French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le garçon" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce le garçon in French?

le garçon is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /lə ɡaʁ.sɔ̃/. It means “boy.” luh gar-SOHN — the cedilla forces a soft "s", and the ending is a nasal vowel.

luh gar-SOHN — the cedilla forces a soft "s", and the ending is a nasal vowel.

le garçon /lə ɡaʁ.sɔ̃/

le gar-ÇON, weight on the second syllable. English borrowed the word for a waiter and stressed the first syllable; French does the opposite.

Listen: le garçon

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Sound it out

gar A hard "g" — "g" before "a" is always hard — an open "ah", then a uvular "r" that must not swallow the vowel.

ç A "c" with a cedilla, pronounced "s". Without the hook, "c" before "o" would be hard, so the cedilla is essential here.

on The nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ — rounded lips, air out through the nose, tongue low and still.

Hear it in a sentence

Le garçon fait ses devoirs.

The boy is doing his homework.

Listen: Le garçon fait ses devoirs.

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"Le garçon fait ses devoirs" uses "faire" for doing homework, which is the required verb — "faire ses devoirs" is a fixed collocation. "Fait" is /fɛ/ with a silent "t", and "ses devoirs" makes no liaison since "devoirs" begins with a consonant. "Devoirs" comes from the verb meaning "to owe".

Where English speakers slip

The cedilla gets ignored, producing a hard "k" sound in the middle. It is there specifically to prevent that. Learners also pronounce a real "n" at the end and stress the first syllable, both from the English borrowing. And the "r" needs the throat treatment: "gar" with a clean "ah" and a rasp after it, not the American "gar" of "garden".