French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "chaud" in French?

shoh — two sounds only. The "ch" is "sh", the "au" is a pure "oh", and the "d" is silent.

chaud /ʃo/

One syllable ending in open air. Five letters, two sounds — a good demonstration of how much French spelling is historical rather than phonetic.

Listen: chaud

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Sound it out

ch "sh", as French "ch" always is in native vocabulary.

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

d Silent. It reappears in the feminine "chaude" and, in liaison, surfaces as a "t" sound before a vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Je voudrais un chocolat chaud.

I'd like a hot chocolate.

Listen: Je voudrais un chocolat chaud.

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"Je voudrais un chocolat chaud" puts the adjective after the noun, as colour and quality adjectives usually go. "Chocolat" ends in a silent "t" and has three clean syllables: sho-ko-LA. Note that French uses "avoir chaud" for a person being hot and "faire chaud" for the weather — "je suis chaud" means something quite different and is best avoided.

Where English speakers slip

Learners pronounce the "d", producing "showd", and often give the "ch" the English "church" sound. Neither belongs. The vowel also picks up an English glide, turning "oh" into "oh-oo". Keep it a single steady vowel and stop. The idiom trap is separate but worth flagging: to say you are hot, use "j'ai chaud", never "je suis chaud".