French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "fier" in French?

fyehr — one syllable, with the "i" as a "y" glide and a fully pronounced throat "r".

fier /fjɛʁ/

One syllable. The feminine "fière" sounds identical — the grave accent and the extra "e" are visual only — so gender is invisible to the ear with this adjective.

Listen: fier

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Sound it out

f A plain "f".

ie The "i" acts as a "y" glide running into an open "eh" — one movement, not two beats.

r A final uvular "r", fully pronounced. Note this "-er" ending sounds its "r", unlike the -er of infinitives.

Hear it in a sentence

Je suis fier de toi.

I'm proud of you.

Listen: Je suis fier de toi.

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"Je suis fier de toi" uses "fier de" plus a stressed pronoun, which is what any preposition requires. "Je suis" often compresses in speech to something like "shwee". The construction is parallel to English "proud of", so this one lines up neatly for once.

Where English speakers slip

Learners silence the "r", applying the -er infinitive rule, and produce "fyay". This is an adjective and the "r" is fully sounded. They also split the word into "fee-AIR", two syllables, when it is one. And the English word "fierce" is a false friend that comes from this root but has drifted a long way in meaning.