French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "premier" in French?

pruh-MYAY — the ending is a "y" glide into "ay", with no "r" sound at all.

premier /pʁə.mje/

pre-MIER, weight on the second syllable, which is also the only one with a full vowel. The word is two beats, not three — "mier" does not split.

Listen: premier

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

Sound it out

pre An unaspirated "p" into the uvular "r", then a weak schwa. In fast speech that vowel nearly vanishes.

mier An "m", then "i" acting as a "y" glide, then a closed "ay" from the "-er". The "r" is silent, so the whole ending is "myay", one beat.

Hear it in a sentence

C'est mon premier jour ici.

It's my first day here.

Listen: C'est mon premier jour ici.

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

"C'est mon premier jour ici" places the ordinal before the noun, as French requires. "Jour" has the soft "zh" and the back "oo" plus a throat "r": zhoor. The feminine "première" is a different shape — /pʁə.mjɛʁ/, with an open vowel and a pronounced "r" — which is the form English borrowed for a film premiere.

Where English speakers slip

The English "premier" and "premiere" both interfere badly: they stress the first syllable and pronounce a final "r" or "-air". French puts the weight on the second syllable and ends in a bare "ay" with no consonant. Learners also split "-mier" into two syllables, "mee-AY", when it is a single glide-plus-vowel beat, "myay".