French Silent Letters

French is not a phonetic language. It has letters that can be pronounced in different ways or sometimes not at all. There are two categories of French silent letters: at the beginning and at the end.

1. At the beginning: h is a silent letter. 

Example homme (man), hôpital (hospital), hibou (owl)

1. At  the end: There are 7 final consonants:  d,g,p,s,t,x,z and a vowel:e

Example: grand ( big), long (large), beaucoup (a lot), mais (but), salut ( hello), deux (two),nez (nose)

Short video

Basic Grammar for level 1 – List

1. The alphabet: L’alphabet
2. French Silent Letters: Lettres muettes françaises
3. French Letter Combinations: Combinaisons de lettres (Practice)
4. Articles: Articles
5. Masculine or feminine nouns: Noms masculins ou féminins
6. The interrogative form: la forme interrogative
      a) Question words : Les mots interrogatifs
7. Prepositions(go, come – present) (Practice)
       a) The preposition “à”
       b) The preposition “de”
       c) “Pour” Explained: For vs. To
8. French expressions:
       a) Two words
       b) Three words
9. Accents: Accents
10. Liaison: Liaison
11. Possessive adjectives: Adjectifs possessifs (Practice)
12. The negative form: La forme négative
       a) Negative words in French: Les mots négatifs en français
13. C’est – Il est – elle est: It is – He is – she is
14. Quiz Game Level 1: Quiz

Basic Conjugation for L1

1. Personal Pronouns: Personal Pronouns
    a) Subject pronouns: Pronoms sujets
    b) You or you: Tu or vous
    c) (Practice)
2.Infinitive and conjugated verbs
3. The verb to be: Le verbe être
4. The verb to have: Le verbe avoir
5. The verb to go: Le verbe aller
6. The  verb to do: Le verbe faire
7. To be, To have, To go, To do
8. ER Verbs : (Phonetic pronunciation)
9. IR Verbs: (Phonetic pronunciation)
10. RE Verbs: (Phonetic pronunciation)
11. Sentences with ER verbs
12. Sentences with IR verbs
13. Sentences with RE verbs
14. Most Common French Verbs
15. REGULAR Verbs:
    a) (Verbes)
    b) (Sentences)
    c) (Practice)

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French Resources for Level 1:

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Lettres muettes

Silent Letters at the Beginning:
One of the most common silent letters at the beginning of French words is h. In French, the letter h is always silent, whether it is an aspirated “h” (h aspiré) or a mute “h” (h muet). An aspirated “h” acts as a consonant in terms of liaison and elision rules, while a mute “h” does not.