French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "vivre" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce vivre in French?

vivre is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /vivʁ/. It means “to live.” VEE-vruh — one syllable and a fade, with a pure "ee" and a "vr" cluster at the end.

VEE-vruh — one syllable and a fade, with a pure "ee" and a "vr" cluster at the end.

vivre /vivʁ/

One syllable plus a trailing cluster: VEE-vr. Two "v"s in a four-letter word give it an unusually buzzy quality, and the fading ending means the weight sits on the front.

Listen: vivre

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Sound it out

vi A "v" plus a tense, pure "ee". Not the lax "ih" of English "vivid".

vre A second "v" into a uvular "r", with the final "e" silent. This "vr" cluster at the end of a word is genuinely awkward for English mouths — practise it as a fading rasp rather than a released consonant.

Hear it in a sentence

Je vis à Paris.

I live in Paris.

Listen: Je vis à Paris.

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"Je vis à Paris" uses "vis" /vi/, where the "s" is silent, so the conjugated form is just two sounds. Note the contrast between "vivre" and "habiter": both can translate as "to live", but "habiter" is specifically about residing somewhere while "vivre" also covers living in the wider sense. "À Paris" leaves the two vowels side by side with no liaison.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers insert a vowel to break up the final cluster, giving "VEE-vuh-ruh", or drop the "r" entirely and say "veev". Neither works — the "vr" must be there, tight and fading. The vowel is also frequently laxed into "ih" under the influence of "vivid" and "river". Keep it a clean, long "ee", then let the "vr" trail off at the back of the throat.