Table of content

• The usual way to pronounce s in French (hard sound)
• The soft pronunciation of the consonant s
• Silent s in French
• How to pronounce ss?

The usual way to pronounce s in French (hard sound)

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The most common way to pronounce the French s is the same as in English.

For example:

The soft pronunciation of the consonant s

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However, when the French s is placed between two vowels, it is pronounced as a z.

Silent s in French

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When it comes at the end of a word, the letter s is usually silent.

Plural Marks And Verb Endings

In particular, when the letter s is used as a plural mark or a verb ending, it is always silent. For example:

Other cases

In the other cases, the final s is also silent, most of the time.

There are very few examples to this rule:

How to pronounce ss?

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The double ss should be pronounced like the English s (hard form). In French, we mainly use a double ss between two vowels, in order to “break” the z sound, coming from the rule above (soft pronunciation of the consonant s).

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Work on your French pronunciation with a collection of posts with examples and audio recordings.