Consonants | IPA | Examples | English approximation | | b | bon | about | | d | deux, grande, Djibouti | today | | f | faire, vif | festival | | ɡ | garçon, longue | again | | k | corps, avec, quand, Irak | sky | | l | laisser, possible, seul | law | | m | même | moo | | n | nous, bonne | no | | ɲ | gagner, champagne | canyon | | ŋ | camping, funk | camping | | p | père, groupe | spy | | ʁ | regarder, nôtre | Guttural R: Scottish English loch, but voiced; Northumbrian burr | | s | sans, ça, assez, soixante, six | sir | | ʃ | chance, tchèque | shoe | | t | tout, thé, tchèque | sty | | v | vous, wagon, neuf heures | vein | | z | zéro, raison, chose, deuxième | zeal | | ʒ | jamais, visage, Djibouti | measure | | Semivowels | | j | fief, payer, fille, travail, hier | yet | | w | oui, loi, moyen, web, whisky | wet | | ɥ | huit, Puy | between wet and yet | | Vowels | Oral vowels | | IPA | Examples | English approximation | | a | patte, là, femme | trap | | ɑ | pâte, glas | father | | e | clé, et, les, chez, aller, pied, journée | mace | | ɛ | baie, faite, mettre, renne, crème, peine, violet | best | | ɛː | fête, maître, reine, reître, caisse, presse, Levesque | fairy | | ə | reposer, monsieur, faisons | again (often elided, see e muet) | | i | si, île, régie, pays, fils | seat | | œ | sœur, jeune, club (Europe) | bird (RP) | | ø | ceux, jeûner, queue | burn (RP) | | o | saut, haut, bureau, chose, tôt, cône | story | | ɔ | sort, minimum, pomme | off | | u | coup, roue | pool | | y | tu, sûr, rue | roughly like Australian too | | Nasal vowels | | ɑ̃ | sans, champ, vent, temps, Jean, taon | roughly like song; nasalized [ɒ] (Europe) or [a] (Canada) | | ɛ̃ | vin, impair, pain, daim, plein, Reims, synthèse, sympathique, bien | roughly like hang; nasalized [æ] (Europe) or [ei̯] (Canada) | | œ̃ | un, parfum | roughly like non-rhotic burn; nasalized [œ] | | ɔ̃ | son, nom | roughly like drawn (Australian); nasalized [o] (France) or [ou̯] (Canada) | |
