sagal

Les voyelles

[a] open front unrounded vowel - cinéma (cinema, m); hat

[ɑ] open back unrounded vowel - château (castle, m); hot

[e] close-mid front unrounded vowel - clé (key, f); may

[ɛ] open-mid front unrounded vowel - père (father, m), chêne (oak, m); bed

[ə] mid central vowel/schwa - jeu (game, m); bird

[i] close front unrounded vowel - souris (mouse, f); free

[o] close-mid back rounded vowel - rose (rose, f); UK yawn

[ɔ] open-mid back rounded vowel - océan (ocean, m); thought

[ø] close-mid front rounded vowel - jeudi (thursday)

[œ] open-mid front rounded vowel - peur (fear, f)

[u] close back rounded vowel - chou (cabbage, m); boot

[y] close front rounded vowel - tu (you); UK few

This vowel diagram shows the inside of the throat from the left side (pronounce /i/ “eee” and /ɑ/ “aaa” to feel the difference). Antérieur: front, postérieur: back, aperture: opening of the lips.

Les voyelles nasales (followed by a consonant except -h- or ending a word)

[ɑ̃] > am, an, (é)en, em, aon - temps (time, m)

[ɛ̃] > aim, ain, eim, ein, em, (i)en, im, in, um, un, ym, yn - pain (bread, m)

[ɔ̃] > om, on - ombre (shadow, f), bonjour (hello)

[œ̃] > um, un - humble, un (one, m); dying, turning into [ɛ̃] 

N.B. When a nasal sound is produced, despite being made of two letters, they are to be pronounced as their own sound: in Bonjour, the /o/ and the /n/ shouldn’t be heard at all since they are followed by the consonant /j/, as opposed to the usual dragging of /o/ then /n/ like in Bonne journée.

Les semi-voyelles

[j] voiced palatal approximant - lieu (place, m); you

[ɥ] voiced labial–palatal approximant - huile (oil, f); wall

[w] voiced labial–velar approximant - oui (yes); witch

Les consonnes

[b] voiced bilabial plosive - bête (beast, f)

[d] voiced dental and alveolar plosive - déjeuner (lunch, m)

[f] voiceless labiodental fricative - faim (hunger, f)

[g] voiced velar plosive - gâteau (cake, m)

[ʒ] voiced postalveolar fricative - ange (angel, m); vision

[k] voiceless velar plosive - cadeau (gift, m)

[l] voiced apical alveolar approximant - lait (milk, m)

[p] voiceless bilabial plosive - pain (bread, m)

[ʁ] voiced uvular fricative - roi (king, m)

[s] voiceless alveolar fricative - sel (salt, m); nonsense

[t] voiceless denti-alveolar plosive - table (table, f)

[v] voiced labiodental fricative - violon (violin, m)

[z] voiced alveolar fricative - maison (house, f)

[ʃ] voiceless postalveolar fricative - chocolat (chocolate, m)

Les consonnes nasales

[m] voiced bilabial nasal - miel (honey, m)

[n] voiced denti-alveolar nasal - nez (nose, m)

[ɲ] voiced palatal nasal - montagne (mountain, f)

[ŋ] voiced velar nasal - connexion (connection, f); sing 

Voiced sounds are those that make our vocal chords vibrate when they are produced; voiceless sounds are produced from air passing through the mouth at different points. Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic that when they are produced, air escaped through a small passage and make a hissing sound; plosives are a type of consonant produced by forming a complete obstruction to the flow air out of the mouth.

Movie: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001

This post is about how to create a pejorative adjective by adding a preffixe to an existent, meliorative adjective (not that it is the only way). You can add:

DÉ- :

Agréable : désagréable (Unpleasant)

Habillé : déshabillé (Undressed)

Obéissant : désobéissant (Disobedient)

IL- :

Légal : illégal (Illegal)

Lisible : illisible (Unreadable)

Logique : illogique (Illogical)

IM- :

Buvable : imbuvable (Undrinkable, unbearable)

Mature : immature (Immature)

Mobile : immobile (Still)

IN- :

Défini : indéfini (Indefinite)

Salubre : insalubre (Unsanitary)

Variable : invariable (Unalterable)

IR- :

Régulier : irrégulier (Irregular)

Respectueux : irrespectueux (Disrespectful)

Responsable : irresponsable (Irresponsible)

MAL- :

Chanceux : malchanceux (Unlucky)

Honnête : malhonnête (Dishonest)

Propre : malpropre (Dirty, dishonest)

MÉ- :

Connu : méconnu (Unrecognised)

Content : mécontent (Unhappy)

Adverbs of time:

Alors (so), après (after), après-demain (in two days) aujourd'hui (today), auparavant (beforehand), aussitôt (straight away), autrefois (in the past), avant (before), avant-hier (two days ago), bientôt (soon), déjà (already), demain (tomorrow), depuis (since/for), désormais + dorénavant (from now on), encore (again), enfin (finally), ensuite (then), hier (yesterday), jadis (in the past - rare), jamais (never), longtemps (for a long time), lors (during/at the time of), maintenant (now), parfois (sometimes), puis (then/next), quand (when), quelquefois (sometimes), soudain (all of a sudden), souvent (often), tard (late), tôt (early), toujours (always)…

Adverbs of way:

Ainsi (this way), bien (well), comme (like/as), comment (how), debout (up), ensemble (together), exprès (on purpose), mal (bad), mieux (better), plutôt (rather), vite (quickly), volontiers (willingly/gladly), etc.

Adverbs of quantity/intensity:

Assez (enough), aussi (too), autant (as/so much/many), beaucoup (a lot), combien (how much/many), comment (how), davantage (more), environ (around), guère (not much), mais (but), moins (less), pas mal (not bad), peu (few), plus (more), presque (almost), quelque (some), si (so, ex : ce n’est pas si dur), tant (so much), tout (all), tout à fait (absolutely), tellement (so much), très (very), trop (too much)…

Adverbs of location:

Ailleurs (somewhere else), alentour (in the surroundings of), arrière (back), autour (around), avant (before), contre (against), dedans (inside), dehors (outside), derrière (behind), dessous (under), dessus (over), devant (in front of), ici (here), là (there), loin (far away), où (where), partout (everywhere), proche (very close)…

Adverbs of affirmation:

Assurément, aussi (too), certainement (certainly), bien (well), certes (indeed), oui (yes), précisément (precisely), sans doute (without a doubt), si (marked yes), soit (alright), volontiers (willingly/gladly), vraiment (really)…

Adverbs of negation:

Non (no), aucun (none), aucunement (in no way), nullement (by no means), jamais (never), rien (nothing), personne (nobody)…

Adverbs of doubt:

Apparemment (apparently), peut-être (maybe), probablement (probably), sans doute (without a doubt), vraisemblablement (presumably)…

Please note : an -ent adjective becomes a -emment adverb (ardent : ardemment, indifférent : indifféremment) and a -ant adjective becomes a -amment adverb (brillant : brillamment, incessant : incessamment)…

March 17th: reporting from my new desk 📚 I have spent way too much time studying on campus but there is nothing like focusing on my corner at home <3

February 23, 2023 |

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are going or learning to do"

-Pelé