French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "assez" in French?

ah-SAY — the doubled "ss" hisses, and the final "z" is silent.

assez /a.se/

as-SEZ, weight on the second syllable. The word works both as "enough" and as "quite" or "rather", and the sound is identical in both senses.

Listen: assez

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

a A short open "ah", unstressed.

ss A voiceless "s". The doubling prevents the voicing that a single "s" between vowels would trigger.

ez A closed "ay" /e/ with the "z" silent — the same ending as the "vous" verb form. It surfaces as a "z" in liaison before a vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

J'ai assez mangé.

I've eaten enough.

Listen: J'ai assez mangé.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"J'ai assez mangé" places the adverb between the auxiliary and the participle, as French does with short adverbs. "J'ai assez" runs the elided "j'ai" straight into the vowel of "assez" with no break. "Mangé" ends in a closed "ay" with the soft "g" of "measure" before it: mahn-ZHAY.

Where English speakers slip

The final "z" gets pronounced, producing "a-SAYZ", because English readers expect a written "z" to sound. It is silent. The doubled "ss" also gets voiced by learners who have just discovered the "s" between vowels rule — the doubling exists precisely to block it. And "assez de" is the form before a noun: "assez de temps".