LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "ce" in French?
suh — identical in sound to the reflexive "se". A hissing "s" and a weak schwa.
Unstressed, feeding into the noun. In "ce train" the beat lands on TRAIN, with "ce" as a quick lead-in of almost no duration.
Listen: ce
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Hear it in a sentence
Ce train part à midi.
This train leaves at noon.
Listen: Ce train part à midi.
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"Ce train part à midi" uses the masculine demonstrative before a consonant. Before a vowel or mute "h" the form changes to "cet" — "cet homme", "cet été" — purely so the phrase stays easy to say, and that "t" is pronounced. "Part" ends in a silent "t", and "midi" is two clean syllables with the beat on the second.
Where English speakers slip
The chief confusion is not sound but which form to use: learners say "ce homme" where French demands "cet homme", and "ce femme" where it needs "cette femme". Sonically, watch out for pronouncing it "say", which collides with "ces" (these). Keep the vowel as a barely-there schwa, and remember that in "c'est" it disappears altogether.