LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la montagne" in French?
la mohn-TAN-y — a nasal first syllable and a "gn" ending pronounced like the "ny" in "canyon".
la mon-TAGNE, weight on the second syllable, with the "gn" trailing off after it. Three sounds, two beats.
Listen: la montagne
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
On fait de la randonnée en montagne.
We go hiking in the mountains.
Listen: On fait de la randonnée en montagne.
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"On fait de la randonnée en montagne" uses "faire de la" for doing an activity, a partitive construction French requires — you "do some hiking". "En montagne" has no article, which is what makes it mean "in the mountains" as a general setting rather than one specific mountain. "Randonnée" ends in a closed "ay".
Where English speakers slip
The "gn" gets read as an English "g" plus "n", producing "mon-TAG-nuh", or collapsed to a plain "n". It is a single palatal consonant — press the middle of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Learners also give the first syllable a real "n", when it is a nasal vowel with nothing touching. Say "canyon" and steal its middle sound.