French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "important" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce important in French?

important is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/. It means “important.” an-por-TAHN — nasal at both ends, a throat "r" in the middle, and a silent final "t".

an-por-TAHN — nasal at both ends, a throat "r" in the middle, and a silent final "t".

important /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/

im-por-TANT, weight on the third syllable. English stresses the second — im-POR-tant — so this word needs a conscious shift backwards.

Listen: important

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Sound it out

im The nasal vowel /ɛ̃/. Before "p" and "b", French writes this nasal with an "m", but the sound is the same as in "vin" — an open "eh" routed through the nose.

por An unaspirated "p", a short open "o", then the uvular "r".

tan An unaspirated "t" plus the other nasal, /ɑ̃/ — open mouth, unrounded. So the word starts and ends nasal but with two different vowels.

t Silent in the masculine; the feminine "importante" makes it audible.

Hear it in a sentence

C'est très important pour moi.

It's very important to me.

Listen: C'est très important pour moi.

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"C'est très important pour moi" would in careful speech link "très" into the vowel of "important": /tʁɛ.z‿ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/, with the silent "s" surfacing as a "z". Many speakers make that liaison and some skip it; making it sounds slightly more polished. "Moi" is the stressed pronoun required after "pour".

Where English speakers slip

The English word is nearly identical on paper, which makes it one of the hardest to say correctly — every instinct is wrong. English stresses the middle, pronounces both nasals as consonants, and releases the final "t". French moves the weight to the end, turns both "n" sequences into nasal vowels with the tongue never touching, and leaves the "t" silent. Say it slowly as three beats: an ... por ... TAHN.