French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "très" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce très in French?

très is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tʁɛ/. It means “very.” treh — one syllable. A "t" into a throat "r", then a flat open "eh". The "s" is silent.

treh — one syllable. A "t" into a throat "r", then a flat open "eh". The "s" is silent.

très /tʁɛ/

One syllable, always unstressed, leaning on the adjective it intensifies. The beat belongs to what follows: très BON, très JOLI.

Listen: très

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Sound it out

tr An unaspirated "t" straight into the uvular "r", with the tongue tip staying down.

è An open "eh" as in "bed". The grave accent tells you the vowel is open rather than the closed "ay" of "é".

s Silent, but it surfaces as a "z" in liaison before a vowel — which happens constantly, since "très" sits in front of adjectives all day.

Hear it in a sentence

C'est très bon.

It's very good.

Listen: C'est très bon.

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"C'est très bon" has no liaison after "très", because "bon" begins with a consonant. Change the adjective and the picture changes: "très intéressant" becomes /tʁɛ.z‿ɛ̃.te.ʁe.sɑ̃/, with the silent "s" waking up. The opening "c'est" is itself a contraction of "ce est".

Where English speakers slip

The two problems are the vowel and the "s". English speakers say "tray", closing the vowel and adding a glide, when the grave accent marks it as open and flat — "treh". And they pronounce the "s" as "tress", when it should stay silent except in liaison, where it becomes a "z". The "tr" cluster also needs the throat "r", not the curled English one.