French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la question" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce la question in French?

la question is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /la kɛs.tjɔ̃/. It means “question.” la kes-TYOHN — the "-tion" here is "tyon", not the usual "syon", because of the "s" before it.

la kes-TYOHN — the "-tion" here is "tyon", not the usual "syon", because of the "s" before it.

la question /la kɛs.tjɔ̃/

la ques-TION, weight on the final syllable. English stresses the first, so the beat has to move back — and the ending is one nasal beat, not two syllables.

Listen: la question

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

qu A bare "k", with no "w" — the opposite of English "question".

es An open "eh" plus a hissing "s" closing the syllable.

tion Here the "t" stays a real "t" — because an "s" precedes it — then the "i" is a "y" glide into the nasal vowel /ɔ̃/. So "tyohn", not the "syohn" you get in "attention" or "nation".

Hear it in a sentence

J'ai une question pour toi.

I have a question for you.

Listen: J'ai une question pour toi.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"J'ai une question pour toi" links "j'ai" straight into "une" across the vowels. "Pour toi" needs the stressed pronoun, since a preposition can never take "tu". Note that French says "une question pour toi", exactly parallel to English here, which is not always the case with prepositions.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers add a "w" after the "qu" and turn "-tion" into "chun", producing "KWES-chun". French has a bare "k", a real "t", and a nasal ending. The exception to the usual "-tion" rule is worth knowing: after an "s", the "t" stays a "t". Compare "question" with "nation" to hear both patterns.