French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le mot" in French?

luh MOH — two sounds. A pure "oh" with the "t" silent.

le mot /lə mo/

The phrase peaks on MOT, one syllable ending in a pure vowel. Singular and plural sound identical, since the plural "s" is also silent.

Listen: le mot

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Sound it out

le A light "l" plus a weak schwa.

mo An "m" plus a closed "oh", flat and steady with no glide toward "oo".

t Silent. It comes back only in liaison, which is what you hear in the set phrase "mot à mot" (word for word).

Hear it in a sentence

Je ne connais pas ce mot.

I don't know this word.

Listen: Je ne connais pas ce mot.

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"Je ne connais pas ce mot" uses "connaître" rather than "savoir", because knowing a word means being acquainted with it. "Connais" ends in an open "eh" with a silent "s": ko-NEH. The negation wraps around the verb in the standard way, and in speech the "ne" would usually drop.

Where English speakers slip

Learners pronounce the "t", giving "moht", and add an English glide to the vowel so it becomes "moh-oo". It is one steady "oh" that stops. The word is also a homophone of "maux" (ills, the plural of "mal"), so context does the disambiguating. And note the savoir/connaître choice — using "savoir" here would be a grammatical error.