Make common French sound patterns easier to say. Practise short phrases, notice tricky spellings and build clarity one small correction at a time.
You do not need to lose your own accent to be understood. Practise one pattern, then use it in a sentence. These written exercises support GCSE speaking and read-aloud practice; they are not a complete phonetics course or official assessment material.
This public page has no audio or recording service. Use your teacher’s pronunciation model or a trusted dictionary recording when you need to hear a word. English sound comparisons below are approximate.
Many final written consonants are silent: do not add an English-style s to amis or a t to petit. This is not a rule for every word: the final consonant is heard in words such as avec and sac. A following vowel may also change what you hear through liaison.
J’ai deux petits chats.
Je parle avec mes amis.
Say petit, then petit chat. Finish chat on the vowel; do not add a final t. Then say avec and notice its final consonant.
Make a gentle sound towards the back of your mouth, not the English r made with the front of the tongue. Keep your throat relaxed: it should not hurt, and you do not need a dramatic gargle. Clarity matters more than forcing a perfect accent.
Mon frère regarde un film.
La rue est très calme.
Say rue slowly three times with a relaxed throat. Put it back into la rue, then the whole phrase, without exaggerating the r.
For French u, hold your tongue as if saying ee, but round your lips. For ou, use a sound closer to English oo in food. These are two different vowels: tu and tout should not sound identical.
Tu joues de la musique.
Nous prenons le bus.
Alternate tu / tout and rue / roue slowly. Check that your tongue position changes, then keep the contrast when saying the phrases.
In words such as enfant, bon and pain, some air passes through your nose while you say the vowel. Do not finish these vowels with a separate English n. The an/en, on and in/ain patterns are not all the same sound. Regional accents can differ, especially for un. Before a vowel or a doubled n or m, the pattern may be different: compare bon with bonne.
Mon frère mange du pain.
Un enfant joue dans le jardin.
Say bon / bonne, noticing whether you pronounce an n. Next say enfant, bon and pain as three different vowel patterns, without rushing.
É, the -er ending of regular infinitives such as parler, and the -ez ending of verb forms such as vous parlez normally have the same clear vowel. Do not pronounce the written r or z in those endings. Keep the vowel steady rather than sliding into a long English ay. Not every word ending in er follows this rule: hiver ends with a heard r.
Vous aimez parler français.
En été, je vais marcher.
Say parlé / parler / parlez with the same final vowel. Then say the first phrase, joining the words naturally rather than spelling out the endings.
The letters oi normally make a sound roughly like wa, not English oy. Move smoothly from the w-like start into the vowel; do not split it into two syllables. English sound hints are only a starting point, not an exact pronunciation guide.
Moi, j’ai trois cousins.
Mon voisin aime l’histoire.
Say moi, trois, then histoire. Find the same oi movement in each word and keep it in the phrases.
In common words such as montagne and Espagne, gn makes a joined sound similar to ny in canyon. Do not read a separate hard g followed by n. You can practise the sound without learning phonetic symbols.
J’aime la montagne.
Nous habitons à la campagne.
Say montagne slowly, keeping gn together. Next move from montagne to campagne without inserting a hard g.
Sometimes a normally silent final consonant links to a vowel at the start of the next word. In les amis and vous avez, s links as a z sound; in un ami, the n links. Do not link every pair of words: there is no liaison after et. Some words beginning with h block liaison, such as les haricots.
Vous avez des amis ici.
Il parle et elle écoute.
Practise vous avez as a joined phrase. Then say et elle without adding a t. Notice that liaison depends on the phrase, not just the spelling.
Check small words as carefully as long ones. In beaucoup, eau is one vowel and p is silent. In collège, è is an open vowel. In famille, ill has a y-like sound here, not English ill. In aujourd’hui, keep ou and the rounded u different. Do not assume every ill spelling behaves like famille: ville is different.
Aujourd’hui, je vais au collège.
J’aime beaucoup ma famille.
Choose two words you hesitate over. Say each three times, then say its phrase twice. Check only one sound on each repetition so that the sentence stays natural.
Do not judge progress by how fast you speak. Aim for clear sounds, accurate words and natural phrase breaks. In a reading task, read the text as printed; in a conversation, answer the actual question.
Task-by-task practice
Complete five clear tasks and ask a question. Try a concise, original scenario.
Try the practice task →Read clearly, then respond to four questions. Try texts for both tiers.
Try the practice task →Cover both photos, then keep the conversation going. Rehearse with a labelled scene pair.
Try the practice task →Make a transaction work. Practise requests and questions in a realistic setting.
Try the practice task →Start with a short text and an unprepared interaction. Practise pronunciation and responses separately.
Try the practice task →Choose one picture, describe it, then answer questions and converse in the same thematic context.
Try the practice task →These resources are original ScoreMySpeech practice, not exam-board papers. Board-format guidance relates to GCSE French specifications first taught in September 2024, with first examinations in 2026. The mini mock is shortened, and text scene placeholders are not photographs. Follow your school’s instructions and the current official specification.
Reading is a useful start. Speaking aloud is the skill you need to practise. Use ScoreMySpeech for your selected board and tier, receive practice feedback, then try again. Feedback is not an official mark or grade prediction.
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