French → English
English uses 43 sounds. You already own 19 of them from French. The other 24 are the work — and 22 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: palatal → velar
English: sing · written "ng", "n before k"
Your /ɲ/ is the one in montagne (mountain).
the move: labiodental → dental
English: think · written "th"
Tongue between the teeth, no voice.
Your /f/ is the one in fleur (flower).
the move: labiodental → dental
English: this · written "th (function words, between vowels)"
the, this, that, they, mother, breathe.
Your /v/ is the one in vin (wine).
the move: close → near-close
English: sit · written "i", "y", "e (unstressed)"
Your /i/ is the one in lit (bed).
the move: open → near-open
English: cat · written "a"
Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide.
Your /a/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: close → near-close
English: book · written "oo (book)", "u (put)", "oul (could)"
Your /u/ is the one in jour (day).
the move: longer
English: see · written "ee", "ea", "e_e", "ie"
Your /i/ is the one in lit (bed).
the move: longer
English: car · written "ar", "a (father, bath — British)"
Your /ɑ/ is the one in pâte (dough).
the move: rounded
English: hot · written "o", "a after w"
American: /ɑ/.
Your /ɑ/ is the one in pâte (dough).
the move: longer
English: law · written "or", "aw", "au", "al"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in porte (door).
the move: longer
English: food · written "oo", "u_e", "ew", "ou (soup)"
Your /u/ is the one in jour (day).
the move: unrounded
English: cup · written "u", "o (son, love)", "ou (young)"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in porte (door).
the move: mid → open-mid, longer
English: bird · written "er", "ir", "ur", "ear (earth)"
American: /ɝ/ with the r.
Your /ə/ is the one in petit (small).
the move: fricative → affricate
English: church · written "ch", "tch", "tu (nature)"
Your /ʃ/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: fricative → affricate
English: judge · written "j", "g (e,i,y)", "dge"
Your /ʒ/ is the one in jour (day).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: make · written "a_e", "ai", "ay", "ei (eight)"
Your /e/ is the one in été (summer).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: time · written "i_e", "igh", "y", "ie (pie)"
Your /a/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: boy · written "oi", "oy"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in porte (door).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: house · written "ou", "ow"
Your /a/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: home · written "o_e", "oa", "ow", "o (final)"
American: /oʊ/.
Your /ə/ is the one in petit (small).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: hair · written "air", "are (care)", "ear (bear)"
American: /ɛr/.
Your /e/ is the one in été (summer).
Words you may say identically
Two or more English sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in French sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| French | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed | Stress-timed |
| Stress | This is the one that surprises everyone: French words have NO fixed stress. Prominence lands on the last syllable of the rhythmic GROUP, not of the word — so the same word is stressed differently depending on where it sits. 'Un chocolat' stresses -lat; 'un chocolat chaud' moves it to chaud and the word chocolat loses it entirely. There are no French minimal pairs by stress, because there is nothing to contrast. | Contrastive, and unmarked in writing — the single most common cause of not being understood. Dozens of noun/verb pairs differ only in where the stress goes, and every unstressed vowel collapses to /ə/. |
What you have that English doesn't
17 sounds with no job in English. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your French has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned English from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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