French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la fleur" in French?

lah FLUR — with rounded lips on the vowel and a throat "r". Nothing like English "flower".

la fleur /la flœʁ/

The phrase peaks on FLEUR, one syllable. It rhymes with "cœur" and "sœur", which makes the three easy to drill as a set — same vowel, same ending.

Listen: la fleur

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Sound it out

fl An "f" into a light "l", a straightforward cluster.

eu The open rounded vowel /œ/, as in "sœur" and "neuf". Lips rounded, tongue mid-front.

r A final uvular "r", fully pronounced, with the lips staying rounded through it.

Hear it in a sentence

Cette fleur sent bon.

This flower smells nice.

Listen: Cette fleur sent bon.

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"Cette fleur sent bon" uses "sentir" with "bon" as an adverb rather than an adjective, which is why it does not agree — "sent bonne" would be wrong. "Sent" is /sɑ̃/, a nasal vowel with both the "n" and the "t" silent. "Bon" is another nasal, but a different one: /bɔ̃/.

Where English speakers slip

The English word "flower" supplies a diphthong and an American "r", producing "flow-er". French has one rounded vowel and a throat rasp. The vowel also gets unrounded into a plain "er". And the adverb point is a nice grammatical detail: "sentir bon" never agrees, because "bon" is describing how it smells, not the flower itself.