LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la fenêtre" in French?
la fuh-NEH-truh — the middle schwa often drops, and the ending is a fading consonant cluster.
la fe-NÊ-tre, with the weight on the middle syllable, since the trailing "-tre" carries no real vowel. In fast speech the first schwa disappears and the word becomes two beats.
Listen: la fenêtre
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Je regarde par la fenêtre.
I'm looking out the window.
Listen: Je regarde par la fenêtre.
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"Je regarde par la fenêtre" uses "par" for looking through or out of something — not "à" and not "dans". "Regarde" has a schwa in the middle that also tends to drop, giving "r'GARD", and it ends in a pronounced "d" thanks to its silent "e". Two throat "r"s in the sentence, both at the back.
Where English speakers slip
Learners carefully pronounce all three written syllables and give the ending a full "-truh", producing something four beats long. Native speakers compress the front and let the back fade. The circumflex also makes people stretch the middle vowel; it is a plain open "eh". And the ending needs the throat "r", not an English "-ter".