French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "jaune" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce jaune in French?

jaune is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʒon/. It means “yellow.” zhohn — the "j" is the soft buzz of "measure", the vowel is a pure "oh", and this "n" is a real one.

zhohn — the "j" is the soft buzz of "measure", the vowel is a pure "oh", and this "n" is a real one.

jaune /ʒon/

Two sounds, one syllable — /ʒon/. The trailing "e" adds no beat in normal speech, though singers and southern speakers sometimes give it a faint one.

Listen: jaune

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Sound it out

j The consonant in "vision" and "beige". No "d" at the front — that is what makes English "j" different.

au A closed "oh", flat and pure. No glide toward "oo" at the end, unlike English "go".

ne A genuine "n" consonant, kept alive by the silent "e" after it. This is not a nasal vowel: your tongue really does touch the ridge behind your teeth.

Hear it in a sentence

Le citron est jaune.

The lemon is yellow.

Listen: Le citron est jaune.

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"Le citron est jaune" ends on the colour, so the "oh" vowel gets its full length. "Citron" is the contrast case: it ends in a nasal vowel with a silent "n", /si.tʁɔ̃/, while "jaune" ends in a real "n". The two words in one short sentence show both jobs the letter "n" does in French.

Where English speakers slip

Learners who have just been taught about nasal vowels often over-apply the rule and nasalize "jaune", producing something like "zhohn" with the tongue never touching. The rule only applies when the "n" is at the end of a syllable with no vowel after it — here the silent "e" follows, which keeps the "n" as a real consonant. The other slip is the hard English "j": say "beige" and steal its final consonant for the start of this word.