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TEF Canada French IELTS General English PTE Core English Home / Learn French / Phonics Click any card to hear the sound. 139 grapheme-phoneme correspondences, in the order French schools teach them.
Order and example words follow the French Ministry of Education guide « Pour enseigner la lecture et l’écriture au CP » (Éduscol). Phonetic symbols are our own annotation for adult learners, not part of the source.
All Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Period 4 Period 5
Period 1 Basic vowels and first consonants 12 sounds /a/
ami
friend
/e/
été
summer
/i/
image
picture
/ɔ/
olive
olive
/y/
une
one (fem.)
/l/
la, lé, li, lo, lu
lune
moon
/ʁ/
ra, ré, ri, ro, ru
rire
to laugh
/f/
fa, fé, fi, fo, fu
fini
finished
/ʒ/
ja, jé, ji, jo, ju
jeu
game
/u/
ouvrir
to open
/ə/
le
the (masc.)
pronounced “eu”
/ø/
feu
fire
Period 2 Silent endings and core consonants 19 sounds fée
fairy
silent, word-final
jus
juice
silent, word-final
lit
bed
silent, word-final
deux
two
silent, word-final
lourd
heavy
silent, word-final
/v/
va, vé, vi, vo, vu
vélo
bicycle
/ʃ/
cha, ché, chi, cho, chu
chat
cat
/p/
pa, pé, pi, po, pu
papa
dad
/t/
ta, té, ti, to, tu
table
table
/b/
ba, bé, bi, bo, bu
bébé
baby
/d/
da, dé, di, do, du
dur
hard
/m/
ma, mé, mi, mo, mu
maman
mum
word-initial
/n/
na, né, ni, no, nu
nid
nest
word-initial
/ɲ/
gna, gné, gni, gno, gnu
ligne
line
syllable-initial
/z/
za, zé, zi, zo, zu
zéro
zero
/s/
sa, sé, si, so, su
sol
ground
word-initial
/s/
assa, assé, assi, asso, assu
chasseur
hunter
between two vowels
/z/
asa, asé, asi, aso, asu
rose
rose; pink
between two oral vowels
/e/
les
the (plural)
Period 3 Nasal and accented vowels 31 sounds /k/
car
coach, bus
before a, o, ou, u or a consonant
/k/
kilo
kilo
/k/
qui
who
/ɡ/
gare
station
before a, o, ou, u or a consonant
/ɡ/
guitare
guitar
before e, i, y
/œ̃/
lundi
Monday
/ɑ̃/
blanche
white (fem.)
/ɑ̃/
ampoule
light bulb
before m, p, b
/ɑ̃/
courant
running; current
present participles
/ɑ̃/
endive
endive
/ɑ̃/
décembre
December
/ɑ̃/
souvent
often
adverbs in -ment
/ɔ̃/
ongle
fingernail
/ɔ̃/
ombre
shadow
/ɛ̃/
fin
end
/ɛ̃/
imprime
prints
/wa/
moi
me
/wɛ̃/
loin
far
/ɥi/
lui
him
/i/
pyjama
pyjamas
/a/
là-bas
over there
/ɑ/
âne
donkey
/o/
auto
car
/o/
chapeau
hat
/œ/
sœur
sister
/œj/
œil
eye
/y/
j'ai eu
I had
ils jouent
they play
silent verb ending
/ɛ/
élève
pupil
/ɛ/
tête
head
/ɛ/
Noël
Christmas
Period 4 Spelling variants and the yod 36 sounds /ɛ/
belle
beautiful (fem.)
before a doubled consonant
/ɛʁ/
merci
thank you
before two consonants
/ɛ/
geste
gesture
/ɛ/
faire
to do
/ɛ/
neige
snow
/e/
chanter
to sing
word-final
/e/
nez
nose
word-final
/ɛ/
jouet
toy
word-final
heure
hour
silent, word-initial
/t/
théâtre
theatre
brouhaha
hubbub
silent, between two vowels
/f/
photo
photo
/s/
ceci
this
before e, é, i, y
/s/
garçon
boy
/s/
ourson
bear cub
syllable-initial or -final
/s/
science
science
/ʒ/
girafe
giraffe
before e, é, i, y
/ʒ/
pigeon
pigeon
/j/
ciel
sky
before another vowel
/ɡz/
examen
exam
/ks/
taxi
taxi
/ɛ̃/
pain
bread
/ɛ̃/
faim
hunger
/ɛ̃/
plein
full
/ɛ̃/
synthèse
synthesis
/ɛ̃/
symbole
symbol
/œ̃/
parfum
perfume
/ɔm/
album
album
/ɛ̃/
bien
well
after i or é
/s/
attention
attention
before i
/j/
yoga
yoga
/ɛj/
payer
to pay
between two vowels
/waj/
noyer
to drown; walnut tree
between two vowels
/ɛj/
asseyez
sit (imperative)
between two vowels
/ɥij/
appuyé
pressed
between two vowels
/j/
travail
work
word-final, after a vowel
Period 5 Doubled letters and rare spellings 41 sounds bb, dd, ff, pp, rr, tt, ss addition
addition; bill
doubled, one sound
/k/
accord
agreement
/ks/
accent
accent
/ɡ/
aggraver
to worsen
/ɡʒ/
suggérer
to suggest
/m/
pomme
apple
/ɑ̃m/
emmener
to take along
/n/
bonnet
beanie
/ɑ̃n/
ennui
boredom
/il/
ville
city
/j/
abeille
bee
after a vowel
/ij/
vanille
vanilla
after a consonant
/u/
où
where
/o/
hôpital
hospital
/i/
héroïque
heroic
/ɛ̃/
coïncidence
coincidence
/t/
thé
tea
/w/
alouette
lark
before another vowel
/w/
kiwi
kiwi
/v/
wagon
railway carriage
/ɛʁ/
mer
sea
pronounced, not silent
/t/
brut
raw
pronounced, not silent
/l/
naturel
natural
pronounced, not silent
/k/
bec
beak
pronounced, not silent
plomb
lead (metal)
silent, word-final
tabac
tobacco
silent, word-final
clef
key
silent, word-final
poing
fist
silent, word-final
outil
tool
silent, word-final
monsieur
sir
silent, word-final
compte
account
silent, syllable-final
automne
autumn
silent, syllable-final
/ə/
monsieur
sir
rare
/ə/
faisan
pheasant
rare
/ei/
paysan
peasant
rare
/k/
cueillir
to pick
rare
/s/
dix
ten
rare
/z/
deuxième
second (ordinal)
rare
/ɡ/
second
second (ordinal)
rare
/ʃ/
schéma
diagram
rare
/p/
absence
absence
rare
TCF is a trademark of France Éducation international. StudyPug is not affiliated with France Éducation international.
French word-frequency and minimal-pair data from Lexique 3.83 (New, Pallier, Brysbaert & Ferrand, 2004), used under the Creative Commons licence stated by its authors.ElevenLabs .