LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "le début" in French?
luh day-BÜ — a closed "ay" then the tight French "u". The "t" is silent.
le dé-BUT, weight on the second syllable. English borrowed this word for a first public appearance and mangled both vowels; the French original has a clean "ay" then a front-rounded "u".
Listen: le début
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Je pars au début du mois.
I'm leaving at the beginning of the month.
Listen: Je pars au début du mois.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
"Je pars au début du mois" uses two contractions in a row: "au" from "à le", and "du" from "de le". "Pars" ends in a silent "s". "Mois" is one beat with the "oi" as "wa" and a silent "s". The whole sentence is five syllables and contains no liaisons.
Where English speakers slip
The English "debut" is usually said "DAY-byoo" or "deb-YOO", both of which get the second vowel wrong and add a "y" glide French does not have. The French /y/ has no "y" in front of it — it is a pure front-rounded vowel. The final "t" is also silent, so the word ends on that vowel with nothing after it.