Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain and apply the basic rules of liaison and elision in spoken French.

Lesson Explanation

Two genuinely distinctive pronunciation phenomena shape spoken French in ways with no direct English equivalent, and understanding them explains why French sounds so continuously “flowing.”

Elision is the dropping of a final vowel before another word starting with a vowel sound, marked with an apostrophe — already seen throughout this course: le + ami → l’ami (Part 1, Lesson 2), je + aime → j’aime, ne + est → n’est (Part 2, Lesson 1). Elision is genuinely mandatory, not optional, in written French.

Liaison is the pronunciation of an otherwise silent final consonant when the next word begins with a vowel sound, linking the two words together in speech: les amis is pronounced with a “z” sound bridging “les” and “amis” (normally, “les” alone ends in a silent “s”). Other common liaison consonants: nous avons (the “s” of “nous” is pronounced, sounding like “z”), un grand homme (the normally silent “d” of “grand” is pronounced as “t”).

A genuinely important distinction: unlike elision, liaison is NOT always mandatory — some liaisons are required (like les amis), some are forbidden (never link before a word starting with “h aspiré” or certain other exceptions), and some are optional, varying by register and formality. Mastering exactly which liaisons are required, forbidden, or optional is genuinely a matter of extended listening practice rather than a single memorizable rule.

Practice Questions