French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "fatigué" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce fatigué in French?

fatigué is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /fa.ti.ɡe/. It means “tired.” fa-tee-GAY — three syllables, a hard "g", and the accented "é" giving a clean "ay".

fa-tee-GAY — three syllables, a hard "g", and the accented "é" giving a clean "ay".

fatigué /fa.ti.ɡe/

fa-ti-GUÉ, weight on the third syllable. All three vowels stay full and clear; none of them reduces to a schwa the way English would weaken the unstressed syllables of "fatigued".

Listen: fatigué

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Sound it out

fa An "f" plus a short open "ah", unstressed.

ti An unaspirated "t" plus a tense, pure "ee".

gué The "u" here is silent — it exists only to keep the "g" hard before "e". So this syllable is "gay", with a closed "ay" from the accent aigu.

Hear it in a sentence

Je suis fatigué après le travail.

I'm tired after work.

Listen: Je suis fatigué après le travail.

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"Je suis fatigué après le travail" would gain a silent "e" if a woman said it — "fatiguée" — with no change in sound. "Après" ends in an open "eh" with a silent "s", and "travail" ends with the "-ail" spelling that makes a "y" sound: tra-VYE. Note that French says "after the work" with an article where English drops it.

Where English speakers slip

The silent "u" confuses learners into either dropping it correctly but softening the "g" anyway, giving "fa-tee-ZHAY", or pronouncing it, giving "fa-tee-GOO-ay". The "u" is a spelling device: hard "g" before "e" always requires it, as in "guerre" and "guitare". Also resist the English "fatigue", which stresses the second syllable and gives it an "ee" ending.