Liaison, élision & enchaînement
P45.pronunciation-and-liaison.02 · Audience: guest, language-pro, it-ml · Prerequisites: Vowels & nasals you can now say
French words do not stop at their own edges — a silent final consonant wakes up before a vowel (liaison), a vowel drops before another vowel (élision), and a pronounced final consonant leans onto the next word (enchaînement). Get these and your speech stops sounding word-by-word. Each target plays a native model, then you record and score.
Liaison obligatoire — you must link: after a determiner or pronoun before a vowel (les‿amis, un‿enfant, nous‿avons, ils‿ont). The linking consonant is often a /z/ (les‿amis) or /n/ (un‿avion).
Say: Les amis ont un enfant.
Say: Nous avons attendu deux heures.
Liaison interdite — you must not link: after et (never et‿), and before an h aspiré (les / héros, en / haut). Linking here marks a learner.
Say: Un roman et une histoire de héros.
Élision — drop the vowel and write the apostrophe: le ami becomes l'ami, je ai becomes j'ai, que il becomes qu'il. Say it as one block.
Say: J'ai vu l'ami qu'il attendait.
Enchaînement — a pronounced final consonant joins the next vowel: elle‿aime, une‿autre‿idée. No pause, no glottal stop between the words the way Russian would.
Say: Elle aime une autre idée.
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Where next?
Later in Pronunciation & Liaison