--- title: Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes», a lesson of the french course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: French writes lots of letters that nobody says out loud, a bit like the silent k in English "knee" and the sile --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/) / Silent letters: why French doesn't say… # Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes Lesson 1 of the french course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/0/) — French writes lots of letters that nobody says out loud, a bit like the silent k in English "knee" and the silent b in "lamb". - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/1/) — Think of the end of a French word as a sleepy tail: s, t, d, x and z there usually stay asleep, so Paris sounds like "pa-REE" and petit like "puh-TEE". - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/2/) — A few end letters are usually awake, and the word CaReFuL helps you remember them: c, r, f and l, as in sac, bonjour, neuf and avril. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/3/) — A sleeping letter can wake up when the next word starts with a vowel: les amis sounds like "lay-za-MEE". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/4/) — This is called liaison. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/5/) — The letter h is never breathed out in French, so when a puffing English kid says "HO-tel" in Nice, the French say "oh-TEL", as if the h were invisible. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/6/) — Most letters at the very end of a French word are not said: s, t, d, x and z usually stay silent, so Paris sounds like "pa-REE". - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/7/) — petit means small and sounds like "puh-TEE"; the final t is silent and the first e is a soft "uh". - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/8/) — The memory word CaReFuL: a final c, r, f or l is usually said, as in sac ("sack"), bonjour ("bon-ZHOOR"), neuf ("nuhf", nine) and avril ("a-VREEL", April). - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/9/) — The ending -er on a doing word, and the ending -ez, both say "ay": parler (to speak) sounds like "par-LAY" and parlez like "par-LAY" too. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/10/) — et means "and" and sounds like "ay"; its t is always silent: un chat et un chien (a cat and a dog). - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/11/) — The letter h is never breathed out in French: hôtel sounds like "oh-TEL", hôpital (hospital) like "o-pee-TAL" and homme (man) like "om". - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/12/) — In French ou says "oo" and oi says "wa": Louis sounds like "LWEE", moi like "mwa" and un croissant like "uhn krwa-SAHN". - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/13/) — deux means two and sounds like "duh" said with rounded lips; the x is silent. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/14/) — Vous parlez anglais ? means "Do you speak English?" and sounds like "voo par-LAY ahn-GLAY?" - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/15/) — Liaison: a silent final letter wakes up when the next word starts with a vowel sound, so les amis (the friends) sounds like "lay-za-MEE", with the s said as a z. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/16/) — After ils or elles (they), the verb ending -ent is silent: ils parlent (they speak) sounds like "eel PARL". - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/17/) — On words that are not doing words, -ent can be heard as a nasal "ahn": le vent (the wind) sounds like "luh VAHN". - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/18/) — Slang in this lesson: "plonker" (UK) is a silly person; "our kid" (North of England) means my brother or sister; "ken" (Scotland) means "you know"; "sus" means odd or suspicious; "bruv" means mate. - next →: [Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/) - ↑ back to [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/)