LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la voiture" in French?
la vwa-TÜR — the "oi" is a "wa" glide and the "u" is the tight French vowel.
la voi-TURE, weight on the second syllable. Two very different rounded sounds in one word: the back "wa" glide, then the front "u".
Listen: la voiture
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Ma voiture est en panne.
My car broke down.
Listen: Ma voiture est en panne.
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"Ma voiture est en panne" uses the fixed phrase "être en panne", which covers any kind of breakdown — a car, a lift, a machine. "En panne" has a nasal vowel then a doubled "nn" making a real consonant, so the two "n" spellings in one phrase behave completely differently. "Voiture est" runs together across the vowels.
Where English speakers slip
Two vowels go wrong together: the "oi" gets read as two beats and the final /y/ gets swapped for a back "oo", giving "vo-ee-TOOR". Both need fixing: one glide, then the lip-rounded front vowel. The final "r" also gets curled. And note that "voiture" is the everyday word — "automobile" exists but sounds formal or dated.