French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "voir" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce voir in French?

voir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /vwaʁ/. It means “to see.” vwahr — one syllable. "v" plus "wa" plus a throat "r", with nothing in between.

vwahr — one syllable. "v" plus "wa" plus a throat "r", with nothing in between.

voir /vwaʁ/

A single syllable, which makes it the shortest of the -oir family. Because there is only one beat, everything happens fast — there is no unstressed syllable to give your mouth time to set up.

Listen: voir

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Sound it out

v A normal "v", upper teeth on lower lip.

oi The "wa" glide. Coming directly after "v" with no vowel to cushion it, this is the tightest version of the cluster in French.

r Final uvular "r", fully pronounced.

Hear it in a sentence

Je vais voir mes parents.

I'm going to see my parents.

Listen: Je vais voir mes parents.

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"Je vais voir mes parents" is the near future: "aller" plus an infinitive. Note "vais voir" — two "v" sounds back to back with different vowels, which is a small tongue-twister. "Mes parents" makes no liaison because "parents" starts with a consonant, and its final "ts" is silent, so it is pa-RAHN.

Where English speakers slip

This is the word where the "vw" cluster is most exposed, and learners either drop the "w" (giving "var") or insert a vowel (giving "vo-AHR"). Both add up to a different word. The fix is mechanical: round your lips fully before you start the "v", so the "w" is already set up. Then the throat "r" — never the American one, which would turn it into something closer to "voir" as an English reader would guess.