Phonics and Pronunciation

This unit covers French vowel and consonant sounds, nasal sounds, silent letters, liaison and reading aloud.

Pronunciation is directly assessed, so this unit earns marks rather than simply supporting the others. French vowels stay pure and do not glide as English ones do, and several spellings sound identical — au, eau and ô are one sound, as are è, ê and ai. That means listening cannot tell you how to spell a word, which matters for dictation. Most final consonants are silent, with c, r, f and l the usual exceptions, though -er infinitives override that. Liaison links silent consonants to following vowels and removes the boundaries between words, which is what makes listening hard.