French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "est" in French?

Just "eh" — a single open vowel. Both the "s" and the "t" are silent.

est /ɛ/

A tiny unstressed link between subject and complement. In "elle est française" the beat is on the last syllable of "française", and "est" all but disappears into the flow.

Listen: est

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Sound it out

e An open "eh" as in "bed", short and flat.

st Both letters silent. The "t" does return in liaison before a vowel, which is why "est-il" sounds like "eh-TEEL" and "c'est un" like "seh-TUN".

Hear it in a sentence

Elle est française.

She is French.

Listen: Elle est française.

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"Elle est française" runs the pronoun straight into the verb: /ɛ.l‿ɛ/, so the "l" of "elle" carries over and the two words fuse into what sounds like one, "eh-LEH". Then "française" has a cedilla on the "ç" forcing a soft "s" before the "a", plus an "s" between vowels pronounced "z": frahn-SEZ. Nationalities take no capital letter in French.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers pronounce the "s", saying "est" like the English abbreviation for "estimated" or the compass point. In French it is a bare vowel — the shortest possible verb. The compensating error is then forgetting liaison: "c'est une" must be "seh-TÜN", with the hidden "t" surfacing. Silent in isolation, audible before a vowel, never with the "s".