French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "comprendre" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce comprendre in French?

comprendre is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ/. It means “to understand.” kohn-PRAHN-druh — two different nasal vowels back to back, then a fading consonant cluster.

kohn-PRAHN-druh — two different nasal vowels back to back, then a fading consonant cluster.

comprendre /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ/

com-PREN-dre, with the weight on the middle syllable. The word is built from "prendre" with a prefix, so the rhythm of the root survives intact and just gains a nasal syllable at the front.

Listen: comprendre

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Sound it out

com A hard "k" plus the nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ — rounded lips, air through the nose. Before "p" and "b", French writes this nasal with an "m" rather than an "n", but the sound is the same as in "bon".

pr Unaspirated "p" into the uvular "r".

en The other nasal vowel, /ɑ̃/, open and unrounded. Hearing the difference between this and the /ɔ̃/ two syllables earlier is a good test of your nasal vowels.

dre A "d" plus a uvular "r" and a silent "e", the same fading ending as "prendre".

Hear it in a sentence

Je ne comprends pas la question.

I don't understand the question.

Listen: Je ne comprends pas la question.

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"Je ne comprends pas la question" is the phrase you will need most as a beginner, and it wraps the negation around "comprends" /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/, where the "d" and "s" are both silent. "Question" is a good contrast case: its "-tion" is pronounced "styon", not the usual "syon", because of the "s" before it — kes-TYOHN.

Where English speakers slip

The two nasals are frequently collapsed into the same sound, or into ordinary vowels with "m" and "n" consonants, giving "com-PREN-der". They are genuinely different: /ɔ̃/ has rounded lips, /ɑ̃/ has an open mouth. Say them alternately — "bon, blanc, bon, blanc" — until the contrast is automatic, then rebuild the word around them.