French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "avec" in French?

ah-VEK, with the stress on the second syllable and a fully pronounced final "c".

avec /a.vɛk/

a-VEC, with the lift on the second syllable, in line with the French pattern of weighting the end. English speakers instinctively want AH-vek, which sounds noticeably off.

Listen: avec

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Sound it out

a An open "ah", short and unstressed.

ve A normal "v" plus an open "eh" as in "bed".

c Pronounced as "k". Final "c" is one of the consonants French keeps — remember the mnemonic CaReFuL: c, r, f and l usually survive at the end of a word.

Hear it in a sentence

Je pars avec mes amis.

I'm leaving with my friends.

Listen: Je pars avec mes amis.

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"Je pars avec mes amis" contains a liaison you must make: "mes amis" is /me.z‿a.mi/, with the silent "s" of "mes" surfacing as a "z". "Avec" itself does not link into it, because "avec" ends in a pronounced consonant already. "Pars" ends in a silent "s", so the verb is just /paʁ/.

Where English speakers slip

The final "c" trips people in both directions. Learners who have absorbed the silent-final-consonant rule drop it, saying "a-VEH", which is wrong — this "c" is always sounded. Others aspirate it heavily into "a-VEKH". Keep it a light, unreleased "k". And keep the first vowel short: it is the unstressed syllable, so it should be quick and open, not a drawn-out "AH".