French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "avoir" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce avoir in French?

avoir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a.vwaʁ/. It means “to have.” ah-VWAHR — two syllables, with a "vw" cluster English never uses and a throat "r" at the end.

ah-VWAHR — two syllables, with a "vw" cluster English never uses and a throat "r" at the end.

avoir /a.vwaʁ/

a-VOIR, with the lift on the second syllable. Note the contrast with -er verbs: "parler" ends in a silent "r" and a clean "ay", while every -oir verb ends in an audible "r". Two infinitive families, two different endings.

Listen: avoir

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Sound it out

a A short open "ah", unstressed.

voi "v" plus the "oi" spelling, which is always "wa". Putting a "w" directly after a "v" feels alien to an English mouth — practise it slowly as "v" then "wa", then speed up until it is one movement.

r A final uvular "r", pronounced. In the -oir infinitive ending this "r" is always sounded, unlike the silent "r" of -er infinitives.

Hear it in a sentence

On va avoir un problème.

We're going to have a problem.

Listen: On va avoir un problème.

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"On va avoir un problème" is the near future — "aller" plus an infinitive, the everyday way to talk about what is about to happen. "Va avoir" puts two "a" vowels next to each other with no liaison to bridge them, so you hear a slight hiatus: va-a-VWAR. Then "un problème" carries the nasal /œ̃/ and an open "è" marked by the grave accent.

Where English speakers slip

Most learners split "oir" into two syllables, producing "a-vo-EER", when it is a single fused beat: "vwar". Others substitute an English "r" and get "a-VOYR". Build it from the inside out: say "wa", add the "v" in front, then add the throat "r" behind. The same shape then unlocks "savoir", "pouvoir", "devoir" and "voir" itself.