# Need answer fast: how close is this French pronunciation?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 10, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885 "2013-02-10T16:33:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/21 "2013-02-13T01:06:57Z")

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Not a native French speaker, but I am fluent – and I was in an immersion program from 1st grade, so my accent is usually good.

I agree with **Themenin** and **Mama Zappa** ; the linked site pronounces it the same way I would.

French has lots of silent letters, and the verb ending “-aient” is just pronounced “-ai”. (This is a bit extreme, even for French.) For reasons that are less clear (historic holdover, I think), “femme(s)” is pronounced as though the first vowel is an “a”. (A word-ending “s” is silent … unless the next word begins in a vowel, which is what happens with “elles étaient”.)

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**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/22 "2013-02-13T03:29:55Z")

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Pm me if you would like to call and have my French gf say it for you. I got the beginning Part all right but flubbed the connection with the elles.

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