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French · Pronunciation · A1 to B2

French intonation: stress at the end of the group, and the rising question

French stresses the last syllable of each group · tap a sentence
Je voudraisI would-likeun café,a coffees’il vous plaît.please
zhuh voo-DRAY | an ka-FAY | seel voo PLAY · “I’d like a coffee, please.”Why: Three groups: -drais, -fé and plaît are longer and stressed.

Short answer: French has no fixed stress on each word, unlike English or Spanish. Instead, a sentence is split into rhythmic groups (short chunks of meaning), and only the last syllable of each group is lengthened and stressed: Je voudrais | un café | s’il vous plaît. Every other syllable is even and light. Intonation rises at the end of each group except the last, which falls in a statement. In speech, a yes/no question is often just a statement with a rising end: Tu viens ? Questions with est-ce que or inversion can rise less, because the grammar already marks the question.

-féRhythmic groups↗ ↗ ↘Sentence melody?Questionsc’est moiEmphasisba-na-neEven syllableseuh…Fillers
The melody of a French sentence

Up, up, down

le matin,je boisun café. ↗ more to come↗ more to come↘ end
Each rise says “I haven’t finished”. Only the final fall tells the listener the sentence is complete.
Three ways to ask, three melodies

Tu viens ? Est-ce que tu viens ? Viens-tu ?

Intonation only (speech)↗
Tuyouviens ?come
tü VYAN · “Are you coming?”Why: The most common in conversation: only the voice marks the question.
Est-ce que (neutral)↗ slight
Est-ce queis-it thattuyouviens ?come
es-kuh tü VYAN · “Are you coming?”Why: est-ce que already signals a question, so the rise is smaller.
Inversion (formal)→ ↗
Viens-cometu ?you
vyan TÜ · “Are you coming?”Why: Verb-subject order is formal or written; the rise is gentle.
Emphasis without word stress

C’est MOI qui paie

Because French can’t simply stress a word as English does (“I’m paying”), it changes the sentence instead, or adds a stressed pronoun.

c’est … qui
C’estit-ismoimequiwhopaie.pays
say MWA kee PAY · “I’m paying.”Why: c’est … qui puts the person in focus.
Stressed pronoun
Moi,mejeIreste.stay
MWA, zhuh REST · “I’m staying.”Why: moi at the front adds emphasis.
Initial stress for feeling
C’estit-isIN-croyable !incredible
say AN-krwa-yabl · “It’s incredible!”Why: For strong emotion, French stresses the first syllable: an extra, expressive stress.
Falling question word
Oùwheretuyouvas ?go
OO tü VA · “Where are you going?”Why: Questions with où, quand, comment can fall, like statements.
Every syllable is even

Ba-na-ne, not ba-NA-na

English squeezes unstressed vowels (“ba-NA-nuh”). French gives each syllable the same length and a full vowel, saving extra length for the last syllable of the group.

Fillers and their tune

Euh, ben, bah, quoi

Hesitating
Euh…er
UH… · “Er…”Why: A long, level euh. Never “um”.
Well
Ben,welloui.yes
BAN, WEE · “Well, yes.”Why: ben (from bien) softens an answer.
Shrug
Bah,wellje sais pas.I know not
BA, zhuh say PA · “Dunno.”Why: bah expresses indifference.
Tag at the end
C’est cher,it-is expensivequoi.what
say SHAIR, KWA · “It’s expensive, you know.”Why: quoi at the end, falling: “basically”.
Keep going

Related guides

rPronunciation →Vowels, nasals and the French r.les‿amisSilent letters and liaison →Joining words inside a group.est-ce queQuestions →Est-ce que and inversion.moiPronouns →moi, toi for emphasis.