French phonology

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

French phonology is the sound system of French. This article discusses mainly the phonology of all the varieties of Standard French. Notable phonological features include the uvular r present in some accents, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds:

liaison, a specific instance of sandhi in which word-final consonants are not pronounced unless they are followed by a word beginning with a vowel;
elision, in which certain instances of /ə/ (schwa) are elided (such as when final before an initial vowel);
enchaînement (resyllabification) in which word-final and word-initial consonants may be moved across a syllable boundary, with syllables crossing word boundaries:

An example of the above is this:

Written: On a laissé la fenêtre ouverte.
Meaning: "We left the window open."
In isolation: /ɔ̃ a lese la fənɛːtʁə uvɛʁtə/
Together: [ɔ̃.na.le.se.laf.nɛ.tʁu.vɛʁt(ə)]