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- "Les filles mangent du pain."
33 Comments
Remember that when singular the 'le' is going to have a softer 'e' than if it is plural. A plural 'le', which is 'les' is going to sound like 'lay'; but, a singular 'le' is going to sound more 'lew'. At least that's what I listen for. Then, of course, if the 'les' is in front of a vowel, the 's' will ellide into the vowel and sound 'z'. rofl
The 'm' sound is made in 'pomme' but the ending consonant is not pronounced in 'pain', as is usually the case with French words. Also, according to my native French teacher, the nasal sounds 'ain'/'aim' or 'on'/'om' etc. are pronounced the same way ie. there's no difference between 'm' and 'n'. (I'm presuming this would be different though for pomme vs. ponne, if such a word as ponne exists.)
French pronunciation is so difficult but I find it helps a lot more to be listening to the way vowels are pronounced than consonants to discern between similar words.