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The Sounds è, ê, ai and oi

FoundationHigherAQA

Understand The Sounds è, ê, ai and oi for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). È, ê and ai share a sound, while oi is pronounced wa.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

Foundation

WorksheetFoundation · PDFMark SchemeFoundation · PDF

Higher

WorksheetHigher · PDFMark SchemeHigher · PDF

Topic overview

Several spellings produce an open e sound, and one combination produces something quite different.

The grave accent è, the circumflex ê, and the letters ai all give the same open e sound, as in père, être, tête and maison. This is the sound in the English word bed, held slightly longer.

The combination oi is entirely different, giving a wa sound. Moi, toi, voir, trois and boire all contain it. This one catches students out because neither letter suggests the sound — oi is pronounced wa, so moi rhymes with the English word swan rather than anything containing an o or an i sound.

Revision notes

The open e sound

The grave accent è, the circumflex ê, and the letters ai all give the same sound.

Père, mère, être, tête, maison, français. It resembles the vowel in the English word bed, held slightly longer.

The combination oi

Gives a wa sound, quite unlike either letter.

Moi, toi, voir, trois, boire, noir. This is one of the least predictable spellings in French and must simply be learned.

Why spelling matters

Since è, ê and ai sound identical, listening cannot tell you which to write.

Père and maire contain the same vowel sound but are spelled differently. Each word's spelling must be learned, not deduced from its pronunciation.

Key points

  • È, ê and ai all give an open e sound.
  • It resembles the vowel in bed.
  • Père and maison share this sound.
  • Oi gives a wa sound.
  • Moi and trois contain it.
  • Spelling cannot be deduced from sound.

Worked examples

Example 1

State the sound made by ai in maison. [2 marks]

Working

An open e soundstate the sound
It is identical to the sound of è and ênote the equivalence

Example 2

State the sound made by oi in moi. [2 marks]

Working

A wa soundstate the sound
Neither letter suggests this sound, so it must be learnedexplain the difficulty

Example 3

Explain why père and maire are hard to spell from listening. [2 marks]

Working

Both contain the same open e soundstate the similarity
but one is spelled with è and the other with ai, so the spelling must be known separatelyexplain the problem

Common mistakes

  • Pronouncing oi as two separate vowels.

    It is a single wa sound.

  • Treating è and ê as different sounds.

    They are identical.

  • Guessing the spelling from the sound.

    Three spellings share one sound.

  • Reading ai as in English rain.

    It is an open e, not a long a.

Exam tips

  • Group è, ê and ai as one sound.
  • Learn oi as wa.
  • Memorise the spelling of each word.
  • Practise the open e in père and maison.

Key terms

Open e
The sound shared by è, ê and ai.
Grave accent
The mark on è.
Circumflex
The mark on ê.
Oi
A spelling giving a wa sound.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.