8.1 Liaison and elision at speed — why you cannot hear word boundaries — Epoché
What you will be able to hear Where one French word ends and the next begins, even when the speaker runs them together. The three ways French joins words: liaison ( les‿enfants ), elision ( j'ai ) and linking ( il‿a ). The numbers deux , trois , six and dix before a vowel, which change their final sound. Short everyday sentences at natural speed, and write them down from dictation. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Je reviens dans deux heures. [1] I'll be back in two hours. Je reviens dans cinq minutes. [2] I'll be back in five minutes. Ses parents nous adoraient. [3] His parents adored us. Quelqu'un a-t-il un antidote ? [4] Does anyone have an antidote? Je dois trouver l'antidote. [5] I have to find the antidote. Tous nos professeurs étaient jeunes et adoraient enseigner. [6] All our teachers were young and loved teaching. Elle vous a attendu pendant deux heures. [7] She waited for you for two hours. Elle habite avec lui dans un petit appartement. [8] She lives with him in a small apartment. Prerequisites : 7.11 — this lesson follows the readings of the phase, and in particular the verse of 7.11 Reading , where you met the rules of the silent e . You need liaison and silent final consonants from 0.4 Sounds . Before you listen English speakers listening to French often say that they cannot hear the words: the sentence arrives as one long stream of syllables. That is not an illusion. In English, words keep their shape in speech: each has a stressed syllable, and the stresses mark where words are. French stresses only the last syllable of a group of words, and inside the group it joins the words together so that syllables run across word boundaries. Il a un ami is spoken as i-la-un-na-mi , five syllables, which do not line up with the four words. Three mechanisms do this joining. Learn to expect them, and the stream breaks into words again. Liaison. A final consonant that is silent on its own is pronounced before a word that begins with a vowel, and it is joined to that word. Les is said lay , but les enfants is lay-zan-fan : the s sounds as z and starts the next word. Liaison is compulsory after determiners ( les , des , mes , un ), after subject pronouns ( nous , vous , ils , elles ), after short adverbs like très , and after an adjective before its noun: un petit ami , with a t . Elision. A few short words lose their vowel before another vowel, and French writes the loss with an apostrophe: je becomes j' , que becomes qu' , le and la become l' , me becomes m' . In speech the elided word has no syllable of its own: j'en ai is two syllables, jan-nay . Linking. A consonant that is always pronounced also joins the next vowel: il a is i-la , elle est is eh-leh . This is not liaison, because nothing silent is revived, but the effect on the ear is the same. The numbers. Deux and trois add a z before a vowel: deux enfants , deu-zan-fan . Six and dix have three pronunciations: sees alone, see before a consonant, and seez before a vowel: six ans , dix heures . Where liaison never happens. Never after et , never after a singular noun, and never before an aspirate h , such as héros . You will not need to produce these exceptions often, but you should not hear a liaison where there is none. Questions Listen to each group of sentences without looking at the transcript. Then answer the questions. Sentences 1 to 7: for each, say how many words you hear, and where the liaisons are. Sentences 8 to 13: write each number as a figure, and say whether you heard a z after it. Sentences 14 to 19: write each sentence down. Which short words have lost their vowel? Sentences 20 to 27: in which sentences do you hear a liaison after an adjective or an adverb? Dictation. Listen again to sentences 1, 6, 12, 15 and 22 and write them word for word. Check against the transcript. Transcript French English Les enfants ont faim. [9] The children are hungry. Mes amis sont ici. [10] My friends are here. Ils ont un fils. [11] They have a son. Ils sont arrivés. [12] They have come. Nous avons attendu. [13] We waited. Vous avez eu peur ? [14] Were you scared? Vous êtes ici. [15] You're here. J'ai deux enfants. [16] I have two children. J'ai trois enfants. [17] I've got three kids. Il a six ans. [18] He's six years old. Il est dix heures. [19] It's ten o'clock. J'habite ici depuis trois ans. [20] I have been living here for three years. Je vis ici depuis dix ans. [21] I've been living here for the past ten years. J'en ai un. [22] I've got one. J'en ai peur. [23] I'm afraid so. Est-ce qu'il dort ? [24] Is he sleeping? Il faut boire quand on a soif. [25] You must drink when you're thirsty. Mes amis m'attendent. [26] My friends are waiting for me. Ses élèves l'adoraient. [27] His pupils worshipped him. As-tu un petit ami ? [28] Have you got a boyfriend? C'est un grand appartement. [29] This is a great apartment. J'habite dans un appartement. [30] I live in an apartment. Je reviens dans un instant. [31] I'll be back in a while. C'est très important. [32] That is very important. J'étais très occupé. [33] I've been really busy. Il y a un antidote. [34] There is an antidote. Il y a un problème ? [35] Is there a problem? The translations come with the sentences. In sentence 21, grand means big : it's a big apartment . Practice Mark the joins. Copy sentences 1 to 7 and mark each liaison with a curve under the two words. Numbers aloud. Say aloud, with the right final sound: six , six ans , six livres ; dix , dix heures , dix minutes . Read aloud. Read sentences 20 to 27 aloud, making every liaison and keeping each sentence as one group with a single stress at the end. Shadowing. Play each sentence and repeat it at the same time as the recording, three times. Read and translate. Read them aloud, then translate each into English: Vous êtes plus grand qu'elle. [36] / Vous nous avez fait peur. [37] / L'avez-vous suivi comme nous l'avons dit ? [38] / Nous n'av