French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "aussi" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce aussi in French?

aussi is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /o.si/. It means “also / too.” oh-SEE — the "au" is a pure "oh", and the doubled "ss" keeps the middle consonant hissing rather than buzzing.

oh-SEE — the "au" is a pure "oh", and the doubled "ss" keeps the middle consonant hissing rather than buzzing.

aussi /o.si/

au-SSI, with the lift on the second syllable. Both vowels are full and clear; neither reduces to a schwa the way an English unstressed vowel would.

Listen: aussi

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

Sound it out

au A closed "oh", flat and steady, with no glide toward "oo".

ss A doubled "s" between vowels stays voiceless. This is the whole point of writing it twice — a single "s" there would become a "z", as in "rose" or "maison".

i A pure "ee", tense and clear.

Hear it in a sentence

Elle vient aussi.

She's coming too.

Listen: Elle vient aussi.

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

"Elle vient aussi" places "aussi" at the end, which is where French usually puts it — after the verb, not before it as English does with "also". Note the liaison-free join: "vient aussi" could in careful speech link the silent "t" of "vient" into "aussi", giving vyen-TOH-see, and many speakers do make that link. "Vient" itself is one syllable with a nasal vowel.

Where English speakers slip

The doubled "ss" is the detail people miss, saying "oh-ZEE" once they have learned that "s" between vowels is voiced. The doubling exists precisely to block that. Learners also tend to reduce the first vowel to a schwa, giving "uh-SEE", because English weakens unstressed syllables. French keeps every vowel full: a clear "oh" then a clear "ee".