French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la feuille" in French?

lah FUH-y — a rounded vowel plus a "y" glide. The "-euille" spelling makes no "l" sound at all.

la feuille /la fœj/

The phrase peaks on FEUILLE, one syllable ending in a glide. Seven letters in the noun produce three sounds.

Listen: la feuille

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Sound it out

f A plain "f".

eu The open rounded vowel /œ/, as in "sœur" and "fleur".

ille A "y" glide /j/, not an "l". The "-euille" and "-eille" spellings both work this way: feuille, bouteille, oreille, réveil.

Hear it in a sentence

Une feuille tombe de l'arbre.

A leaf is falling from the tree.

Listen: Une feuille tombe de l'arbre.

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"Une feuille tombe de l'arbre" uses "de l'" with elision before the vowel of "arbre". "Tombe" ends in a silent "e" keeping the "b" audible, and its vowel is nasal: TOHNB. Note that "feuille" means both a leaf and a sheet of paper, which is why the word appears in "feuille de papier".

Where English speakers slip

The "-ille" gets a real "l", producing "FUH-eel". It is a "y" glide. The vowel also gets unrounded into a plain "uh". Round your lips, make the /œ/, then slide into a "y" and stop. And the double meaning is worth knowing — asking for "une feuille" in an office gets you paper, not foliage.