# French pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333 "2008-05-23T04:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/1 "2008-05-23T04:40:47Z")
How is “femme” pronounced in French? ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/2 "2008-05-23T05:22:50Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] How is “femme” pronounced in French? [/QUOTE] - speaks aloud at the reply box \* Basically, it’s the way an english-speaker would pronounce “_fem_”. Now, in some dialects you can’t hear the trailing ‘e’ at all, and in some it’s more obvious, leading to “_fem_-uh”. As well, depending on you local accent, the first e can drift a bit towards the ‘a’ sound in the english word ‘tram’, giving you something closer to “_fam_”. Incidentally, the word means ‘woman’, but can also mean ‘wife’. Une femme, les femmes: ‘A woman’, ‘the women’. Ma femme: ‘My wife’. The same is true of ‘homme’, which means both ‘man’ and ‘husband’. I sort of associate the more slangy, drawly “fam” pronunciation with the ‘wife’ meaning, but I think that distinction is not generally applied. Final caveat, I’m from Canada, and somebody from Toulouse probably would have a slightly different answer for you. ---
**Author:** ![Themenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Themenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themenin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/3 "2008-05-23T05:55:53Z")
In France it’s basically ‘fam’ - short ‘a’ (in most regions), no hint of an ‘e’. One syllable, no distinction between ‘wife’ and ‘woman’. Some of the southern accents fully enunciate the ‘m’, or even add an extra syllable - ‘meuh’. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/4 "2008-05-23T05:59:05Z")
So can I pronounce femme fatale as fem faytal and not look like an uncultured moron? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/5 "2008-05-23T06:01:53Z")
I’ve only ever heard it pronounced as “_fam_” with the a pronounced as in “tram”. The Académie française fwiw, [agrees with](http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/generic/cherche.exe?11;s=3058285380;;) that pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/6 "2008-05-23T06:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=Inner Stickler] So can I pronounce femme fatale as fem faytal and not look like an uncultured moron? [/QUOTE] More like “fem fat-al”, but yeah, you’d at least pass as partially cultured. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/7 "2008-05-23T06:20:07Z")
Ooh, I don’t know if I wanna say **fat** -al. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/8 "2008-05-23T09:02:21Z")
[QUOTE=wolfstu] The same is true of ‘homme’, which means both ‘man’ and ‘husband’. [/QUOTE] Really? Can someone check in on whether this in a Canadian thing? I never heard this in all my years of taking French-- it was always le or mon mari. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/9 "2008-05-23T09:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed] Really? Can someone check in on whether this in a Canadian thing? I never heard this in all my years of taking French-- it was always le or mon mari. [/QUOTE] I’ve never heard “mon homme” for “my husband” its always “mon mari” over here. Further, my English/French dictionary lists “mari” as the only translation for husband, and there’s no indication under the entry for “homme” that its ever used in place of “mari”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/10 "2008-05-23T09:48:21Z")
[QUOTE=Angua] I’ve never heard “mon homme” [/QUOTE] I’ve seen Mon Oncle - does that count? 😕 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/11 "2008-05-23T12:30:06Z")
I’d say fahm fah tahl ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/12 "2008-05-23T20:31:52Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] I’d say fahm fah tahl [/QUOTE] This is the pronunciation that I’m challenging. I’ve been told that “femme” rhymes with “Tom” or “bomb,” and I think it should rhyme with “Sam” or “ham.” ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/13 "2008-05-23T21:18:17Z")
Three examples. [Nicole Croisille](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo20JGIuVVw) insists on the second syllable _-me_, but that’s because she’s signing. You get the “fam” pronunciation though. [Serge Lama](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI7rOTm3eII) signs “Femme femme femme”. For a Quebec version, [Claude Dubois](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGj3hc9LOOg&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/14 "2008-05-23T21:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=Angua] I’ve never heard “mon homme” for “my husband” its always “mon mari” over here. Further, my English/French dictionary lists “mari” as the only translation for husband, and there’s no indication under the entry for “homme” that its ever used in place of “mari”. [/QUOTE] I would say it’s about as often used in french for husband as you would hear someone say in English “He’s my man” meaning “he’s my significant other” which could mean husband depending on the situation. For example the famous song by Mistinguett (also covered by Edith Piaf) _C’est mon homme_. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/15 "2008-05-23T21:49:02Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] This is the pronunciation that I’m challenging. I’ve been told that “femme” rhymes with “Tom” or “bomb,” and I think it should rhyme with “Sam” or “ham.” [/QUOTE] I think you’re correct. My high school French teacher taught us to say it that way. He was a stickler for pronunciation. It definitely shouldn’t be the same vowel as in _fatale_. There are two subtly different vowels in _femme fatale_. One thing that may confuse people about this is that the French _a_ tends to have a more “front” quality than the sound in American English _father_ or _bomb_. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/16 "2008-05-23T21:54:35Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] This is the pronunciation that I’m challenging. I’ve been told that “femme” rhymes with “Tom” or “bomb,” and I think it should rhyme with “Sam” or “ham.” [/QUOTE] It doesn’t rhyme with any of those words. The vowel is closest to the English “schwa” sound, but really it doesn’t line up with any English vowel, so an English speaker is really free to choose any of them. And for many English speakers, “ah” does not indicate the vowel in “Tom,” you might me misperceiving something there. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/17 "2008-05-23T22:01:16Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] And for many English speakers, “ah” does not indicate the vowel in “Tom,” you might me misperceiving something there. [/QUOTE] How can “Tom” be pronounced differently from “Tahm”? ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/18 "2008-05-23T22:07:56Z")
In fact, the sound is akin to “ham” or “jam”. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/19 "2008-05-23T22:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] How can “Tom” be pronounced differently from “Tahm”? [/QUOTE] When I say Tom it rhymes with on. Femme rhymes with ham. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333/20 "2008-05-23T22:17:17Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] How can “Tom” be pronounced differently from “Tahm”? [/QUOTE] In many British dialects, it’s a pronounced ‘tom’ - hard O - Struggling for an example word to illustrate, and failing, because if you pronouce Tom as ‘tahm’, you probably pronouce Bomb as ‘bahm’ etc. I pronounce ‘Tom’ like [this](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/stuff/tom.mp3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-pronunciation/450333.md?page=2)