The Many Ways to Pronounce I in French

When youre learning French, the letter I may be one of the most challenging of the alphabet. It has a common sound, a couple of accents, and is often combined  with other letters and all of these have slightly different sounds. Because the I is used so often in French and in so many ways, its important that you study it thoroughly. This lesson will help fine tune your pronunciation skills and maybe even add a few new words to your French vocabulary. How to Pronounce the French I The French letter I is pronounced more or less like the EE in fee, but without the Y sound at the end. An I with an accent circonflexe, à ® or trà ©ma, à ¯, is pronounced the same way. This is also true for the letter Y when its used as a vowel in French. However, the French I is pronounced like the English Y in the following instances: When I is followed by a vowel as in  chà ¢tier, addition, adieu, and  tiers.When IL is at the end of a word and preceded by a vowel as in orteil, orgueil, and  Ã…“il.In most words with ILLE  such as  mouiller, fille, bouteille, and  veuillez. French Words With I Practice your pronunciation of the French I with these simple words. Give it a try on your own, then click the word to hear the correct pronunciation. Repeat these until you have them down because they are very common words that youll need often. dix  (ten)ami  (friend)lit  (bed)addition  (addition, restaurant bill)adieu  (farewell)orgueil  (pride)Å“il  (eye)veuillez  (please)fille  (girl) Letter Combinations With I The letter I is as useful in French as it is in English. However, it also comes with a variety of pronunciations depending on the letters its used in conjunction with. As you continue your study of I, be sure that you understand how these letter combinations sound. AI and  AIS  - There are three ways to pronounce AI. The most common is  pronounced like the È or bed.AIL  - Pronounced [ahy].EI - Sounds like the É or È  as in the word à ©tà ©Ã‚  (summer).EIL  -  Pronounced [ehy], similar to the E in bed followed by a Y sound. As used in  un  appareil  (device) and  un  orteil  (toe).EUI, UEIL, and  Ã…’IL  - Sounds  like the OO in good followed by a Y sound.IN - Called a nasal I, this is pronounce [e(n)]. The E sounds like an  E with a circumflex -  Ãƒ ªÃ‚  - and the (n) is the nasal sound. For example,  cinq  (five) and  pain  (bread).The nasal I can be spelled any number of ways:  in, im, ain, aim, eim, ein, em,  or en.IO - Pronounced [yo] with a closed O sound. Used in the  addition  example above.NI - When followed by another vowel, it is pronounced [ny]. If its followed by a consonant, the I follows the rules above and the N follows its own rules. For example,  une  nià ¨ce   (niece) versus  un  niveau  (level, standard).OI  - Pronounced [wa].OUIL  - Pronounced [uj].TI - When followed by a vowel, TI sounds like [sy] as in un  dictionnaire  (dictionary). If a consonant follows this combination, the T follows its rules and the I follows the rules above. A perfect example is  actif  (active).UI  - Sounds like the English we. For example,  huit  (eight) and  la  cuisine  (kitchen, cooking).UIL and UILLE - When UIL follows a consonant, the sound is [weel] (with the exception of  un building). For instance,  juillet (July).  With UILLE, the double L transforms it to [weey] as in  une  cuillà ¨re  (spoon).