LingoDrop
French · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "rouge" in French?
roozh — one syllable, opening with the throat "r" and closing with the soft "zh" of "measure".
A single syllable. As an adjective it usually follows its noun in French, so it tends to land at the end of a phrase and carry the phrase's pitch peak — la voiture ROUGE.
Listen: rouge
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Hear it in a sentence
La pomme est rouge.
The apple is red.
Listen: La pomme est rouge.
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"La pomme est rouge" puts the colour in final position, which is exactly where French colour adjectives go. "Pomme" has a doubled "mm", so the vowel before it is a plain open "o" with a real "m" — not nasal. "Est" is just /ɛ/, its "s" and "t" both silent, so the middle of the sentence is a bare vowel: la-POM-eh-ROOZH.
Where English speakers slip
English has borrowed this word for the cosmetic, and the borrowed pronunciation is close enough that people stop thinking. The English "rouge" starts with an American "r", which is the one sound that will not do — this word is the best possible practice for the uvular "r" precisely because the "r" is right at the front where you cannot hide it. Also make sure the ending is "zh" and not a hard "j" or a "dge" as in "budge".