French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le pied" in French?

luh PYAY — one syllable, with a "y" glide into a closed "ay". The "d" is silent.

le pied /lə pje/

The phrase peaks on PIED, one syllable. The glide plus vowel is a single unit — "pyay", not "pee-AY".

Listen: le pied

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Sound it out

p An unaspirated "p": no puff of air.

ie The "i" acts as a "y" glide running into a closed "ay" /e/. One movement, not two beats.

d Silent. It surfaces in liaison in some fixed phrases, and it comes back in derivatives like "pédale" and "piéton".

Hear it in a sentence

On y va à pied ?

Shall we walk there?

Listen: On y va à pied ?

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"On y va à pied ?" uses "à pied" as the fixed phrase for going on foot, with no article. "On y" carries an obligatory liaison, /ɔ̃.n‿i/, so the nasal releases into a real "n". The rising intonation on PIED turns the statement into a question. Note "y" stands in for the destination.

Where English speakers slip

Learners give the word two syllables, "pee-AY", or pronounce the "d", producing "pyed". It is one beat ending in a bare vowel. The "p" also gets aspirated. And the English cognate "pedal" or "pedestrian" makes people expect a "d" sound — it is there in the derived words but silent in the noun itself.