LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la ville" in French?
lah VEEL — and here the "ll" really is an "l", not the "y" you get in most "-ille" words.
The phrase peaks on VILLE, one syllable. The distinction matters because "ville" and "vie" are otherwise nearly identical to an English ear — one has the "l", one does not.
Listen: la ville
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Hear it in a sentence
Paris est une grande ville.
Paris is a big city.
Listen: Paris est une grande ville.
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"Paris est une grande ville" puts "grande" before the noun and in the feminine, so the "d" is pronounced — the masculine "grand" would end in a nasal vowel with nothing after it. "Est une" carries a liaison: /ɛ.t‿yn/. Note that French adds an article to "une ville" where English might say just "a big city" too, so this one lines up.
Where English speakers slip
Having learned that "-ille" makes a "y" sound, careful learners produce "VEE-y", which is wrong for this word. It keeps the "l". The vowel also gets laxed toward English "vill" — keep it a long clean "ee". And note the "l" should be bright and forward, not the dark English "l" of "pill".