French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "entendre" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce entendre in French?

entendre is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ/. It means “to hear.” ahn-TAHN-druh — two nasal vowels in a row, and a trailing "-dre" that barely counts as a syllable.

ahn-TAHN-druh — two nasal vowels in a row, and a trailing "-dre" that barely counts as a syllable.

entendre /ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ/

Two full syllables plus a trailing cluster: en-TEN-dr. The weight sits on the middle syllable, since the "-dre" has no vowel of its own to carry a beat.

Listen: entendre

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Sound it out

en The nasal vowel /ɑ̃/. Mouth open toward "ah", air through the nose, tongue flat.

ten An unaspirated "t" plus the same nasal vowel again. Two identical nasals in one word is unusual and gives "entendre" a very distinctive hum.

dre A "d" into the uvular "r", with the final "e" silent or reduced to a breath. Same ending shape as "prendre" and "vendre".

Hear it in a sentence

Je n'entends rien.

I can't hear anything.

Listen: Je n'entends rien.

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"Je n'entends rien" shows the negation eliding: "ne" loses its vowel before "entends", becoming "n'", and the whole thing runs together as zhuh-nahn-tahn-RYEN. "Rien" ends in the nasal /ɛ̃/ — so the sentence has three different nasal vowels in a row, which is about as French as a sentence gets. French says "I hear nothing" rather than "I can't hear anything".

Where English speakers slip

The two nasals get flattened into ordinary "en" sounds with real "n" consonants, giving "en-TEN-druh" with the tongue tapping twice. Nothing should touch for either vowel. The other issue is the ending, which learners inflate to a full "-druh" or drop to "-den". Let it fade: the "d" and the throat "r" run together and the word simply stops.