French Phonetics: Vowels (Introduction)

French vowels are different from English vowels. In English, some vowels are tense (the muscles in your mouth are tight), and some vowels are lax (the muscles in your mouth are loose and relaxed). In French, however, ALL vowels are tense.

This IPA chart shows most of the French vowels inside red boxes (the non-nasal vowels: these are made only in the mouth):

Vowels 1~7 are made in the front of the mouth, and vowel 15 is made in the middle. Vowels 9, 11, 13 and 14 are made in the back of the mouth.

Listen to these French sounds here.




Notice how the front vowels are in pairs: vowels 1, 3 and 5 are made with spread lips 展唇, but vowels 2, 4 and 6 are made with rounded lips 圓唇. Vowel 2 /y/ is also a Chinese sound (in Mandarin). The vowels on the left are made with spread lips, the vowels on the right are made with rounded lips.

The vowels in back are also in pairs, but only 9, 11, 13 and 14 are French sounds. Vowel 8 is a Japanese unrounded back vowel. You can hear it in the word 進む（すすむ）/sɯsɯmɯ/ [= advance, go forward]. Vowel 10 is an unrounded Chinese vowel. You can hear it in the word 餓 /ɤ/ [= hungry]. Vowel is an unrounded English vowel. You can hear it in the word "sun" /sʌn/.

Vowels 16~18 are English sounds. They are made with your mouth muscles in a relaxed position. If you use these sounds in French, French people will think you sound VERY foreign. Vowel 15 is a French sound and an English sound, but in French it sounds much more tense (your mouth is tight).