LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "fermé" in French?
fehr-MAY — the "r" is a throat rasp, and the accented "é" gives a clean closed "ay".
fer-MÉ, weight on the second syllable. This is the past participle of "fermer", so it sounds identical to the infinitive — the accent replaces the silent "-er" but the sound is the same.
Listen: fermé
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Le musée est fermé le lundi.
The museum is closed on Mondays.
Listen: Le musée est fermé le lundi.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
"Le musée est fermé le lundi" uses "le lundi" to mean "on Mondays" as a recurring habit — drop the article and "lundi" would mean this coming Monday specifically. That tiny "le" changes the meaning entirely. "Lundi" opens with the nasal /œ̃/: luhn-DEE.
Where English speakers slip
The first vowel gets swallowed by an English "r", giving "furr-MAY". Keep the "eh" open and flat, then make the "r" at the back of the throat. Learners also stretch the final "é" into a diphthong; it is a short, closed vowel that stops cleanly. Note that "fermé" and the infinitive "fermer" are homophones — spelling alone tells them apart.