12. It is quite different from elision too
It’s the opposite, really. Elision happens when a final vowel is dropped before a following vowel or mute h, as in je aime → j’aime. Think of it as your other friend – the one who is usually loud and obnoxious but suddenly goes silent when there is a hot girl nearby. Yep, exactly like that.
Aside from all those listed, the most important thing you have to remember is to keep listening to spoken French. Soon enough the liaisons would jump out at you and become all too familiar. So listen, listen, and listen some more. It will get ingrained in your system soon enough.
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