Lesson 1: Letters and Numbers

Fast and Friendly French for Fun: The Online Resource for Beginning French Students

Letters, Special Characters, and Numbers

Goal: To teach the French pronunciation and spelling of letters and numbers and to provide an introduction to "special characters."

Les Lettres

French, like English, uses a 26-letter alphabet.
The letters and their pronunciations are shown below.

Letter	Sound	Example
Aa	like the word "ah"	attention, ma
Bb	as in English	belle, bon
Cc	with cedilla or before "i" or "e", like "s"; otherwise like "k"	courage, garçon
Dd	as in English	dormir, malad
Ee	like the "a" in "along"	ce, exemple
Ff	as in English	ferme, faire
Gg	like the "s" in "measure" before "e" or "i"; otherwise like the "g" in "glad"	garder, âge
Hh	almost always silent	hôtel, heureux
Ii	like the vowel sound in "mean"	ils, avril
Jj	as in English	jouer, jeu
Kk	as in English	kérosène, kilo
Ll	as in English	lever, les
Mm	as in English	mère, midi
Nn	as in English	nom, nouveau
Oo	like the "o" sound in "holly"	oncle, optique
Pp	as in English	prendre, penser
Qq	like "k" in "kite"	pourquoi, quand
Rr	as in English	rêve, rendre
Ss	as in English	sauf, sel
Tt	as in English	télé, toi
Uu	like "oo"	une, unis
Vv	as in English	vous, renvoi
Ww	as in English, though infrequently used	watt, week-end
Xx	as in English	xénophobie
Yy	normally as in English; when alone, like the vowel sound in "eat"	y, yacht
Zz	as in English	zèbre, zoo

To hear the alphabet spoken by a real French teacher, click below:
RealAudio(40kb) | Wave(655kb) | Sun/NeXT(330kb)

Return to the top

Caractères Spéciaux (Special Characters)

Le Poisson dit: "Les Caracteres Speciaux"

Some French characters are not usually present in English. These are called "special characters."

Character	Name	Example	Function
^	English: circumflex French: circonflexe	hôtel être	indicates that as the language evolved, a letter was removed
Ç or ç	English: cedilla French: cédille	garçon français	turns the "k" sound to an "s" sound
´	English: accute accent French: accent aigu	téléphone marché	makes the "e" sound like the vowel sound in "say"
`	English: grave accent French: accent grave	très là	makes the "e" sound like the vowel sound in "let"
¨	English: diaeresis French: tréma	Noël naïf	on the second of two vowels, shows that they are pronounced separately

Return to the top

Les Chiffres (Numbers)

Note: The comma, or vergule in French, signifies a decimal point. Therefore, the English notation 8.12 becomes 8,12 in French.
When writing numbers of four digits or longer, use a space instead of a comma to separate them into groups of three digits. For example, 1,202,440 becomes 1 202 440.

Numeral	Spelling
1	un
2	deux
3	trois
4	quatre
5	cinq
6	six
7	sept
8	huit
9	neuf
10	dix
11	onze
12	douze
13	treize
14	quatorze
15	quinze
16	seize
17	dix-sept
18	dix-huit
19	dix-neuf
20	vingt
21	vingt et un
22	vingt-deux
30	trente
31	trente et un
32	trente-deux
40	quarante
41	quarante et un
42	quarante-deux
50	cinquante
51	cinquante et un
52	cinquante-deux
60	soixante
61	soixante et un
62	soixante-deux
70	soixante-dix
71	soixante et onze
72	soixante-treize
80	quatre-vingts
81	quatre-vingt-un
82	quatre-vingt-deux
90	quatre-vingt-dix
91	quatre-vingt-onze
92	quatre-vingt-douze
100	cent
101	cent un
110	cent dix
200	deux cents
300	trois cents
400	quatre cents
500	cinq cents
600	six cents
700	sept cents
800	huit cents
900	neuf cents
1000	mille

To hear the numbers spoken by a real French teacher, click below:
1 through 20: RealAudio(25kb) | Wave(400kb) | Sun/NeXT(200kb)
21 through 1000: RealAudio(35kb) | Wave(545kb) | Sun/NeXT(270kb)

Return to the top

"Savez-vous bien les chiffres? Cliquez ici pour savoir!"

Letters, Special Characters, and Numbers

Goal: To teach the French pronunciation and spelling of letters and numbers and to provide an introduction to "special characters."

Les Lettres

French, like English, uses a 26-letter alphabet. The letters and their pronunciations are shown below.

Letter

Sound

Example

Aa

like the word "ah"

attention, ma

Bb

as in English

belle, bon

Cc

with cedilla or before "i" or "e", like "s"; otherwise like "k"

courage, garçon

Dd

as in English

dormir, malad

Ee

like the "a" in "along"

ce, exemple

Ff

as in English

ferme, faire

Gg

like the "s" in "measure" before "e" or "i"; otherwise like the "g" in "glad"

garder, âge

Hh

almost always silent

hôtel, heureux

Ii

like the vowel sound in "mean"

ils, avril

Jj

as in English

jouer, jeu

Kk

as in English

kérosène, kilo

Ll

as in English

lever, les

Mm

as in English

mère, midi

Nn

as in English

nom, nouveau

Oo

like the "o" sound in "holly"

oncle, optique

Pp

as in English

prendre, penser

Qq

like "k" in "kite"

pourquoi, quand

Rr

as in English

rêve, rendre

Ss

as in English

sauf, sel

Tt

as in English

télé, toi

Uu

like "oo"

une, unis

Vv

as in English

vous, renvoi

Ww

as in English, though infrequently used

watt, week-end

Xx

as in English

xénophobie

Yy

French, like English, uses a 26-letter alphabet.
The letters and their pronunciations are shown below.

To hear the alphabet spoken by a real French teacher, click below:
RealAudio(40kb) | Wave(655kb) | Sun/NeXT(330kb)

Note: The comma, or vergule in French, signifies a decimal point. Therefore, the English notation 8.12 becomes 8,12 in French.
When writing numbers of four digits or longer, use a space instead of a comma to separate them into groups of three digits. For example, 1,202,440 becomes 1 202 440.