Sounds English doesn't have

Train your mouth, not just your memory.

Nineteen sounds, sorted by category, with mouth-position guidance and a listening game to prove you can actually tell them apart.

🔊 Sound Library 👄 Mouth Position Guide 🎧 Listening Discrimination

Recordings use your browser's built-in French voice. If playback sounds off or silent, your browser or device may not have a French voice installed — Chrome and Edge on most systems include one by default.

Sound Library

Every sound, one at a time.

Vowels, nasal vowels, and consonants that don't map cleanly onto English. Press play to hear each one in context.

/i/

si Lips spread wide, like an English 'ee' but tighter and more forward.

/y/

tu Round your lips to say 'oo', but push your tongue forward to say 'ee' — hold both at once.

/u/

tout Lips rounded and pushed forward, tongue pulled back — like 'oo' in 'boot' but tighter.

/e/

été A closed, crisp 'ay' sound — shorter and tighter than the English diphthong.

/ɛ/

être An open 'eh', similar to English 'bet', but held with more jaw drop.

/ø/

peu Round your lips as if to whistle, then try to say 'ay' — a pure vowel, not a glide.

/œ/

sœur Like ø but more open — round lips, jaw a little lower, tongue relaxed.

/ə/

le A soft, almost swallowed 'uh' — barely pronounced, never stressed.

/ɔ/

fort An open 'aw' sound, lips rounded but relaxed, jaw dropped.

/o/

eau A closed 'oh' — lips tightly rounded, no glide to a 'w' sound at the end.

/a/

chat A bright, front 'ah' — flatter and more forward than the English 'ah'.

Mouth Position Guide

Where your lips and tongue actually go.

No video camera needed — these six sounds cover the core lip and tongue positions that unlock most of French pronunciation.

/i/

Lips pulled wide and flat, almost like a smile. Tongue high and forward.

/y/

Lips tightly rounded and pushed forward, but tongue stays in the 'i' position — the classic French vowel with no English equivalent.

/u/

tout

Lips rounded and pushed forward like 'y', but tongue pulls back toward the throat.

/a/

chat

Jaw drops, mouth opens wide and round — the most relaxed vowel position in French.

/ɑ̃/

grand

Same open shape as 'a', but air is redirected through the nose — don't finish with an English 'n'.

/ʁ/

rouge

The back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, creating friction near the throat — not a tongue-tip roll.

/i/