French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "connaître" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce connaître in French?

connaître is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kɔ.nɛtʁ/. It means “to know (a person or place).” ko-NEH-truh, where the final syllable is barely more than a "t" and a throat scrape.

ko-NEH-truh, where the final syllable is barely more than a "t" and a throat scrape.

connaître /kɔ.nɛtʁ/

Two and a half syllables: co-NAÎ-tr. The main weight lands on the middle syllable, because the trailing "-tre" has no real vowel to carry a beat.

Listen: connaître

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

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

nn A single "n" sound, with the doubling preventing the first vowel from nasalizing.

aî An open "eh" /ɛ/. The circumflex is a fossil marking a lost "s" — the older spelling was "connoistre", which is also why English has "reconnoitre".

tre An unaspirated "t" into a uvular "r", with the final "e" silent or barely breathed. The same ending as "être" and "mettre".

Hear it in a sentence

Tu connais ce restaurant ?

Do you know this restaurant?

Listen: Tu connais ce restaurant ?

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Tu connais ce restaurant ?" uses the conjugated "connais" /kɔ.nɛ/, where the final "s" is silent and the ending is the same open "eh" the circumflex marks in the infinitive. This is the "know" for places and people — you could not use "savoir" here. "Restaurant" ends in a nasal vowel with a silent "t": res-toh-RAHN.

Where English speakers slip

The circumflex makes learners think the vowel is long or special; it is a plain open "eh", and the accent is a historical footnote. The bigger issue is the "-tre" ending, which people either turn into a full syllable ("co-nay-TRUH") or drop entirely ("co-NAY"). Aim for the consonant cluster with the merest ghost of a vowel after it, exactly as in "être".