Spelling and Letter Combinations: Understanding Spoken French
Part of the French All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Interpreting French speech can be hard for English speakers —
and not only because the sounds are unfamiliar. French has a lot
of letter combinations that produce the same sounds. When you
hear nah-syohN, realizing that the word is likely spelled nation
rather than nassion allows you to quickly understand the meaning
of the word. Remember these patterns as you try to figure out
which words you’re hearing, and try another spelling if what
you’re hearing doesn’t make sense: é, ée, és, ées: When you add
a mute e, an s, or an es after é, the sound doesn’t change. In
the following examples, the past participle of the verb arriver
is always pronounced the same: Il est arrivé (eel ey tah-ree-
vey) (He arrived); Elle est arrivée (ehl ey tah-ree-vey) (She
arrived); Ils sont arrivés (eel soN tah-ree-vey) (They arrived);
Elles sont arrivées (ehl soN tah-ree-vey) (They [feminine]
arrived). é, er, ez: These s