French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "venir" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce venir in French?

venir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /və.niʁ/. It means “to come.” vuh-NEER — a weak first syllable, then a pure "ee" and a fully pronounced throat "r".

vuh-NEER — a weak first syllable, then a pure "ee" and a fully pronounced throat "r".

venir /və.niʁ/

ve-NIR, weight on the second syllable. The contrast between the schwa-opening and the full, stressed "-nir" is what gives the word its French shape.

Listen: venir

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Sound it out

ve A "v" plus a weak schwa. Quick and unstressed; in fast speech it can shrink almost to nothing.

ni A normal "n" plus a tense, pure "ee".

r Pronounced. Unlike the -er family, -ir infinitives keep their final "r", so the word ends in vuh-NEER, never "vuh-NEE".

Hear it in a sentence

Il vient de Bordeaux.

He comes from Bordeaux.

Listen: Il vient de Bordeaux.

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"Il vient de Bordeaux" uses "vient" /vjɛ̃/, a single syllable with a "y" glide into the nasal /ɛ̃/ — nothing like the infinitive. Beware the ambiguity: "venir de" plus a place means "to come from", but "venir de" plus an infinitive means "to have just done something". Here it is the first. "Bordeaux" ends in that "eau" spelling, a pure "oh": bor-DOH.

Where English speakers slip

Learners give the first syllable a full "vay" or "veh", when it is a schwa that barely registers. Then they often drop the final "r", having learned that -er infinitives lose theirs — but -ir verbs keep it. Say "vuh-NEER" with a real throat "r" at the end, and the same shape carries over to "partir", "sortir", "dormir" and "finir".