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French Orthography

The Concept of Liaison & Elision

How silent final consonants become audible before vowels, and how certain vowels are dropped to maintain fluid speech.

Level A1 Category Orthography

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Lesson Summary

How silent final consonants become audible before vowels, and how certain vowels are dropped to maintain fluid speech.

Orthography

Two Mechanisms of Speech Flow

French speech does not proceed word by word; it moves in rhythmic groups. Two phonetic processes create this fluidity: elision (the dropping of a final vowel before another vowel) and liaison (the pronunciation of an otherwise silent final consonant before a vowel). Both have already appeared in the language covered in earlier lessons.

Elision – The Apostrophe

Before	After (elided form)	Rule
je + ai	j'ai	je drops its -e before a vowel or silent h
le + étudiant	l'étudiant	le/la drop the vowel before a vowel
ne + aime pas	n'aime pas	ne drops its -e before a vowel
de + amis	d'amis	de drops its -e before a vowel (after negation: pas d'amis)

Liaison – Pronouncing the Silent Letter

Word Group	Liaison Sound	Example
vous + avez	z sound	vous‿avez (you have)
les + amis	z sound	les‿amis (the friends)
nous + avons	z sound	nous‿avons (we have)
un + ami	n sound	un‿ami (a friend)
petit + ami	t sound	petit‿ami (boyfriend)

Key Rules to Remember

1. Elision is obligatory: always contract. Je ai is incorrect; only j’ai is acceptable.
2. Liaison occurs after determiners (un, les, des, mon…) and after pronouns (nous, vous, ils…) when the following word begins with a vowel.
3. Liaison does not take place after a singular noun (e.g., un enfant‿est is not used). Further exceptions will be studied later.

Examples

J’ai un‿ami français.
Elision (j’ai) followed by liaison (the n of un is pronounced).
Vous‿avez l’heure ?
Liaison (z sound in vous‿avez) and elision (l’heure from la + heure).

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The Concept of Liaison & ElisionHow silent final consonants become audible before vowels, and how certain vowels are dropped to maintain fluid speech.Apply elision and liaison correctly when reading aloud or speaking, creating natural French rhythm.OrthographyA1orthographeLearn French OrthographyFrench OrthographyTwo Mechanisms of Speech FlowFrench speech does not proceed word by word; it moves in rhythmic groups. Two phonetic processes create this fluidity: elision (the dropping of a final vowel before another vowel) and liaison (the pronunciation of an otherwise silent final consonant before a vowel). Both have already appeared in the language covered in earlier lessons.