Friends, let's talk with you about such a phonetic phenomenon as stress in French. As you know, stress is the selection of one of the components of speech by some acoustic means: sound, intonation. Beginners who have just started learning French may experience difficulty, wondering which syllable is stressed in French words?
Those who have already managed to make friends with the French language have noticed that the stress in French words always falls on the last syllable. In general, stress in French is a very curious thing, and, therefore, interesting for those who study this language. Because in this language there is not only sound, but also graphic, that is, written stress, which has its own, very important function in words. That is what we will talk about today.
So, dear readers, as we have already said, in French, the stress in words falls on the last syllable. And words with an accent on the last syllable are called oxytones - lesoxytons. Pay attention to the examples of French words. We have specially highlighted the letter from the word so that you notice which syllable is stressed:
- parlEr - to speak, to talk
- demandEr - ask
- raisonnAble - reasonable
- chansOn - song
- rougIr - blush
In French, whole phrases and sentences can be oxytones. This means that the stress falls on the last word in the sentence (and, of course, on the last syllable of the last word). For example:
- Je vais a l'écOle. - II'm goingVschool.
- TuparlesavectamÈ re. - You're talking to your mom.
- Charles cherche son amI. – Charleslooking forhisfriend.
This phenomenon is very convenient for those who study French. Because you can never make a mistake with how stressed you pronounce words. Just hit all words on the last syllable and no problem!
We figured out the sound stress, now let's move on to the graphic stress. There are four such stresses in French. Don't be surprised, now you will know everything!
Les accents en francais
Graphic signs above French words and are called les or accents. There are only four of them, and they are called l'accentgrave,l'accentaigu,l'accent circumflexe And letrema.
Now let's see how they are indicated in the letter:
- l'accent grave (à, è etc.) - fr è re, m è re,p è re
- l'accent aigu (é )) – piti é , charit é , enchant é
- l'accent circonflexe (î, ô, â, ê etc.) - the â tre, s'il vous pla î t
- le trema (ï etc.) - ma ï s, Citro ë n
Friends, pay attention to the table in which we provide general rules and functions of graphic stresses in French:
And now pay attention to the use of graphic stresses with letters and basic letter combinations in French:
Beginners in French mistakenly think that these sticks, dots and hats over vowels are completely unnecessary. But, if you miss such an accent in the word in which it should be, you will make a gross mistake. Yes, yes, friends, the omission of graphic stresses is a grammatical error. Because all these necessary and important in French.
The fact is that l'accentgrave indicates a closed syllable in a word. It must be pronounced with a more open mouth. L ’ accentaigu indicates an open syllable. When pronouncing, the mouth should be slightly covered. Letrema indicates that the silent vowel should be pronounced . Well and l'accentcircumflexe- This is a whole separate conversation.
Everything you want to know about l'accent circonflexe
L'accentcircumflexe can be placed over any French vowel: â, ê, î, ô, û or a combination of letters: aî, eî, oî, ey, oû, ok = , except for y, au, eau.
Here are a few rules about this hat over vowels:
- L'accentcircumflexe never stands above a vowel that precedes two consonants (except indivisible groups: tr,cl etc.) and the letter X. Exceptions: a) before double ss in words chassis chassis,chassis-rim, and in verb forms croître; b) in the pass simple verbs venir,tenir and their derivatives: nousvînmmes,vousvîntes etc.
- L'accentcircumflexe never stands above a vowel followed by another vowel, whether the latter is pronounced or not, for example: cry(m. R.), but: crue(female). Exception: bailler.
- Combined with two vowels l'accentcircumflexe always stands above the second: traitre, theatre.
- It is not placed over the last letter of the word. Exception: participles dû, crû, mû, interjection ô, allô and foreign words and names ( Salammbo etc.), onomatopoeia ( mê-ê!).
- L'accentcircumflexe not worth over e if it is the first letter in the word. Exception: être.
- L'accentcircumflexe never placed over nasal vowels. Even when l is used in a given root ’ accentcircumflexe, it disappears if the vowel takes on a nasal timbre: traîner,entraîner, But: train,entrain;jeyner, But: à jeun. Exceptions: nous vînmes, vous vîntes and so on.
- L'accentcircumflexe never breaks letter combinations unlike l'accent aigu And le trema.
presence in the word l'accentcircumflexe is explained by several factors.
- Etymological factor - it replaces the disappeared letter.
- Phonetic factor - it denotes the duration of a vowel in combination with a change in its timbre.
- Morphological factor - it is involved in some types of word formation.
- Differentiating factor - it serves to distinguish homonyms.
More often l'accentcircumflexe in words, it replaces the letter that has disappeared from a particular word. It all depends on the origin of the word. This suggests that once these letters were in these words, but with the course of the development of the language, they were abolished or disappeared as unnecessary, and in their place arose l'accentcircumflex, to remind you of the missing letter.
For example: fête-festival - festival; ame-anima - soul;sûr-seur-securum - reliable, confident.
How to deal with these graphic symbols over french words? There is no other way out - you just need to memorize, remember those words in which they are present. And for this you need to work as much as possible with French texts, and then the stress in French will not cause difficulties. Good luck!
Are there any exceptions in French where the stress is not on the last syllable? and got the best answer
Answer from VeroNika[guru]
The French language can be attributed to examples of single strict stress with a big caveat: if we consider a single word. The reason is the syntagmatic essence of French stress: with it, the object of intonation is not a syllable, but a chain of words. In fact, in French there is no word stress in the flow of speech.
In "theirs" explanatory Dictionnaire de notre temps, next to the word "emphasis" there is an example of a sentence:
What does en general mean? - "Usually". And what would that mean? So, are there any exceptions?
All French say goodbye from Italian Tchao! (or Ciao!). I have never heard something even in TV shows, so that at least someone uttered with an emphasis on the last syllable: chao! (everyone says chao!)
You can listen here: link
There are even written transcriptions that you need to pronounce with an emphasis on the FIRST syllable!
I think that in some borrowings there are also such examples, for sure there are modern Anglicisms, in Perpignan I met Spanish and Catalan words with a non-French accent, but as in the original language (all French know our "KalInka", although, perhaps, correctly pronounce kalinka among them, but I constantly hear this word with “our” accent.
- - ---
Or here's another example: when, for example, the child gets it with his “Pourquoi?”, The parent will yell with an accent not on the last syllable: “pArce que!” (I wanted to give a one-word answer, something doesn’t come to mind 🙂 (that is, when on the last one, then “en français, quand on parle SANS émotion, SANS affectation, SANS insistance expressive ou didactique, l'accent touche toujours la dernière syllabe du mot".
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In the Toulouse area colloquial peculiar, including in pronunciation, for example, the final vowel "e", which is not readable in the literary language, they have duck please -
Parisians have no difference between "poil" and "poëlle": both words are pronounced the same, but in Toulouse - "poil" will be so, but "poëlle" - with a final vowel - the vowel becomes "pronounced" and the stress, it turns out, in such words not on the last, but on the penultimate syllable.
But this cannot be considered in relation to the language as a whole - the dialect!
- ----
i-ma-ge - there are 3 syllables in this word, the stress in such words is not the last, but the penultimate one.
- ----
Spanish chorizo sausage for sale
Answer from Eleni[guru]
No, but theoretically they can pronounce a foreign surname that way.
Answer from 3 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Are there any exception words in French in which the stress is not on the last syllable?
The French phonetic system includes 36 phonemes: 16 vowels, 17 consonants and 3 semivowels. There are 42 phonemes in Russian. Despite the slight difference in quantitative ratio, however, the phonetic systems of these two languages have great differences.
French is dominated by vowels, while Russian is dominated by consonants. French sounds are characterized by greater clarity and stability of articulation.
Consonants absent stun And softening(the exception is two phonemes - [k], [g]); vowels - absent reduction, i.e. change in the quality of a vowel in an unstressed position (for example, the word dresser pronounced in Russian [kamot], in French this word would be pronounced as [chest]).
Pace french speech faster than Russian. french accent fixed, it is always falls on the last syllable single word, phrase, or entire phrase.
The French language has the following feature. Words in speech often lose their independence, their stress and phonetic boundaries. In other words, they seem to merge into a single whole, the so-called rhythm group, which has a common semantic meaning and a common stress that falls on the last vowel. At the same time, this happens often, but not always. There are certain rules by which this linking of words takes place.
When reading a rhythmic group, be sure to observe two important rules: clutch and binding. To learn to hear, distinguish and understand words in the flow of French speech, you need to know these two phenomena.
Clutch- this is a phenomenon in which a pronounced consonant at the end of one word forms one syllable with a vowel at the beginning of the next word (elle aime, j'habite, la salle est claire).
Binding- this is a phenomenon in which the final unpronounceable consonant is pronounced by linking with the vowel at the beginning of the next word. Examples: c'est elle or à neuf heures.
Now more about the rules for reading words in French. The main rules are:
- the stress always falls on the last syllable of the word;
- letters -s, -t, -d, -z, -x, -p, -g(and their combinations) are not readable in words if they are at the end (mais, agent, fond, nez, époux, banc);
- letter -e at the end of words is not readable. If there is any diacritical mark above it, it is always read, no matter where it stands.
- never read the ending -ent verbs in the present tense (3l singular h) (ils parl ent);
- letter l always softens, reminiscent of Russian [l];
- double consonants are read as one sound (pomme)
- before consonants [r], [z], [Ʒ], [v], stressed vowels acquire longitude, which in transcription is indicated by a colon (base)
- In French, the letter h never readable (except for the combination ch), but plays a role in pronunciation:
- acts as a separator if it is in the middle of a word between vowels, and indicates their separate reading (Sahara, cahier, trahir);
- with the dumb h, standing at the beginning of the word, a link is made, and a vowel is dropped out (l ‘hectare, ils habitent);
- before aspiration h linking is not done and the vowel is not dropped (la harpe, le hamac, les hamacs, les harpes).
- in dictionaries words with aspiration h denoted by an asterisk (*haut).
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Unlike the Russian language, in which the stress can fall on any syllable of the word and even move depending on the form of the word (nogá - legs), in French the stress in an isolated word always falls on the last pronounced syllable:
chocolat [ʃɔ-kɔ-΄la], discuter, nationalité
Stress in the speech flow rhythmic group and rhythmic stress
Stress in the speech flow in French is distributed in a completely different way than in Russian.
In Russian, when words are combined into semantic groups, each word of such a semantic group retains its stress. Compare: "He" writes.
΄He writes | business letter.
In French, the stress in the speech flow is carried by the semantic group as a whole, and not by individual words. That is, the semantic group becomes a group of one stress (rhythmic group). This means that in a French phrase there will be as many stresses as there are rhythmic groups with stress on the last syllable (and not as many words as in Russian). Compare:
Ilécrit.
Ilécrit | une lettre officielle.
Rhythmic group are:
An independent word with auxiliary words related to it:
Une assiette
Il bavarde
Nous ne croyons pas
Defining word with defining words before it:
C'est une tres bonne galette.
Defined word followed by a monosyllabic defining word:
Il parle bass
une jeune fille brune
Historically established sayings and groups of words that express one concept:
soixante dix
tout le monde
Note. In order to correctly place stresses in French, you need to remember the basic rule of French rhythm: there are no two stressed syllables in a row in a rhythmic group. Consequently, any significant word before a monosyllabic word that completes the rhythmic group loses its stress. For example:
Je bavarde [ǝ-ba-΄va:rd].
But: Je ne bavarde pas [ǝ-nǝ-ba-vard-΄pa]
Additional stress
In French, there is not only a rhythmic stress placed on the last syllable of a rhythmic group, but also a secondary stress (and often secondary stresses) appearing in long rhythmic groups.
Additional stresses should be placed on odd syllables, counting from the end of the rhythmic group. Additional stress is not the main one (which is rhythmic) and differs in pitch, and not in strength:
Madame Pascal n'est pas occupee.
Dansez vous? [´´dᾶ-se-´vu]
Il ne bouge pas.
Additional stresses are also found inside one word:
L’organisateur [´´lɔr-ga-´´ni-za-´tœ:r].
ASSOCIATION OF SOUNDS IN A SPEECH STREAM
In the French flow of speech, it is difficult to understand where the boundary between words in a sentence lies, since the words do not separate from each other, as happens in Russian, but, on the contrary, merge together.
Such a "fusion" of words is explained by such typical phonetic phenomena of the French language as clutch(enchainement), voicebinding(liaison-vocalique) and binding(liaison) sounds in the speech stream. It is thanks to these three phonetic phenomena of French speech that a continuous flow of sounds from pause to pause occurs and that very impression of the musicality of French speech, known to many, is produced.
As we have already found out in the previous article, the French language has its own melody. In addition, the distribution of stress in French differs from Russian and Ukrainian. Let's compare:
in Russian - 'We watched a good' movie
in French - Nous avons ‘vu un bon ‘film.
NB: further, icon ‘ the stressed syllable will be marked.
We see that in Russian every word is stressed, while in French only the words “vu” and “film” are stressed. Why is this happening? It turns out that the French sentence must be divided into rhythmic groups, depending on which the stress will be distributed.
The concept of "rhythmic group" is quite difficult to define, but let's try to figure it out. Rhythmic group in French - this is a unity of words that have a grammatical and / or lexical connection, with an accent on the last syllable (For example, in the sentence: Nous avons vu un bon film 2 rhythmic groups - 1.nous avons vu and 2. un bon film. Nous avons cannot exist without the word vu, then this expression will have a different meaning “we have”, that is, there is a grammatical and lexical connection between the words nous, avons, vu). All syllables in a French sentence have the same length and intensity of pronunciation, but at the end of a rhythmic group, the last syllable is longer than the others, that is, it is shock. Therefore, the French sentence is different from the Russian one.
A very difficult moment to explain is the rule for distinguishing rhythmic groups in French. In many textbooks, his explanation is difficult to understand even for philologists, but I tried to highlight key points I hope that they will help you cope with this difficult task.
Rules for highlighting rhythmic groups in a French sentence:
1. The two most important parts of speech for highlighting rhythmic groups are verb And noun , all other words are auxiliary (articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, verbs - connectives, personal pronouns, numerals, demonstrative and possessive adjectives), that is, they occupy secondary positions when distinguishing rhythmic groups (and cannot form separate rhythmic groups):
Elle ‘parle - 1 rhythmic group (one main word is a verb).
Ma'rie 'parle - 2 rhythmic groups (two main words - a verb and
noun)
2. You should pay attention to the following nuance: if the noun acts as a direct object (I remind you, the direct object answers the question: whom? what? - accusative), then it does not form a separate rhythmic group:
Le bar'man vous a embrassé la'main. - 2 rhythmic groups (the word “la main”, although it is a noun, acts as a direct object, therefore it does not form a separate rhythmic group: kissed whom? what? - hand).
3. An important point in the selection of the rhythmic group is the position and number of syllables in the adjective. So, if the adjective is monosyllabic (that is, it has one syllable), then it will in any case form one rhythmic group with the noun: un film ‘russe. But if the adjective is AFTER noun and has several syllables, then it can form another rhythmic group: un ‘film intére’ssant (2 rhythmic groups).
4. “Frozen” phrases (those that express one concept) form a separate rhythmic group: de temps en ‘temps, l’arc - en - ‘ciel, une salle de ‘bains.
5. There is such a rule: several stressed syllables cannot exist within one rhythmic group, therefore:
Elle tra'vaille But: Elle ne travaille 'pas (we know that the stress in a rhythmic group always falls on the last syllable, the word "pas"- service unit speech and cannot form a separate rhythmic group, at the same time, it is the last word in the sentence, so the word "travaille" loses its phrasal stress in favor of "pas").
This topic is too extensive to explain, but I hope I have been able to describe the main points that you should pay attention to in order to understand the principles of the allocation of rhythmic groups in French!
