Discuss and learn French: French vocabulary, French grammar, French culture etc.
French Vocab Games app for iPhone/iPad French-English dictionary French grammar French vocab/phrases
For the latest updates, follow @FrenchUpdates on Twitter!
Pronunciation Question
I understand that in the first conjugation both the singular and plural of the third person are pronounced the same, despite the different spelling, e.g., parle and parlent. But I wonder, does that also apply to the other conjugations as well? E.g., are finit and finissent pronounced the same? If so, would that also apply to other tenses, e.g., finissait and finissaient pronounced the same? Sometimes I wish I had a tutor...
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Frank on
-
Hello Brent,
"e" and "ent" indeed sound the same at the end of a verb.
"ait" and "aient" also sound exactly the same, as in "finissait"/"finissaient".
But I don't think it is the case for other suffixes.
"finit" and "finissent" don't sound the same. The first one sounds like "feenee", while the second one sounds like "feeneess".
-
Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on
-
As a rough guide:
-nt on the ends of verbs isn't pronounced
-in consonant letters (and groups of consonant letters) on the very ends of verbs, only "r" is generally pronounced
-a single -e on the end of a verb (and French word in general) isn't pronounced as such by most speakers, but it indicates that a consonant before it is pronounced.
So for example, in "(tu) perds", the final -ds is not pronounced. In "perdent", the final -nt is not pronounced (and never ever is on any verb). That leaves youw with "perde". Then, the final -e is not pronounced as such, but it does indicate that the "d" before it is pronounced. So "perds" and "perdent" differ in that the latter has an exta "d" sound at the end.
It's actually not true that the final -e is never pronounced. In reality, it's truer to say that it's not pronounced by most speakers most of the time. But if you don't pronounce it, nobody will accuse you of "getting it wrong".
-
Permalink Reply by Brent on
-
Neil, that's very interesting and very helpful. I'm most grateful to you! Peace. Brent
-
-
P.S. For pure completeness, I realaise I should add that there are some rare circumstances when the final consonant on a verb IS pronounced-- essentially in so-called liaison. (Liaison is when a final consonant is pronounced, and usually "runs on" to the beginning of a following syntactically-connected word beginning with a vowel.) Some of these are quite rare and some extremely rare, but for example, to varying extends, the underlined letter could conceivably be pronounced (most likely for emphasis, in very formal speech or song):
prends-en deux
take two (of them) (liaison obligatory in this case)
prenons un verre
Let's have a drink!
ils prirent un long chemin (v. formal)
they took a long route
© 2024 Created by Neil Coffey.
Powered by
