French "liaisons" between words

In French, a "liaison" is when a normally silent consonant at the end of a word is pronounced at the beginning of the word that follows it.

Usually, liaisons are required between two words when the first one ends with a consonant (ex: "es") and the second one starts with a vowel (ex: "un"). They are also required when the second word starts with a "mute H" (ex: "honnête" which means "honest").

Cautious: consonants in liaisons sometimes change pronunciation. For example, an S is pronounced like a Z when it is in a liaison.

• ex: "Tu es un garçon" means "You are a boy", and is pronounced like "Tu es-Z-un garçon"
• ex: "Tu es honnête" means "You are honest", and is pronounced like "Tu es-Z-honnête"

The pronunciation (or not) of liaisons follows specific rules. Liaisons are divided into three categories:

Required liaisons:

There are many cases, but here are a few examples:

• Nominal group: "un homme" (pronounced "un-N-homme"), "les amis" (pronounced "les-Z-amis")
• Verbal group: "vous avez" (pronounced "vous-Z-avez"), "ils ont" (pronounced "ils-Z-ont")
• etc.

Forbidden liaisons:

There are many cases, but here are a few examples:

• After a singular noun: "un garçon intéressant" (you should not say "un garçon-N-intéressant")
• After "et" (and): "un homme et une femme" (you should not say "un homme et-T-une femme")
• Before a "h aspiré": "les haricots" (you should not say "les-Z-haricots").

Optional liaisons:

There are many cases, but a case of optional liaison is after verbs that are not followed by a pronoun: "L'enfant prend un sucre".

• You can either pronounce: "L'enfant prend un sucre" or "... prend-T-un sucre".