Four letter teams carry a huge share of French words: ou says "oo", oi says "wah", on and an are nasal vowels said through the nose. Add the biggest habit of all — final consonants usually stay silent — and written French starts matching what you hear.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| oule loup (luh LOO), wolf | says "oo" | oo |
| oitrois (trwah), three | says "wah" | wah |
| onbon (boh(n)), good | nasal "oh(n)" | oh(n) |
| an / engrand (grah(n)), big | nasal "ah(n)" | ah(n) |
| in / ainle pain (luh pa(n)), bread | nasal "a(n)" | a(n) |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
Most final consonants are not spoken: grand is grah(n), trois is trwah, petit is puh-TEE. The letters c, r, f and l often do sound at the end (avec, pour, neuf, avril) — think of the word "careful" to remember which four.
Read French in teams: when o and u stand together they make ONE sound, oo. Spotting the teams is what makes a long word sayable — bon-jour is two teams and two beats.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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