French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "l'argent (m.)" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce l'argent (m.) in French?

l'argent (m.) is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /laʁ.ʒɑ̃/. It means “money / silver.” lar-ZHAHN — a throat "r", a soft "zh", and a nasal ending with a silent "t".

lar-ZHAHN — a throat "r", a soft "zh", and a nasal ending with a silent "t".

l'argent (m.) /laʁ.ʒɑ̃/

l'ar-GENT, weight on the second syllable, ending in an open nasal. The word means both money and silver, which is why the chemical symbol Ag and the country Argentina share the root.

Listen: l'argent (m.)

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Sound it out

l' The article "le" with its vowel elided before the vowel-initial noun.

ar An open "ah" plus a uvular "r". Keep the vowel clean rather than letting the "r" absorb it.

gen "g" before "e" is soft — the buzz of "measure" — followed by the nasal vowel /ɑ̃/, open and through the nose.

t Silent.

Hear it in a sentence

Je retire de l'argent au distributeur.

I'm withdrawing money from the ATM.

Listen: Je retire de l'argent au distributeur.

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"Je retire de l'argent au distributeur" uses the partitive "de l'" — you withdraw some money, not the money. "Au distributeur" contracts "à le", and "distributeur" ends in the rounded /œ/ plus a throat "r". Note that "distributeur" is the everyday word for an ATM; "guichet automatique" is the formal version.

Where English speakers slip

The "g" comes out hard, as in English "argent", and the nasal gets a real "n" with a released "t". French wants the soft buzz and a vowel that fades through the nose. The first vowel also gets swallowed by an American "r". And the partitive is a grammar trap: "j'ai argent" is wrong; it must be "j'ai de l'argent".