French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "six" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce six in French?

six is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sis/. It means “six.” sees when it stands alone — the "x" is pronounced as a plain "s", and the vowel is "ee", not the "i" of English "six".

sees when it stands alone — the "x" is pronounced as a plain "s", and the vowel is "ee", not the "i" of English "six".

six /sis/

One syllable. Its real complication is not stress but the three-way behaviour of the final "x", which changes depending on what follows — a pattern shared with "dix".

Listen: six

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

Sound it out

s A crisp "s", identical to English.

i A pure "ee" as in "machine", held steady. French has no short "ih" vowel, so the English "six" vowel simply does not exist here.

x This is the word's chameleon. Alone or at the end of a phrase, it is /s/. Before a consonant it goes silent: "six jours" is /si ʒuʁ/. Before a vowel it becomes /z/ in liaison: "six ans" is /si.z‿ɑ̃/.

Hear it in a sentence

Il est six heures et demie.

It's half past six.

Listen: Il est six heures et demie.

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

"Il est six heures et demie" uses the liaison form: "six heures" is /si.z‿œʁ/, with the "x" surfacing as a "z" and the silent "h" of "heures" letting the link happen. Then "et demie" follows with "et" as a bare /e/ — and remember "et" never makes a liaison, so there is no "t" sound before "demie".

Where English speakers slip

English speakers say "siks", which is wrong on two counts: the vowel should be "ee", and the "x" is a single "s" rather than a "ks" cluster. Then, because they have learned one form, they use it everywhere — but "six" in "six personnes" has no final consonant at all, and in "six enfants" it is a "z". Learn all three shapes together rather than one and a rule to be applied later.