Pronunciation of French words. Be careful!

The pronunciation of French words can be tricky.

Indeed, with an incorrect pronunciation your sentences would sound very weird.

For instance: J’ai acheté une robe jaune.  If you don’t pronounce the [au] of “jaune” like an [o] sound and pronounce it like “jeune”, you would then be saying “I bought a young dress” instead of “I bought a yellow dress”!!

Here is a list of 14 words which you will want to pronounce well:

jeune = young ≠ jaune = yellow

cuisine = kitchen ≠ cousine = cousin girl

cheveux = hair ≠ chevaux = horses

cousin = cousin boy ≠ coussin = cushion

soeur = sister ≠ souris = mouse

dessert = dessert ≠ désert = desert

poisson = fish ≠ poison = poison

To help you, here is a recording of the pronunciation of these words.