Liaison and Silent Letters

Written French carries letters that are not pronounced, and it links words together in ways the spelling does not show. Two rules explain almost all of it: silent letters (many endings are not sounded) and liaison (some silent endings come back to life before a vowel).

Both are tested directly. In the Speaking reading-aloud task you must not sound silent letters and must make the right liaisons; in the Listening dictation you must add back the silent letters you do not hear.

Written	What you might expect	What you actually hear
petit	"petit"	"peti" (silent t)
les amis	"lay amis"	"lay-z-ami" (liaison)
l'école	"le école"	"lekol" (elision)

Master these and your spoken French sounds natural and your dictation spelling becomes accurate.

As a rule, most final consonants in French are not pronounced, and neither is a final -e or the plural -s.

Word	Silent letter	Gloss
petit	t	small
grand	d	big
vous	s	you
nez	z	nose
trop	p	too (much)
temps	ps	time / weather
table	e	table
les livres	s (plural)	the books

The silent plural -s is why le livre (the book) and les livres (the books) sound almost the same in isolation — the difference is carried by the article le versus les, not by a heard "s". Likewise a final -e is silent, so grand (masculine) and grande (feminine) differ because the -e makes the preceding consonant sound: grand "gron", grande "grond".

Because plural -s and feminine -e are silent, you often tell singular from plural, or masculine from feminine, by the word before or the consonant revealed, not by an extra sound.

There is a useful exception to the "silent final consonant" rule. The consonants c, r, f and l — the letters in the word CaReFuL — are often pronounced at the end of a word.

Letter	Sounded example	Gloss
c	avec, sac	with, bag
r	hiver, bonjour	winter, hello
f	neuf, chef	nine, chief/boss
l	avril, il	April, he

This is a rule of thumb, not an absolute, and the big exception is the -er ending: in verbs and many nouns the final r is silent (parler "parlay", premier "premyay", boulanger). A few other words break the pattern too, such as blanc (white, silent c) and gentil (kind, silent l).

Use CaReFuL as your default guess for a final c, r, f or l, but remember the -er ending keeps its r silent. When in doubt, learn the individual word.

Liaison brings a normally silent final consonant back to life when the next word begins with a vowel or a silent h. The spec focuses on four liaison consonants.

Consonant	Sound in liaison	Example (gloss)
s	z	les amis → "lay-z-ami" (the friends)
x	z	deux enfants → "deu-z-enfants" (two children)
t	t	un petit ami → "petit-ami" (a boyfriend)
n	n	on a → "on-n-a" (we have)

The key point students miss: s and x both become a [z] sound in liaison, never an "s". So les amis links with a z, deux ans (two years) is "deu-z-ans", and six euros is "si-z-euros".

Liaison only happens before a vowel or silent h: lesamis links, but les livres does not, because livres starts with a consonant — so the s of les stays silent there.

Liaison is required in some places and banned in others.

Required liaison (always make it):

Context	Example	Gloss
article + noun	les [z] hommes	the men
pronoun + verb	nous [z] avons, ils [z] ont	we have, they have
adjective before noun	un petit [t] ami, mon [n] ami	a boyfriend, my friend
short preposition + noun	en [n] avion, chez [z] elle	by plane, at her place

Forbidden liaison (never make it):

Context	Example	Why
after et	un garçon et | une fille	liaison is never made after et (and)
before an aspirate h	les | héros, les | haricots	the h aspiré blocks the link
after a singular noun	un enfant | intelligent	no liaison from a singular noun to its adjective

The one to remember above all: never link after et. Et (and) keeps its silent t no matter what follows.

Elision is the written cousin of liaison. When a short word ends in a vowel and the next word starts with a vowel or silent h, the vowel is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe.

Full form	Elided	Example (gloss)
le / la	l'	l'ami (the friend), l'école (the school)
de	d'	d'accord (agreed), beaucoup d'eau (a lot of water)
je	j'	j'ai (I have), j'habite (I live)
ne	n'	je n'ai pas (I do not have)
que	qu'	qu'il (that he), qu'elle (that she)
se	s'	il s'appelle (he is called)

Elision is compulsory and shows in the spelling, so it matters in dictation and written translation: you must write j'ai, not je ai, and l'homme, not le homme. The same silent-h rule applies — l'homme elides because the h is silent, but le héros does not, because that h is aspirate.

1. Pronouncing silent final consonants

The final letters of petit, grand, vous and temps are silent. Sounding them (saying "petit-T") is a classic reading-aloud error.

2. Making an s or x liaison an "s" instead of a "z"

In liaison, both s and x are pronounced z: les amis is "lay-z-ami" and deux enfants is "deu-z-enfants", never with a hissing "s".

3. Linking after et

There is no liaison after et (and). Un livre et un stylo keeps a clear break; do not join et to the next word.

4. Forgetting elision in writing

Write j'ai, l'école and je n'ai pas — not je ai, le école or je ne ai pas. Missing the apostrophe is a spelling error in the dictation and translation.

5. Ignoring the aspirate h

A silent h usually allows liaison and elision (les hommes, l'homme), but an aspirate h blocks both: say les | héros with a break and write le héros, not l'héros.