LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "l'ami (m.)" in French?
la-MEE — the article fuses on, so it is two syllables, not three.
l'a-MI, weight on the second syllable. The "(m.)" note matters because the elided "l'" hides the gender — the feminine "l'amie" is spelled differently but pronounced identically.
Listen: l'ami (m.)
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
C'est mon meilleur ami.
He's my best friend.
Listen: C'est mon meilleur ami.
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"C'est mon meilleur ami" carries a liaison at the end: "meilleur ami" links the "r" straight into the vowel, /mɛ.jœ.ʁ‿a.mi/. Note the possessive is "mon" even though the phrase is about a male friend — French possessives agree with the thing owned. "Meilleur" has the "-ill-" spelling giving a "y" sound: may-YUR.
Where English speakers slip
Learners give the apostrophe a beat, producing "luh-a-MEE" in three syllables. The elision exists to prevent exactly that. They also stress the first syllable under English influence. And a gender note that catches everyone: a woman would say "mon amie", with "mon" rather than "ma", because French avoids "ma" before a vowel — the sound is what drives the choice, not the gender.