French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "essayer" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce essayer in French?

essayer is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /e.se.je/. It means “to try.” eh-say-YAY — three syllables, with the doubled "ss" hissing and a "y" glide before the ending.

eh-say-YAY — three syllables, with the doubled "ss" hissing and a "y" glide before the ending.

essayer /e.se.je/

es-say-YER, three beats climbing to the last. All three vowels are close to each other in quality, so the word can feel like one long "ay" with consonants punctuating it.

Listen: essayer

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Sound it out

e A closed "ay" or slightly open "eh" at the start; both are heard. Short, with no glide.

ss A voiceless "s". The doubling blocks the voicing a single "s" between vowels would trigger — without it the word would have a "z".

ay A closed "ay" plus the "y" glide that bridges into the final syllable, exactly as in "payer".

er The -er infinitive ending: a closed "ay" with a silent "r".

Hear it in a sentence

Je veux essayer ce plat.

I want to try this dish.

Listen: Je veux essayer ce plat.

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"Je veux essayer ce plat" runs the conjugated "veux" into the infinitive with no preposition — "vouloir" takes a bare infinitive. "Veux essayer" puts the rounded /ø/ right before an "eh", which is a small mouth gymnastics exercise. "Plat" ends in a silent "t", and it means both a dish of food and a flat surface.

Where English speakers slip

The English word "essay" pushes the stress to the front and turns the ending into "-ay", producing "ESS-ay". French climbs to the last syllable instead. The doubled "ss" is worth guarding — learners who have just learned about "s" becoming "z" between vowels sometimes say "eh-ZAY-yay". And the final "r" is silent, as always in this infinitive family.