French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "aujourd'hui" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce aujourd'hui in French?

aujourd'hui is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /o.ʒuʁ.dɥi/. It means “today.” oh-zhoor-DWEE — three beats, with a soft "zh", a throat "r", and that lip-rounded /ɥ/ glide at the end.

oh-zhoor-DWEE — three beats, with a soft "zh", a throat "r", and that lip-rounded /ɥ/ glide at the end.

aujourd'hui /o.ʒuʁ.dɥi/

au-jour-d'HUI, weight on the final syllable. The apostrophe is a fossilised contraction: the word is historically "au jour de hui", four words meaning roughly "on the day of today".

Listen: aujourd'hui

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Sound it out

au A closed "oh", flat and steady.

jour The soft "zh" of "measure", the back "oo" of "soup", then a uvular "r". This is the word "jour" (day) sitting inside the larger word.

d'hui A "d", a silent "h", then the /ɥ/ glide into "ee" — the same sound as in "huit" and "nuit". Start in the French "u" position and slide to "ee".

Hear it in a sentence

Aujourd'hui, c'est mon anniversaire.

Today is my birthday.

Listen: Aujourd'hui, c'est mon anniversaire.

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"Aujourd'hui, c'est mon anniversaire" opens with the time expression set off by a comma, which is normal French word order. "Mon anniversaire" carries an obligatory liaison, /mɔ̃.n‿a.ni.vɛʁ.sɛʁ/, so the nasal of "mon" yields a real "n". The noun has five syllables and two throat "r"s.

Where English speakers slip

The apostrophe makes learners pause in the middle, breaking the word into "aujourd" and "hui". It runs together. The final glide is the harder problem: English speakers substitute a plain "w", giving "-DWEE" with the tongue pulled back, when /ɥ/ needs the tongue forward as for the French "u". And the "j" often comes out hard, as in English "journey" — it should be the soft buzz of "measure".