French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le professeur" in French?

luh pro-fay-SUR — four beats, two throat "r"s, and a rounded vowel at the end.

le professeur /lə pʁɔ.fe.sœʁ/

le pro-fes-SEUR, weight on the final syllable. English stresses the second — pro-FESS-or — so the beat moves back one, and every French vowel stays full.

Listen: le professeur

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Sound it out

pro An unaspirated "p" into a uvular "r", then a short open "o".

fe An "f" plus a closed "ay". The doubled "ss" that follows keeps this vowel from being a schwa.

sseur A hissing "s" from the doubled letters, the open rounded vowel /œ/, then a final uvular "r".

Hear it in a sentence

Le professeur explique la leçon.

The teacher is explaining the lesson.

Listen: Le professeur explique la leçon.

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"Le professeur explique la leçon" links the noun into the verb across the vowels: /pʁɔ.fe.sœ.ʁ‿ɛks.plik/, with the "r" carrying over. "Leçon" has a cedilla forcing the "c" to be soft before "o", and ends in the nasal /ɔ̃/. "Explique" ends in a hard "k" from the "qu".

Where English speakers slip

The English word is close enough to import its stress and its schwas. French keeps all four vowels clear and puts the weight at the end. The final vowel also gets unrounded into an English "er" — round the lips. And the doubled "ss" must stay a hiss; a single "s" there would have been a "z".