French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "commencer" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce commencer in French?

commencer is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/. It means “to start / to begin.” ko-mahn-SAY — a nasal middle syllable, a soft "c", and no "r" sound at the end.

ko-mahn-SAY — a nasal middle syllable, a soft "c", and no "r" sound at the end.

commencer /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/

com-men-CER, three syllables with the lift on the last. The middle nasal is the longest-feeling beat, but the peak still belongs to the ending.

Listen: commencer

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Sound it out

co A hard "k" — "c" before "o" — plus a short open "o".

men An "m" plus the nasal vowel /ɑ̃/. The spelling shows an "e" but the sound is an open "ah" through the nose, exactly as in "comment".

cer Here "c" before "e" is soft, so it is an "s", followed by the -er infinitive ending: a closed "ay" with a silent "r". Note the word has a hard "c" and a soft "c" in the same breath.

Hear it in a sentence

Le film commence à vingt heures.

The movie starts at eight p.m.

Listen: Le film commence à vingt heures.

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"Le film commence à vingt heures" uses the 24-hour clock, which is standard for schedules in France — "vingt heures" is 8 p.m. That phrase carries an obligatory liaison, /vɛ̃.t‿œʁ/, with the normally silent "t" of "vingt" surfacing. "Commence" is /kɔ.mɑ̃s/, where the silent final "e" keeps the soft "c" audible.

Where English speakers slip

The English word "commence" is spelled almost identically and drags the stress to the middle while flattening the nasal into a plain "men". French moves the weight to the end and nasalizes that vowel with the tongue never touching. Watch also for the cedilla in conjugation: "nous commençons" needs the hook to keep the "c" soft before "o", which is exactly why the cedilla exists.