French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le cochon" in French?

luh ko-SHOHN — a hard "k", a "sh", and a nasal ending with no "n" consonant.

le cochon /lə kɔ.ʃɔ̃/

le co-CHON, weight on the second syllable. The two "o" sounds are deliberately contrastive: the first is oral and short, the second nasal and fading.

Listen: le cochon

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

co A hard "k" — "c" before "o" — plus a short open "o" as in "cot".

ch "sh", as always in French.

on The nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ — rounded lips, air through the nose. Notice the word contains an oral "o" and a nasal "o" back to back, which is good practice for hearing the difference.

Hear it in a sentence

Le cochon vit à la ferme.

The pig lives on the farm.

Listen: Le cochon vit à la ferme.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Le cochon vit à la ferme" uses "vivre" conjugated as "vit" /vi/, with a silent "t". "À la ferme" means "on the farm" — French uses "à", not "sur". "Ferme" ends in a silent "e" that keeps the "m" audible, and it doubles as the verb meaning "close".

Where English speakers slip

The "ch" gets an English "ch", and the final nasal gets a real "n". Both need fixing: "sh" and a vowel that fades through the nose. The oral/nasal contrast within the word is also worth drilling — say "co" with the mouth open and the air oral, then "chon" with the air redirected upward, and feel the difference at your soft palate.