GRAMMAIRE FRANÇAISE. PRONUNCIATION. 1. THE French alphabet is composed of twenty-five letters, viz. : A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, á, bé, cé, dé, é, effe, gé, ash, i, ji, ka, èlle, èmme, ènne, ó, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Y, Z. pé, ku, èrre, èsse, té, u, vé, ikse, i grec, zède. Pronounce the following words: Abri, barbare, calculer, colporter, cultiver, clarté, crayon, cercle, cicatrice, cylindre, chagrin, chambre, cheval, chirurgien, conçu, annonça, dédommager, me, te, le, je, élément, élève, fête, bête, mêlé, perdre, fable, embellir, encrier, façade, gâter, gorge, guttural, gloire, grotte, génie, giroflée, gymnase, gagner, campagne, compagnon, habit, honneur, harpe, héros, imiter, jamais, jeter, jeu, joli, kilomètre, libéral, œil, soleil, travail, même, naturel, monotonie, perpétuité, que, qui, quoique, rare, corde, argent, sommet, rose, poison, poisson, partie, sortions, nation, proportion, murmurer, vu, vous, lu, loup, mule, moule, vivre, vivifier, taxe, examen, dixième, yeux, citoyen, zèle. OF THE ACUTE, GRAVE, AND CIRCUMFLEX ACCENTS, 2. L'accent aigu ('), the acute accent, is placed over the vowel e only, and gives it an acute sound; as dégénéré, énuméré, témérite. 3. L'accent grave (`), the grave accent, placed over e, B generally gives that vowel an open sound; as, près, accès. It is also placed over à, to or at; où, where; là, there; dès, since, to distinguish those words from a, has; ou, or; la, the; des, of the or from the. 4. L'accent circonflexe (^), the circumflex accent, which generally indicates the suppression of a vowel or an s, gives the vowel, over which it is placed, a long and open sound; as mát, téte, gîte, apótre, flúte. It serves likewise to distinguish mûr, ripe; sûr, sure; crû, grown; dû, due; pû, grazed; tû, silent, from mur, wall; sur, upon; cru, believed; du, of the: pu, been able, and tu, thou. 5. L'apostrophe ('), the apostrophe, marks the suppression of the final vowel of a word, placed before another word, beginning with a vowel or h mute; as l'arbre, the tree; j'ai, I have; l'homme, the man, instead of le arbre; je ai; le homme. 6. La cédille (ç), the cedilla, is a sign, placed under the letter c, to give it the sound of s, before a, o, u; as, avança, garçon, aperçu. 7. Le tréma ("), the diæresis, is placed over a vowel, to mark its separate pronunciation from the preceding vowel; as naïf, hair. 8. Le tiret, or le trait d'union (-), the hyphen, is placed between words, that are to be joined; as, arc-en-ciel, rainbow; avez-vous? have you?-La virgule (,); le point et virgule (;); les deux points (:); le point (.); le point d'interrogation (?); le point d'exclamation (!) are used in French as in English. Pronounce the following words: Parle, parlé; loue, loué; mène, mené; lève, levé; mal, mâle; façon, faucon ; ça, cadre; hais, haïssons; m'avez-vous vu? L'avons-nous connu ? OF VOWEL SOUNDS. 9. The vowels a, e, i, o, u, have each a long and a short sound; as, pâte, patte; tempête, trompette; épître, petite; dôme, mode; flûte, culbutte. |