# final consonant exceptions



## agoodeno

I'm looking for a fairly comprehensive list of French words ending in -c, -r, -f, and -l that don't have their final letter pronounced (assuming no liaison), and well as the inverse: words ending in a consonant but not -c, -r, -f, or -l that do have their final letter pronounced. That is to say, I'm looking for the exceptions.

Can anyone point me to a good list?

Alan


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## petereid

That depends on the french region.
down in Languedoc the final consonant is more often prounced than in Paris for example.


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## geve

Here's a resource in English : http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-lettresmuettes.htm


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## agoodeno

Thanks, geve, that's a start; but is there a more complete list of exceptions somewhere?

Alan


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## agoodeno

Another final consonant pronunciation question:

Do I understand correctly that (ignoring liaison) these final consonant rules and exceptions are to be applied to the  SINGULAR form of the noun or adjective, and I should pronounce the plural form identically?

For example, when saying "la maison" the n is silent, but when saying "les maisons" the n is still silent, even though it's not the last consonant. And the s is silent, too.

Another example, this one is a CaReFuL exception: "l'estomac" the c is silent, and "les estomacs" the c and s are silent.

N'est-ce pas?

Alan


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## zaby

agoodeno said:
			
		

> Do I understand correctly that (ignoring liaison) these final consonant rules and exceptions are to be applied to the  SINGULAR form of the noun or adjective, and I should pronounce the plural form identically?


Yes, the pronounciation is the same for the plural form



			
				agoodeno said:
			
		

> For example, when saying "la maison" the n is silent, but when saying "les maisons" the n is still silent, even though it's not the last consonant. And the s is silent, too.


This is not a good example because in maison, the last sound comes from "on". you can't say the n is silent because "maiso" would not be pronounced like "maison"
["maison" and "maisons" _are_ pronounced the same way]



			
				agoodeno said:
			
		

> Another example, this one is a CaReFuL exception: "l'estomac" the c is silent, and "les estomacs" the c and s are silent.


You're right !


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## marget

_Another example, this one is a CaReFuL exception: "l'estomac" the c is silent, and "les estomacs" the c and s are silent._

_The same goes for tabac and porc.  The final consonant is silent._


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## Lezert

Qui me viennent à l'esprit comme ça:
Dont on ne prononce pas la consonne finale:
broc
croc
 cul
 fusil
gentil



qui se pronononcent
lad
les mots en "um" (aquarium, maximum...)


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## agoodeno

Come on people, you're not trying hard enough. I went through the As in my small (about 17,000 entries) French-English dictionary (Collins 1974) and found these exceptions (I'm ignoring -er infinitives):

sounded:
abject abrupt amen aéro-club album angélus anthrax as aspect autobus autorail auto-stop azimut

silent:
accueil ail ais ajonc aplomb appareil appétit

It didn't have amen, aquarium, or Aix, and it says août should have a silent t. C'est vrai ?

I'll work on the Bs tonight.

Alan


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## marget

I have heard aout pronounced in three ways: as one syllable,the same as "ou", one syllable but with the final t pronounced and I've heard two syllables, the first syllable, the a pronounced separately, and the rest of the word pronounced with the final t.

I think these pronunciations may be regional, but since I'm not a native speaker, I can't say for sure.


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## zaby

In your list I disagree with 
- aspect, pronounced "aspai"
- accueil, pronounced "acuei*ll*e" 
- ail, pronounced "ai*ll*e" 
- appareil, pronounced "apparei*ll*e" 



> it says août should have a silent t. C'est vrai ?


Some people pronounce "ou" others "ou*tt*e".
I pronounce the final 't'


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## Lezert

Le mois d'Août est doux....
Pour le mois d'Août, tout est possible.
Dans ma région, on prononce le "t".
De même le "c" de porc est parfois prononcé

Il y a aussi les noms latins (comme les os cubitus, radius, humérus, un péplum, vélum) dont on prononce le s, comme "plus " dans certains cas.

"but", "fret", "index", "gag" , "as" on prononce la finale
"os", on prononce le "s" au singulier,  et pas au pluriel 
plomb ,jonc, tronc, banc,franc,  on ne prononce pas la finale


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## timpeac

agoodeno said:
			
		

> Another final consonant pronunciation question:
> 
> Do I understand correctly that (ignoring liaison) these final consonant rules and exceptions are to be applied to the  SINGULAR form of the noun or adjective, and I should pronounce the plural form identically?
> 
> For example, when saying "la maison" the n is silent, but when saying "les maisons" the n is still silent, even though it's not the last consonant. And the s is silent, too.
> 
> Another example, this one is a CaReFuL exception: "l'estomac" the c is silent, and "les estomacs" the c and s are silent.
> 
> N'est-ce pas?
> 
> Alan


 
3 exceptions I can think of "Un oeuf" +F "des oeufs" no f (or s) and similarly "boeuf" +F "des boeufs" no f or s.

Finally "os" in singular is + s in the plural spelt the same but no s.


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## Cath.S.

Here are three more:

le marc (de café)
la clef
le fusil

And a word that does not quite fit in your list, but I'll give it to you anyway - it's a singular.

un entrelacs

Avec la mode de la restauration  rapide, on finira par prononcer esto-Mac.


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## agoodeno

zaby said:
			
		

> In your list I disagree with
> - aspect, pronounced "aspai"
> - accueil, pronounced "acuei*ll*e"
> - ail, pronounced "ai*ll*e"
> - appareil, pronounced "apparei*ll*e"
> 
> 
> Some people pronounce "ou" others "ou*tt*e".
> I pronounce the final 't'



Controversy!

aspect: You're right. I goofed.
accueil, ail, appareil: My other dictionary shows no l in the phonetic. Who else here pronounces these words like Zaby?
août: Same question: Who here pronounces the t when not liasing?


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## geve

agoodeno said:
			
		

> Controversy!
> 
> aspect: You're right. I goofed.
> accueil, ail, appareil: My other dictionary shows no l in the phonetic. Who else here pronounces these words like Zaby?
> août: Same question: Who here pronounces the t when not liasing?


Hi Alan,

About "accueil", "ail", "appareil", you don't really pronounce the "L" but the L is included in the sound:
- without the L : *ai* is pronounced *è*
- with the L : *ail* is pronounced *ay*
So your dictionary is right, but I'm not sure you can include the word in your list... It's not like "fusil" which would be pronounced exactly the same without the L.

I do pronounce the T in août, too.


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## agoodeno

Since you can't have exceptions without rules, here are the rules I'm working with:

I'm ignoring liaison and proper nouns.

Ending vowels: always pronounced except for the unaccented -e.

Normally pronounced: -b -c -f -k -l -q -r, and -vowel + il (which changes the prononciation to "-y"), and -er (which changes the prononciation to "-yay").

Normally silent: -d -g -m -n -p -s -t -x and -z.

So far, I've collected these exceptions (words starting with A and B only):

These words have silent final consonants: ajonc aplomb babil banc baril blanc broc.

These words have pronounced final consonants: abject abrupt aéro-club album amen angélus anthrax aquarium as autobus auto-stop azimut.

Controversial: accueil ail août appareil.

On to the Cs!

Alan


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## Cath.S.

Doudou je doute au doux mois d'août. 

I pronounce the t at the end of _août_.



> Controversial: accueil ail août appareil.


I agree with Zaby and Geve, the l is pronounced although it is not pronounced as an l, it's not as if there was no l at all.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Y'en a, pour faire félin, qui disent à la "mi-août" comme "miaou".


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## agoodeno

Words starting with C that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: cerf clef clerc coutil croc cul

pronounced final consonant: cacatoès cap cassis (meaning black currant) celluoïd cep chelem circonspect clown concept contact contre-sens convient (depends on meaning; can someone explain?) correct cubitus

Alan


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Ils convient quelqu'un à manger chez eux => prononcer "con-vi" (verbe convier)
Ce choix me convient => prononcer "con-vi-ain" (verbe convenir)


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## agoodeno

Thanks for the explanation, KaRiNe, but neither pronunciation of convient says the t so it's not an exception.

Words starting with D that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: I couldn't find any.

pronounced final consonant: dancing déficit détritus direct distinct district dix (are dix and six ever pronounced without sounding the x?) dumping

Alan


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## Agnès E.

Un noeud. .....


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## agoodeno

Words starting with E that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: escroc estomac.

pronounced final consonant: ès est exact express.

Is the s pronounced in entrelacs?

As an aside, there is a wine grown in the Niagara, Ontario region called Entrelacs, but the label explains that it means "between lakes", that is, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Nothing to do with interlacing!

Alan


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Agnès E. said:
			
		

> Un noeud. .....


Celui-là est bon pour "starting with N"... Not "D".


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## agoodeno

Words starting with F that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: fer-blanc flanc fournil franc fusil.

pronounced final consonant: fat film fils flirt footing.

Fils and fier each have two pronunciations, depending on their meaning.

Is the t pronounced in fret?

Alan


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Je crois qu'on peut dire les deux pour "fret"... (moi je prononce le t final, mais je suis du sud  )
Mais pour "frais", on ne prononce pas le s final.


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## Agnès E.

Yes, we pronounce the final t in _fret_.
I also pronounce the final l in _fournil_.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Contrairement à _fret_ pour lequel il est indiqué que l'on peut prononcer ou non le t final, le TLFi, bizarrement (*), n'indique pas la possibilité de prononcer le l final dans _fournil_ !

(*) car moi aussi je le prononce !


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## agoodeno

Words starting with G that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: gentil gril grog

pronounced final consonant: gag gaz géranium gratis groom

I just noticed that my dictionary lacks many "metallic" words, so from another source, these words (starting with from A to G) have a pronounced final letter: actinium aluminium américium baryum berkélium béryllium bohrium cadmium calcium californium cérium césium curium darmstadtium dubnium dysprosium einsteinium erbium europium fermium francium gadolinium gallium germanium

How do you pronounce these words: argon, cobalt, krypton, néon, xénon?

I'll put fret and fournil in the "controversial" category, along with août.

Alan


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## Agnès E.

I pronounce the l in _grill_ (I don't know the word _gril_), as well as the g in _grog_.

As for metal: we already told you in a previous post that all Latin words have their last consonant to be pronounced.

_Argon, krypton_, etc. ending by the sound -on, they are pronounced normally (like _suggestion, question_, ...).

_Fret_ and _fournil_ are not controversial at all, as explained: _fret_ can be pronounced both ways and I've never heard anyone in France pronouncing _fournil_ like _fourni_.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Agnès E. said:
			
		

> 've never heard anyone in France pronouncing _fournil_ like _fourni_.


Moi, si. Ma grand-mère : 96 ans


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## Agnès E.

Ce doit être une question de génération, alors !!!


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Pour le coup, là, c'est sûr ! 
Ses amies disent pareil.


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## agoodeno

Agnès E. said:
			
		

> (I don't know the word _gril_)
> 
> As for metal: we already told you in a previous post that all Latin words have their last consonant to be pronounced.



My dictionary translates gril as gridiron, grill.

I've decided that to reduce the number of exceptions I'm going to go against tradition and change the rules to say that French words ending in -m are usually pronounced. This has the effect of eliminating all those -um metal words from the exception list, and adding only faim. Can anyone think of any other words ending in a silent -m?

Continuing...

Words starting with H that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: handicap harpin hein huit

pronounced final consonant: I couldn't find any.

I ask again, is the final t pronounced in cobalt?

Alan


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## Agnès E.

agoodeno said:
			
		

> I've decided that to reduce the number of exceptions I'm going to go against tradition and change the rules to say that French words ending in -m are usually pronounced. This has the effect of eliminating all those -um metal words from the exception list, and adding only faim. Can anyone think of any other words ending in a silent -m?


I can think of *daim*. But only because this is the triphtongue -aim, pronounced like -in. This triphtongue is rather rare, but exists. 



> I ask again, is the final t pronounced in cobalt?
> 
> Alan


Yes, it is.


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## agoodeno

Words starting with I J and K that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: jonc

pronounced final consonant: impact incorrect index indirect indistinct enexact infect intact iris jadis joug

Alan


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## Agnès E.

Mmm... strangely enough, I do not pronounce the final t in _indistinct_ (I say indistin); same goes for _instinct_ (instin), which is not in your list. I don't pronounce the final g in _joug_ (I say jou).


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## agoodeno

Agnès, you and my dictionary agree on instict, but disagree on indistinct and joug. 

I forgot to mention that humérus should be on the exception list.

Words starting with L that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: I couldn't find any.

pronounced final consonant: laïus laps lapsus larynx lest liebig lis looping lotus lynx lys

Is the final -g pronounced in long ?

Alan


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## agoodeno

Words starting with M that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

silent final consonant: marc

pronounced final consonant: maïs malt mars mat médius mérinos mess métis mœurs mordicus motus myosotis

Alan


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## Agnès E.

agoodeno said:
			
		

> pronounced final consonant: laïus laps lapsus larynx lest liebig lis looping lotus lynx lys


Words ending by -us are Latin.
Liebig is a trademark.
Looping is English.
What is lis? A conjugated form of lire? Then, the final s is not pronounced. If it is the flower, it is to be gathered with lys.



> Is the final -g pronounced in long ?


No.


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## agoodeno

-us words: I know they're Latin, but they're loan-words in French, so I'm including them. There aren't a lot of them.
Liebig: It's a brand of beef extract, isn't it?
 Faire de looping: to do the loop-the-loop, which is a kind of aerobatic manoeuvre.
 Lis is an alternative spelling of lys, the lily flower.

Words starting with N that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: nom nombril

 pronounced final consonant: nævus net nœud non-sens nord-est nord-ouest

Alan


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## agoodeno

Words starting with O and Œ that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: outil

 pronounced final consonant: oasis obus occiput omnibus onyx os (singular only) oued ouest ours

Alan


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## Robinou

Yes, most words ending in -us are latin, and thus aren't really exeptions. Same for words ending in -um, and for a few other words, like "amen".

As for "broc", I am the only one who pronounce the c ? "De bric et de broc"

Also, the final "s" isn't to be pronounced in the word "las" (tired) (at least I don't pronounce it)

Also, a few disagreements with the way I (at least) pronounce some words :

handicap : p is pronounced
huit : t is pronounced

EDIT : nombril : l is pronounced (at least, I do pronounce it)

Obus : no s pronounced
Hope I can help


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Robinou said:
			
		

> As for "broc", I am the only one who pronounce the c ? "De bric et de broc"


Yes, I do pronounce the final c in "De bric et de broc".
But, I don't in "Passe-moi le broc d'eau !"


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## Agnès E.

agoodeno said:
			
		

> silent final consonant: nom nombril
> 
> pronounced final consonant: nævus net nœud non-sens nord-est nord-ouest


Pas d'accord pour nombril : je prononce le l

Idem pour _nœud_ et _nord_ : prononcés en français neu et nor (pas de régionalisme possible ici).


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## Agnès E.

agoodeno said:
			
		

> pronounced final consonant: oasis obus occiput omnibus onyx os (singular only) oued ouest ours
> 
> Alan


Pas d'accord pour obus : je l'ai toujours entendu prononcer obu (et mon Robert en fait autant).


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## agoodeno

I goofed with the H words; handicap harpin hein huit humérus have pronounced endings. Sorry.

Nord: It makes sense to me to pronounce the d, since the final letters in sud, est and ouest are pronounced.

I notice that œuf and bœuf have pronounced -f but œufs and bœufs have silent -fs!

Words starting with P and Q that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: parfum persil plomb pompom porc prénom pronom

 pronounced final consonant: palmarès papyrus pat petit-fils phénix processus prospectus quatre-vingt-dix

Plus: Is this correct?
silent -s when it means more; le plus (most); and non plus (not anymore)
pronounced -s when it means plus or add; and plus que (more than).

Alan


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## Lezert

Je ne suis pas d'accord avec "handicap" : pour moi, on prononce le "p", comme on prononce le "t" de "cobalt". 
pour "nombril" , "fournil" et "persil", je pense qu'il y a des variantes régionales. Chez moi, on prononce le "l", mais pas dans "fusil", allez savoir pourquoi...
Je ne prononce pas le "s" d'obus" non plus

Pour "huit", ce n'est pas aussi tranché:
je prononce le "t" lorsqu'il est en finale de phrase, ( je chausse du trente-huit), quand le mot suivant commence par une voyelle ( j'ai quarante huit ans), mais pas quand le mot suivant débute par une consonne ( j'ai  huit frères et soeurs)


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## calembourde

I know we're not up to s yet, but I just found this out so I may as well mention it:

The t is pronounced in 'soit' when used on its own to mean, 'so be it'.


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## agoodeno

Words starting with R that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: raccroc radoub rénom

 pronounced final consonant: radius rahat-loukoum raid rapt rébus rictus rut


Calembourde, my two dictionaries show soit to have a silent t. How does everyone else here say it?

Alan


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## Robinou

Yes, when it means "so be it", the t is to be pronounced.

When it means "either", it is usually not, but some people do pronounce it anyway, I think.


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## agoodeno

Words starting with S that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: soûl sourcil surnom surplomb

 pronounced final consonant: script sens silex slip sloop spécimen sphinx spleen stand strass stop strict succinct sud sud-est sud-ouest sus suspect

Alan


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## Lezert

Il doit y avoir des exceptions chez moi/
on prononce le "l" de sourcil ( je sais que ce n'est pas partout) et pas le "t" "de succinct" ...


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## Lezert

et on ne prononce pas le "s" de "rébus" non plus


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## agoodeno

Thanks, Robinou, for your explanation. I'll add soit to my exception list.

Words starting with T that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: tabac tape-cul thym tronc

 pronounced final consonant: tact tennis terminus tétanos thorax toast tournevis

Alan


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## agoodeno

Words starting with U V W X Y Z that are exceptions, according to my dictionary and above suggestions:

 silent final consonant: I couldn't find any.

 pronounced final consonant: ut vagabond vasistas verdict vis vivat volt watt wattman xérès zest zigzag zist zut

In case you didn't know, zest and zist are used this way: "être entre le zist et le zest" meaning "to be betwixt and between".

Alan


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## Lezert

Pas tout-à fait daccord encore pour "vagabond", "vivat", consonne finale muette pour moi

il y a aussi "ubac", dont on prononce le "c"


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## agoodeno

And finally, number-words that are exceptions, given that six, sept, huit and dix have their final consonant pronounced (apparently not in all cases, though), which puts them on my exception list:

cinquante-huit cinquante-sept cinquante-six
dix dix-huit six-sept huit
quarante-huit quarante-sept quarante-six
quatre-vingt-dix quatre-vingt-dix-huit quatre-vingt-dix-sept
quatre-vingt-huit quatre-vingt-sept quatre-vingt-six
sept six
soixante-dix soixante-dix-huit soixante-dix-sept
soixante-huit soixante-sept soixante-six
trente-huit trente-sept trente-six
vingt-huit vingt-sept vingt-six

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed suggestions, corrections and elaborations to help me compile this list. Just add the rule of elision and learn which words have an initial asparate H and I can now in theory pronounce almost every French word, given its spelling! Wow!

Alan


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## Lezert

Et que le grand cric vous croque...


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## OlivierG

agoodeno said:
			
		

> Just add the rule of elision and learn which words have an initial asparate H and I can now in theory pronounce almost every French word, given its spelling! Wow!
> Alan


A while ago, I posted a list of French words with aspirate H: it's here
However, I can't find any relation between this list and the pronunciation of the ending consonant...


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## agoodeno

Lezert said:
			
		

> Et que le grand cric vous croque...



Pardon, I cracked a big jack?

Alan


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