French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le mois" in French?

luh MWAH — the "oi" is a "wa" glide, and the "s" is silent.

le mois /lə mwa/

The phrase peaks on MOIS, one beat. Because the singular and plural are spelled and pronounced identically, the article does all the work of marking number.

Listen: le mois

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Sound it out

le A light "l" plus a weak schwa.

m A normal "m". Round your lips as you make it, since the "w" is coming immediately.

oi The "wa" glide, one quick movement.

s Silent. The word is spelled the same in the plural, so "le mois" and "les mois" differ only in the article.

Hear it in a sentence

Le mois dernier, j'ai beaucoup travaillé.

Last month I worked a lot.

Listen: Le mois dernier, j'ai beaucoup travaillé.

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"Le mois dernier, j'ai beaucoup travaillé" puts "dernier" after the noun, where it means "last" in the sense of "previous" — before the noun it would mean "final". That position shift is a real meaning change. "Travaillé" ends in a closed "ay" and has the "y" sound from "-aill-": tra-va-YAY.

Where English speakers slip

Reading the two vowels separately gives "mo-EE", and sounding the final letter gives "mwahss". It is one beat ending in open air. Note also the mois/moi confusion in listening: "le mois" and "le moi" sound identical, and only context separates the month from the philosophical self.