COMBINATIONS OF VOWELS FORMING DIPHTHONGS.

Ai, aie, ao, au, ay, ea, eai, eau, ei, eo, zu, eue, eui, ia, iai, iau, ie, ié, ieu, io, iou, oe, oi, oie, ou, oua, oue, oui, ua, ue, ui; as in aimai, liaison, allaient, taon, auteur, Jean, geai, beau, peindre, pareil, Creil, plongeon, jeu, jeune, feue, diapason, diable, biais, niais, miauler, fabliaux, amie, sacristie, diablerie, avarier, bien, chien, vient, vienne, chienne, mie, scie, amitié, société, lieu, Dieu, lion, allions, suivions, chiourme, cœur, sœur, poète, poele, loi, soi, loin, soin, bois, éloignement, joie, soie, fou, ouate, louable, mouette, chouette, moue, Rouen, oui, Louis, équateur, aquatique, lingual, sue, mue, muet, fluette, juif, juive, juin, juillet, bruit.

Y. The letter y, by itself, pronounced like i, as in lyre, physique, mystère, has often the sound of two is; as in pays, paysan, appuyai, voyons, voyions, royal, pronounced as pais, paiisan, roial, &c.

THE DIERESIS, OR THE TWO VOWELS OF A DIPHTHONG SOUNDED.

Haïr, naïf, naïve, maïs, judaïsme, ciguë, contiguë.

OF THE CONSONANTS.

B, D, F, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, Z, are sounded at the beginning of words and syllables as in English.

C and G are hard before a, o, u, and soft before e, i.
C is sounded like g in second.·

G has, besides, a liquid sound when connected with n; as in signe, ligne, magnifique, campagne, Bourgogne.

S, if single, is sounded as z in the body of words, at the beginning of a syllable, if the preceding syllable ends in a vowel; as maison: in other cases as s in sigma; as sensation. Double s has the same sound as in English.

G and Jare always soft in French, i. e., there is no d in it as in English; as, Genève, Jean, jamais.

L as in English at the beginning of syllables, but in many words liquid after an i; as in famille, coquille.

R is always rolled.

H is sometimes mute, sometimes aspirate. When mute, the final vowel of the article le, la, and that of the pronouns me, te, le, se, que, of the preposition de, and of the negative ne, is elided, as in the following words:

T, in the body of a word, has often the sound of c before i (not, however, as in English, where it is sounded as sh); as in dévotion (cion), balbutier (cié), tradition (cion), minutie, patient, ambitieux, prophétie.

OF FINAL CONSONANTS.

D, P, T, S, Z, as a rule, are not sounded at the end of a word; as in rond, loup, cas, chat, assez.

Sometimes several consonants together have no sound of their own; as in prompt, secrets, avaient, lisent, donnent. B seldom ends a word; it is sounded when it does. C, F, L, Q, are sounded, as in sec, vif, sel, coq.

L after i is often liquid; as in baril, fusil, chenil.

R is mute at the end of the infinitive of verbs of the first conjugation; as, aimer, donner. In all other infinitives it

is heard; as, finir, sentir, devoir.

Heard at the end of most

nouns, adjectives, and other parts of speech; as, dur, sûr,

mur, par, pour, tour, fer, mer, amer, tir, or.

K and V seldom end words.

EXCEPTIONS.

The final d takes the sound of T in the words grand and second, if these words precede another beginning with a vowel.

The d is sounded in the word sud, south. The final t is sounded in fat, dot, but, rapt, contact, exact, correct, subit. C final is not sounded in blanc, franc, flanc, banc, clerc, estomac, tabac.

F final is not sounded in clef, chef-d'œuvre.

A final r in the termination ier is generally mute; as, premier, dernier, officier, jardinier, atelier, &c. Fier is an exception.

OF LIAISONS.

For the sake of precision and clearness, a liaison, or continuation of the sound of the final consonant, is made between two words, if the sense or punctuation creates no pause between them; as, un ami, un homme, cet individu, ces enfants, un loup affamé, prenez-en un, finir à temps.

Some consonants vary their sound in forming the liai

son:

G after n acquires the sound of c; as, un long animal. S has the sound of z, excepting in the word fils (son), always pronounced fisse.

B, K, M, V, X, are scarcely met with as finals, excepting in proper names; as, for instance, x in the word Aix, a name belonging to several towns; the one in the Prussian States pronounced Ai-la-Chapelle, another in Savoy called Aice-en-Savoie, another in the Bouches-du-Rhône, France, called Aix.

Q final sounded like k; as, coq-à-l'âne.

X is carried into the following word with the sound of 2; as, aux eaux en Suisse.

Euphony often requires that the use of the liaison should be avoided. No rule for this.

The first.
The second.

The third.

The fourth.
The fifth.
The sixth.

The seventh.
The eighth.
The ninth.

The tenth.
Of the month.
I say!

Attention! mind!
Take care; mind.

Mind yourself (or yourselves)!
I dare say! that will never do!
What is the matter?

What is it?

Never mind; it's all the same.
Only fancy! I dare say!
Gracious! well, upon my word!