LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la vache" in French?
lah VASH — "ch" is "sh", the vowel is an open "ah", and the final "e" is silent.
The phrase peaks on VACHE, one syllable ending in a soft fricative. The word also appears in the exclamation "la vache !", which means roughly "wow" or "blimey".
Listen: la vache
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
La vache mange de l'herbe.
The cow is eating grass.
Listen: La vache mange de l'herbe.
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"La vache mange de l'herbe" uses the partitive "de l'" before a vowel-initial noun — the cow eats some grass, not the grass. "L'herbe" shows elision before a mute "h". "Mange" ends in the soft "g" of "measure", so the sentence has a "sh" and a "zh" in quick succession.
Where English speakers slip
Sounded as in "church", that ending turns the word into "vatch". French wants "sh". The vowel also gets flattened toward the English "a" of "cat" — keep it open and back. And the partitive is required: "la vache mange herbe" is wrong; French needs "de l'herbe".