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 are the French words that 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 | (0:01 min) |
| dessus, dessous | dessus means on top while dessous means underneath; both can be used as adverb, preposition or a noun | (0:14 min) |
| deux | two, as in the number 2 | (0:29 min) |
| droit vs doigt | droit means straight while doigt means finger | (0:40 min) |
| écureuil | squirrel | (0:55 min) |
| en couleur | in color | (1:08 min) |
“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 in pronouncing “en couleur” because it sounds almost similar to “enculer” which is a pretty offensive term that could mean either “motherf*ck*r or a sexual act that involves the backside.
| en fait | in fact, actually | (1:21 min) |
| en haut | upstairs, at the top | (1:34 min) |
“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 | (1:45 min) |
| enseigner | teach | (1:57 min) |
| épanouissement | blossoming | (2:09 min) |
| étang | pond | (2:22 min) |
“I try it two or three different ways until I get the right one.”
-Yve French, via Facebook
| eux | them | (2:33 min) |
| fauteuil | armchair | (2:44 min) |
| feuille | leaf | (2:57 min) |
| feuilleté | flaky, as in flaky pastry | (3:08 min) |
| fille | girl | (3:20 min) |
| fleur-de-lis / fleur-de-lys | a type of flower; lily flower | (3:32 min) |
| formidable | formidable, tremendous | (3:45 min) |
| fourrure | fur | (3:58 min) |
| genre | a type or kind | (4:11 min) |
| grenouille | frog | (4:22 min) |
| gris | grey | (4:35 min) |
| gros | big, large, fat | (4:46 min) |
“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; also a slang term that means “hurry up” | (4:58 min) |
| gueule | mouth | (5:10 min) |
| hermès | a French luxury brand | (5:21 min) |
| heure | hour | (5:34 min) |
| heureux,heureuse | happy | (5:45 min) |
| horreur | horror | (6:08 min) |
With regular practice and correct learning materials, these difficult words to pronounce won't become so difficult anymore!
You can download a copy of the audio when you subscribe to the newsletter by clicking the photo below. If you have already subscribed before, please check again the dropbox link I shared in the email when you subscribed; you’ll see that the file is already there.
So… did you find any of these words difficult to pronounce? There are still parts 3, and 4, you can check that out, too, and eventually master these hard French words!
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hi
a note of caution ‘ gueule’ for mouth I have found is actually considered fairly impolite in case my expat comrades think it is ok to use.
Only if you use it in “Ferme ta gueule!”
For instance you may be jovially talking about a friend’s reaction to a calamity and say “Tu aurais dû voir sa gueule! Hehehehe”