Spelling to sound (ch, gn, -ill-, qu…)

Summary

French spelling is far more regular than English once you know the main grapheme-to-phoneme rules: ch = /ʃ/, gn = /ɲ/, qu = /k/, ç = /s/, ph = /f/, th = /t/. The letters c and g are 'soft' (/s/, /ʒ/) before e/i/y and 'hard' (/k/, /g/) elsewhere. Vowel digraphs are systematic too: au/eau = /o/, ai/ei = /ɛ/, oi = /wa/, ou = /u/, eu = /ø~œ/.

Explanation

Unlike English, French spelling is highly predictable in the reading direction: a given letter or letter-group almost always maps to the same sound. Once you learn a compact set of grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences, you can pronounce most unfamiliar written words correctly on sight. This rule lists the highest-value mappings — the consonant digraphs, the 'soft/hard' c and g, and the vowel digraphs. Silent final letters and the accents are covered in their own rules.

Consonant digraphs first. The pair ch normally spells /ʃ/, the sh-sound, as in chat /ʃa/, chien /ʃjɛ̃/ and chercher /ʃɛʁʃe/; only in a few words of Greek origin does it revert to /k/, as in chœur /kœʁ/, orchestre /ɔʁkɛstʁ/ and technologie /tɛknɔlɔʒi/. The digraph gn spells the palatal nasal /ɲ/ (montagne /mɔ̃taɲ/, agneau /aɲo/). The digraph qu almost always spells a plain /k/ with no /w/: quatre /katʁ/, qui /ki/, quand /kɑ̃/. And two borrowings behave simply: ph = /f/ (photo /fɔto/, pharmacie /faʁmasi/) and th = /t/ (thé /te/, théâtre /teatʁ/), since French has no 'th' sounds.

The letters c and g each have a 'soft' value before the front vowels e, i, y and a 'hard' value elsewhere (before a, o, u or a consonant). Soft c is /s/ (ce /sə/, ici /isi/, cycle /sikl/); hard c is /k/ (car /kaʁ/, comme /kɔm/, cuisine /kɥizin/). The cedilla ç forces /s/ before a, o, u, where c would otherwise be hard: ça /sa/, garçon /ɡaʁsɔ̃/, reçu /ʁəsy/. Likewise soft g is /ʒ/ (the sound in 'measure': gel /ʒɛl/, gilet /ʒilɛ/, gymnase /ʒimnaz/) and hard g is /g/ (gare /ɡaʁ/, gomme /ɡɔm/, aigu /eɡy/). This front-vowel rule is exactly why -er verbs need spelling tweaks (manger → nous mangeons, commencer → nous commençons) to keep the soft sound before o.

One high-frequency mixed case is -ill-. After a vowel it usually spells the yod /j/ (fille /fij/, travailler /tʁavaje/, bouteille /butɛj/), and after a consonant it spells /ij/ (famille /famij/, briller /bʁije/). Learn the three common exceptions where -ill- is just /il/ with no glide: ville /vil/, mille /mil/ and tranquille /tʁɑ̃kil/ (plus their derivatives, e.g. village /vilaʒ/, million /miljɔ̃/). The semi-vowels rule treats the yod in more detail.

The vowel digraphs are where French spelling repays a little memorisation, because single sounds are written with two or three letters. The clearest set: au and eau both spell /o/ (chaud /ʃo/, beau /bo/, bateau /bato/); ai and ei both spell /ɛ/ (mais /mɛ/, maison /mɛzɔ̃/, neige /nɛʒ/, Seine /sɛn/); oi spells /wa/ (moi /mwa/, trois /tʁwa/, boire /bwaʁ/); ou spells /u/ (vous /vu/, jour /ʒuʁ/, rouge /ʁuʒ/); and eu spells the front rounded vowel, closed /ø/ in open syllables (peu /pø/, deux /dø/) and open /œ/ in closed syllables (peur /pœʁ/, seul /sœl/). The finer /e/ vs /ɛ/ and /ø/ vs /œ/ contrasts are developed under oral vowels.

A few reminders keep these rules reliable. Combinations with n or m — such as ain, ein, oin, and an/en/on/un — usually form nasal vowels (pain /pɛ̃/, loin /lwɛ̃/), which have their own rule, so do not read them as oral digraphs. Accents can also override a default: è and ê force open /ɛ/, and é forces closed /e/. And a written double consonant is normally pronounced as a single consonant (belle /bɛl/, pomme /pɔm/). With this core inventory — ch, gn, qu, ç, ph, th; soft/hard c and g; -ill-; and the vowel digraphs — a beginner can decode the large majority of French words from the page.

Examples

chat — cat (ch = /ʃ/: /ʃa/. Greek-origin exception: chœur = /kœʁ/.)

quatre — four (qu = /k/ (no /w/): /katʁ/.)

un garçon — a boy (ç = /s/ before o: /ɡaʁsɔ̃/. Without the cedilla, c before o would be /k/.)

gel / gare — frost/gel / (train) station (Soft g before e = /ʒ/ (/ʒɛl/); hard g before a = /g/ (/ɡaʁ/).)

beau / bateau — beautiful / boat (au and eau both = /o/: /bo/, /bato/.)

une fille / la ville — a girl / the city (-ill- = /ij/ in fille /fij/, but the exception ville is /vil/ (also mille, tranquille).)

Common mistakes

Related rules

• Semi-vowels (/w/, /ɥ/, /j/)
• Consonants (the French r and others)
• Oral vowels & the e caduc
• Accents (é è ê ç)