French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le billet" in French?

luh bee-YEH — the "ll" makes a "y" sound, and the final "t" is silent.

le billet /lə bi.jɛ/

le bil-LET, weight on the second syllable. Two beats, with the "y" glide bridging them. The word covers both a travel ticket and a banknote.

Listen: le billet

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Sound it out

bi A "b" plus a tense, pure "ee".

ll A "y" sound /j/, not an "l". After an "i", the "-ill-" spelling almost always works this way.

et An open "eh" with the "t" silent. So the word ends on a bare vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

J'ai acheté un billet de train.

I bought a train ticket.

Listen: J'ai acheté un billet de train.

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"J'ai acheté un billet de train" links "j'ai" into the vowel of "acheté" with no break. "Acheté" is the past participle, ending in a closed "ay", and its middle schwa drops: ash-TAY. "Billet de train" uses "de" to join the nouns, with "train" ending in the nasal /ɛ̃/.

Where English speakers slip

The "ll" gets a real "l", producing "bee-LET", and the final "t" gets pronounced. Both are wrong: a "y" glide, then a bare open "eh". English also has "billet" as a military term with an entirely different pronunciation, which reinforces the error. Say "bee" then "yeh", two light beats.