French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "et" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce et in French?

et is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /e/. It means “and.” ay — a single vowel, with the "t" silent. And uniquely, this word never links to the next one.

ay — a single vowel, with the "t" silent. And uniquely, this word never links to the next one.

et /e/

A single light syllable that joins two things without taking weight of its own. It sits in the valley between the two stressed elements it connects.

Listen: et

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Sound it out

e A closed "ay" /e/, cut off cleanly. No glide toward "ee" the way English "day" glides.

t Silent, and permanently so. Most silent final consonants come back in liaison before a vowel, but "et" is the famous exception — it never links, ever.

Hear it in a sentence

Toi et moi, on part demain.

You and I are leaving tomorrow.

Listen: Toi et moi, on part demain.

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"Toi et moi, on part demain" shows the no-liaison rule clearly: "et moi" is straightforward, but even in "et une" or "et il" you would still never hear a "t". The sentence also uses "on" for "we", which is what French speakers actually say in conversation, and "part" ends in a silent "t" — /paʁ/.

Where English speakers slip

Once learners get comfortable with liaison, they start linking everywhere, and "et un" becomes "ay-TUN". That link is forbidden. The reason is historical — the "t" was already gone in Old French before liaison rules settled — but the practical point is that this one word is fenced off. The other issue is the vowel: keep it short and closed, not a drawn-out English "ay-ee".