French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ouvert" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce ouvert in French?

ouvert is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u.vɛʁ/. It means “open.” oo-VEHR — a rounded first syllable, an open "eh", a throat "r", and a silent "t".

oo-VEHR — a rounded first syllable, an open "eh", a throat "r", and a silent "t".

ouvert /u.vɛʁ/

ou-VERT, weight on the second syllable. This is the past participle of "ouvrir" doing duty as an adjective, which is why it looks irregular — the verb is -ir but the participle ends in "-ert".

Listen: ouvert

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

ou The back "oo" of "soup", lips pushed forward.

ver A "v", an open "eh" as in "bed", then the uvular "r". The vowel keeps its own shape rather than merging into the "r".

t Silent in the masculine. The feminine "ouverte" makes it audible: /u.vɛʁt/.

Hear it in a sentence

Le musée est ouvert aujourd'hui.

The museum is open today.

Listen: Le musée est ouvert aujourd'hui.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Le musée est ouvert aujourd'hui" contains an optional but common liaison: "ouvert aujourd'hui" can link the silent "t" into the vowel, giving oo-vehr-toh-zhoor-DWEE. "Musée" is masculine despite the "-ée" ending, which usually marks feminine nouns — one of the small exceptions worth remembering. "Aujourd'hui" already contains an apostrophe from an old contraction.

Where English speakers slip

Learners pronounce the final "t", which is silent in the masculine, and often give the first syllable the French "u" instead of "ou" — producing "ü-VEHR" rather than "oo-VEHR". The "ou" is the back vowel of "soup". The middle vowel also gets absorbed by an American "r"; keep the "eh" flat and open, then rasp separately.