French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le jardin" in French?

luh zhar-DAN — a soft "j", a throat "r", and a nasal ending with no "n" consonant.

le jardin /lə ʒaʁ.dɛ̃/

le jar-DIN, weight on the second syllable. English borrowed the root in "garden" with a hard "g" and front stress; French has a soft "zh" and the beat at the end.

Listen: le jardin

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Sound it out

j The soft buzz of "measure", with no "d" in front of it.

ar An open "ah" plus a uvular "r". Keep the vowel clean before the rasp.

din A dental "d" plus the nasal vowel /ɛ̃/ — an open "eh" through the nose, tongue never rising.

Hear it in a sentence

Le jardin est derrière la maison.

The garden is behind the house.

Listen: Le jardin est derrière la maison.

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"Le jardin est derrière la maison" runs "jardin est" together across the nasal and the vowel. "Derrière" has a doubled "rr" giving one uvular "r" and ends in another: deh-RYEHR. "Maison" has a single "s" between vowels pronounced "z" and ends in the nasal /ɔ̃/ — a different nasal from "jardin".

Where English speakers slip

The "j" comes out hard, and the nasal gets a real "n", producing "JAR-din". French wants the soft buzz, a throat "r", and a vowel that fades through the nose. Learners also stress the first syllable. And the two nasals in the example sentence — /ɛ̃/ in "jardin" and /ɔ̃/ in "maison" — are worth comparing directly.