Lesson 9

Sound [ø]

In order to master the French [ø] you are going to need to... whistle! Yeah, yeah, you heard me, try to whistle several times, but only with your lips, do not put fingers in your mouth. This will help you to “feel” the position of your lips, that is needed for the French [ø]. Remember this feeling, look at the mirror and see how your mouth looks like. Now prepare to whistle, but only prepare, and without changing the position of your lips, pronounce the French [e] that you already know. This gives you the approximate French [ø]. That is all. Simply put, [ø] is the rounded version of [e].

Exercise 1. Pronounce:

[te — tø], [le — lø], [ne — nø], [ve — vø], [ke — kø], [de — dø].

Exercise 2. Read the words and try to memorize them:

Exercise 3. Read trying to remember the new words. Note the examples with the final x:

paix [pɛ] f — peace
je veux [ʒəvø] — I want
je peux [ʒəрø] — I can
adieux ! [adjø] — goodbye
monsieur [məsjø] m — sir, mister, gentleman (the pronunciation of this word is not according to the rules)
messieurs [mesjø] — gentlemen
affreux [afrø] m, affreuse [afrø:z] f — awful
capricieux [kaprisjø] m, capricieuse [kaprisjø:z] f — capricious
délicieux [delisjø] m, délicieuse [delisjø:z] f — delicious
fameux [famø] m, fameuse [famø:z] f — famous
heureux [œrø] m, heureuse [œrø:z] f — happy
merveilleux [mɛrvɛjø] m, merveilleuse [mɛrvɛjø:z] f — marvellous, wonderful
nerveux [nɛrvø] m, nerveuse [nɛrvø:z] f — nervous
précieux [presjø] m, précieuse [presjø:z] f — precious

Exercise 4. Read and translate:

Exercise 5. Translate from English into French (you may peep at the previous exercise, lessons, dictionaries):

1. I want to arrive on Thursday.
   
2. Pierre is sick, but he can work.
   
3. The sky is wonderful.
   
4. She is calm and happy.
   
5. Your (pl.) son is capricious, he cries, he wants to leave the college.
   
6. Madam has the wonderful face.
   

Sound [y]

To reach good pronunciation of the French [y], use the same algorithm that was suggested for the sound [ø] above. So, prepare to whistle, then, not changing the position of the lips, articulate the already known sound [i]. You will get close to the French [y].

Exercise 6. Pronounce:

[ti — ty], [li — ly], [vi — vy], [si — sy], [ki — ky], [ri — ry], [mi — my], [ni — ny], [ʃi - ʃy], [ʒi - ʒy].

Exercise 7. Read and memorize the new words:

Exercise 8. Read and translate:

Звук [ɥ]

Hopefully you managed to pronounce the French [y], so that the new sound [ɥ] will not be diffucult. The sound [ɥ] is the same [y], but is pronounced very briefly before the next vowel. It is almost like the English w but with tightly pursed. So, start to pronounce [y] — but only start! — and then quickly move to the next vowel. The semi-vowel [ɥ] appears in this rapid change of sounds.

Exercise 9. Pronounce:

[y — a — ɥa], [y — ɛ — ɥɛ], [y — e — ɥe], [y — a — ɥa], [y — i — ɥi], [y — œ — ɥœ].

Exercise 10. Read and try to memorize the new words:

Exercise 11. Now let’s review the vocabulary we’ve learned! Fill in the blanks with the words on the right, so that all the words are grouped by meaning: