How to Pronounce “Ou” and “U” Properly in French

The distinction between the sound of ou, like in cou (neck) and u, like in tu (you) is tricky for many French learners.

To clear up this confusion, this post will go over how to make each sound, how to hear the differences between them and how to practice them so you can train your ear to hear the difference.

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Pronouncing the Two U Sounds in French

Pronouncing Ou

We’ll start with the easier sound: ou.

This is basically the same vowel sound that you already know how to make when you say the English words “boot,” “food” and “soup.”

Try saying these words out loud right now; notice how your tongue is pushed up towards the back of your mouth on the vowel.

Ideally, when you say the French vowel, your lips are just a bit more rounded and pouty.

Here are some words that have this sound:

• le cou — neck
• douze — twelve
• ou — or
• vous — you
• pour — for

Pronouncing U

The u has two sounds in French and one of them is a sound that we don’t have in English, and is thus a source of great Anglophone horror.

The first u sound is similar to the “oo” in “food” except that your lips must be pursed and pouted outwards.

Some common words that contain this “u” sound are:

• tu — you
• la musique — music
• ultime — last, final
• sucre — sugar
• dû — past participle of devoir (to have to)

The second u pronunciation is similar to the English “w” and occurs only before another vowel.

Here are some common verbs that contain this sound:

• huit — eight
• la pluie — rain
• une tuile — roof tile
• la suède — A Swede

How to Practice Hearing the Difference Between Ou and U

Here’s a little listening test for you. Listen to the difference between these sets of words, known as minimal pairs, which means they are similar except for the key vowel sound.

• le but — goal
  le bout — top
• la bulle — bubble
  la boule — ball
• la cure — cure
  la cour — courtyard
• nu — nude
  nous — we, us

Here’s another great video with more minimal pairs to practice hearing the distinction between the “u” sounds.

How These Vowels Are Written in French Dictionaries

We’ll take just a tiny dip into linguistics, so you can understand what you see when you look up these pronunciations in a dictionary.

• U is the close front rounded vowel, whose IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbol is /y/.
• Ou is the close back rounded vowel, whose IPA symbol is, confusingly, /u/, so be careful of this when you look up words!

 

So that’s how to pronounce and practice these important French verb sounds. Try to find some more minimal pairs so you can train your ears to hear them. It’s guaranteed to improve your French pronunciation.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)