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Orthography
Objective: Recognise and apply liaison and elision patterns in standard spoken and written French.
| Type | Written Form | Spoken Form |
|---|---|---|
| Liaison | les amis | lay-zah-mee |
| Liaison | vous avez | voo-zah-vay |
| Liaison | un homme | uh-nom |
| Liaison | nous avons | noo-zah-von |
| Elision | l'école | lay-kol |
| Elision | j'ai | zhay |
| Elision | n'est-ce pas | ness-pah |
| Elision | qu'il | keel |
The plural article les ends in a silent s that becomes a z sound before a vowel-initial noun.
Je elides to j' before any vowel, and ai begins with a vowel, so the elision is mandatory.
The s in les and amis becomes a z sound before the vowel-initial words, giving the phrase its first liaison. The link between amis and arrivent is variable and often omitted in careful speech, so the phrase is usually heard as lay-zah-mee ah-reev.
The s in vous links to the vowel-initial avez, producing the sound voo-zah-vay. Only one liaison occurs in this phrase, since avez ends in a vowel sound that does not trigger a further link.
The elided j' appears before ai. The n of un links to the vowel-initial ami with a nasal n sound.
The ne elides to n' before the vowel-initial y. The same sentence shows the negation bracket alongside the elision.
The que elides to qu' before il. The form est-ce qu'il combines elision and inversion in a single question.
5 exercises · about 8 minutes
The definite article le elides to l' before a vowel-initial noun, and the same rule applies to la before a vowel.
The conjunction et never permits liaison, even though it ends in a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel.
Ce elides to c' before the verb est. The indefinite article une keeps its full form before the consonant-initial bonne.
The s in ils links to the vowel-initial ont, producing the sound eel-zon. The t of ont links to un with a t sound.
The d in grand becomes a t sound before the vowel-initial homme, following the adjectival liaison pattern.