French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "faux" in French?

foh — two sounds. The "au" is a pure "oh" and the "x" is silent.

faux /fo/

One syllable, ending in open air. The feminine "fausse" is a completely different shape — /fos/, with a real "s" sound — so gender is very audible with this adjective.

Listen: faux

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Sound it out

f A plain "f".

au A closed "oh", flat and steady, with no glide toward "oo".

x Silent. It marks the word as invariable in the masculine plural — "faux" is the same for one or many.

Hear it in a sentence

J'ai fait un faux numéro.

I dialed the wrong number.

Listen: J'ai fait un faux numéro.

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"J'ai fait un faux numéro" is the idiom for dialling a wrong number; French does not say "mauvais numéro". "J'ai fait" is the passé composé of "faire", where "fait" is /fɛ/ with a silent "t". "Numéro" has three clear syllables with the accent marking a closed "ay": nü-may-ROH, and note the tight French "u" at the front.

Where English speakers slip

English has borrowed "faux" and mostly says it correctly, but the borrowed version often carries a slight glide at the end — "foh-oo" — which French does not have. The vowel is one steady "oh". The other error is the feminine: learners keep saying "foh" for feminine nouns when it must be "fausse" with an audible "s", as in "une fausse note".