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| Numbers and Phonetic Pronunciation | |
| 1. un (aN) 2. deux (duh) 3. trois (trwah) 4. quatre (kahtr) 5. cinq (saNk) 6. six (sees) 7. sept (seht) 8. huit (weet) 9. neuf (nuhf) 10. dix (dees) |
11. onze (ohNz) 12. douze (dooz) 13. treize (trehz) 14. quatorze (kah-tohrz) 15. quinze (kaNz) 16. seize (sehz) 17. dix-sept (dees-seht) 18. dix-huit (dee-zweet) 19. dix-neuf (deez-nuhf) 20. vingt (vaN) |
The majority of French words originated from vernacular Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin.
Example:
brother: frère (brother) / fraternel
finger: doigt / digital
faith: foi (faith) / fidèle
cold: froid / frigide
eye: œil / oculaire
The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognizable
than Italian words of Latin origin because as French developed into a
separate language from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of
many words was dropped or elided into the following word.
It is estimated that a little less than 13% (4,200) of common French
words found in a typical dictionary such as the Petit Larousse or Micro-Robert
Plus (35,000 words) are of foreign origin. About 25% (1,054) of these
foreign words come from English and are fairly recent borrows enabling
easier English French translation.
Source: Henriette Walter, Gérard Walter, Dictionnaire
des mots d'origine étrangère, 1998.
Spelling corresponds only weakly to pronunciation; in general,
the written form is more conservative than the spoken form.
This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the
Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling.
However, some conscious changes were also made to restore
Latin orthography:
Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum)
Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem)
As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict the spelling based on
the sound alone. Final consonants are silent more often than not. For
example, all these words end in a vowel sound: nez, doigt, pied, aller, œufs, œil,
les, lit, beaux.
On the other hand, it's very generally possible to predict the sound
based on the spelling.
The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.
grave accent (à, è, ù):
Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to")
vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where").
Over an e, indicates the sound /e/.
acute accent (é):
Over an e, indicates the sound /e/. Often indicates the
historical deletion of a following consonant (usually
an s): écouter < escouter.
circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û):
Over an e, indicates the sound /e/. Most often indicates
the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually
an s): château < castel, fête < feste,
sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension,
it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones:
du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of
devoir "to owe").
diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï):
Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from
the preceding one: naïve, Noël.
Diaeresis on ÿ only
occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses)
and in old French.
cedilla (ç):
Indicates that a c is prononuced /s/ when it would otherwise
be pronounced /k/.
The Walloon dialect has introduced the å for
the long open o, a long closed o, or a long a, depending on the local
varieties.
The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction
of oe in certain words (sœur, œuvre, cœur), sometimes
in words of Greek origin (œsophage, œnologie). It may be pronounced
as /e/ in those latter cases, otherwise just the same as the eu digraph.
Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few changes
have been made over the last two centuries.
French: français /frA~ sE/ ("fran-seh")
Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais
? /par le vu A~ glE/ ("par-leh voo ang-gleh")
OR "Vous parlez
hello: bonjour /bO~ Zur/ ("bon-zhoor")
good-bye: au revoir /o r@ vwar/ ("o-ruh-vwar")
please: s'il vous plaît /sil vu
plE/ ("sill voo pleh")
thank you: merci /mEr si/ ("mairr-see")
you're welcome: de rien /d@ rjE~/ ("duh
ryeh") (France); bienvenue /bjE~v ny/ ("byeh-venuh")
(Quebec)
that one: celui-là /c@lHi la/ ("sull-wee
la") or celle-là /sEl la/ ("cell-la")
how much?: combien /kO~ bjE~/ ("kom-byeh")
English: anglais /A~ glE/ ("ahng-gleh")
yes: oui /wi/ ("wee")
no: non /nO~/ ("non")
I'm sorry: Je suis désolé /Z@
sHi de zo le/ ("zhuh swee deh-zo-leh")
I don't understand: Je ne comprends pas
/Z@~ n@ cO~ pRA~ pa/ ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa")
Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin
("chin") or Santé /sA~ te/("san-teh")
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