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.

French Can Help Your English

Many English words come from French. These words were borrowed almost 1000 years ago (1066-1266). In those days, England had a French-speaking king. Here are some examples of borrowed words:

Farmer's Old Words	Rich Man's Words	Farmer's New Words
English	French	English
Cow/Bull	Bœuf	Beef
Pig	Porc	Pork
Chicken	Poulet	(Poultry)
Sheep	Mouton	Mutton

Cow/Bull, pig, chicken and sheep are pure English words. When English farmers sold their animals to rich people (the king's family and friends), the buyers used French words. English people copied these words and changed them into English words (the sounds, spelling and meaning are a little different, of course). In French, bœuf, porc, poulet, and mouton are names of animals. In English, beef, pork, chicken and mutton are names of meat.

Beef, pork, poultry and mutton are English words borrowed from French.

When you learn French, it can help you improve your English. You can learn new words and new meanings for old words.

Please pay attention: the English word poultry does NOT mean chicken. 

Poultry = chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and their meat.

Des canards /de kanaʁ/  (ducks) {Source: awwwwwww (CC--BY-NC-ND Steve Wall)}