French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "trois" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce trois in French?

trois is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tʁwa/. It means “three.” trwah — one syllable, with a throat "r" wedged between the "t" and a "wa" glide. The "s" is silent.

trwah — one syllable, with a throat "r" wedged between the "t" and a "wa" glide. The "s" is silent.

trois /tʁwa/

A single syllable, delivered as one compact unit. The temptation is to stretch "trois" out; French keeps it short and clipped when counting.

Listen: trois

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Sound it out

tr A tight cluster: unaspirated "t" straight into the uvular "r". Because the "r" is made at the back of the throat, this feels very different from the English "tr" of "tree", where the tongue tip curls. Keep the tongue tip down for the "r".

oi This spelling is always "wa". One quick glide, not two vowels.

s Silent in isolation and before consonants; becomes a "z" in liaison before a vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Le rendez-vous est à trois heures.

The appointment is at three.

Listen: Le rendez-vous est à trois heures.

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"Le rendez-vous est à trois heures" ends in a required liaison: "trois heures" is /tʁwɑ.z‿œʁ/, so the silent "s" surfaces as a "z" and links into "heures", whose "h" is silent. You get trwah-ZUR as a single unit. This liaison is obligatory with numbers plus "heures" — leaving it out is one of the clearest signals of a non-native speaker telling the time.

Where English speakers slip

The English instinct is "troys" or "trwaz", pronouncing that final "s". It only appears in liaison. Getting the "tr" cluster right takes real practice too: English speakers produce a retroflex "r" that reshapes the whole syllable into something like "trrwah". The French version has the tongue tip resting behind the lower teeth while the back of the tongue does the work.