Hello and welcome to your second pronunciation course.
We saw the vowels last time.
Today, we will focus on consonants.
Let's go back to the alphabet.
You recognize the six vowels.
If we remove them, we end up with the 20 consonants of the French alphabet.
The good news is that most of them are the same as in English.
So you already know them?
. Okay, but what is a consonant?
Before you try to pronounce them, you need to know what they are.
A consonant is simply defined by the passage of air in the vocal tract that is facing an
obstacle.
Yes.
You have not understood anything.
In short, when the air passage meets an obstacle in your mouth, such as your
tongue, teeth or lips, it produces a noise and this noise is a consonant.
Here is a diagram to help you understand how to pronounce consonants.
To pronounce any consonant, you have to pay attention to three things.
The organ that constitutes the obstacle, such as the teeth or lips.
And if the obstacle is total or partial.
If the air comes out of the nasal cavity, as for example for the letter M whose sound.
And M M.
So the vocal cords vibrate, you can touch your vocal cords to observe the vibration.
Let's start pronouncing the
consonants. Let's start with the easy ones.
.
These consonants already exist in English.
What an opportunity! Let's see how to pronounce them correctly in French.
Pronounce the sound.
Look, the obstacle is formed by my lips.
My vocal cords vibrate.
My lips don't come out of my nose.
Now it's your turn to say the sound.
.
Look, again the obstacle is formed by my lips, my vocal cords, does not vibrate and
the air does not come out through my nose.
Tip: if you have trouble pronouncing the sound, P.
.
Pronounce the sound.
.
But let your vocal cords vibrate in turn.
Pronounce the sound.
Look the obstacle is formed by my lips.
My vocal cords are vibrating and the air is not coming out of my nose.
It's your turn.
Pronounce the sound.
Look, the obstacle is formed by my lips and my teeth.
The air comes out continuously and my vocal cords vibrate.
Now say the sound .
.
Look again.
The obstacle is formed by my lips and my teeth.
The air comes out continuously and my vocal cords vibrate.
A little tip if you have trouble pronouncing the sound.
As in many cultures, don't worry.
Try to pronounce the sound and vibrate your pronounced vocal cords.
The T sound.
Here, the obstacle is formed by my teeth and my tongue, and my vocal cords do not vibrate
in your turn.
Say the T sound.
.
Again the obstacle is formed by my tongue and my teeth.
But this time, my vocal cords vibrate in your turn.
Pronounce it.
.
Look. The obstacle is formed by my teeth and my tongue, my vocal cords vibrate and the air
comes out of my nose in your turn.
Pronounce the sound, look at the obstacle distorted by the back
of my tongue, which I push towards the veil of my palate and my
vocal cords do not vibrate in your turn.
Say the sound S S
here. The obstacle is formed by the tip of my tongue against the upper gum
and my vocal cords do not vibrate in your turn.
Pronounce the sound.
Again, the obstacle is formed by the tip of my tongue against the upper gum.
But this time, my vocal cords vibrate.
Pronounce the sound.
.
Look at the obstacle formed by the tip of my tongue against the upper gum.
It is lateral and my vocal cords vibrate in turn.
Excellent work.
In the following video, we will see the rest of the consonants.