# prononciation de "ai", notamment à différents temps (futur, conditionnel, imparfait…)



## Dantes

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads have been merged to create this one. This question is very common so this thread is very long but it is also quite complete. Note that there is no single “correct” pronunciation as it varies from country to country and even from region to region. If you don't want to read the whole thread, note that the “standard” pronunciation is the following:

futur & passé simple (_-ai_), e.g., _j'irai, j'allai_ → [e] (é, similar to the ‹a› in “ace”)
conditionnel & imparfait (_-ais, -ait, -aient_), e.g., _j'irais, j'allais_ → [ɛ] (è, as the ‹e› in “elk”)
présent (_-ai_ & _-ais_), e.g., _j'ai, je vais, je sais_ → no standard pronunciation but often [e]
See also the following detailed website _Chantez-vous français ?_
***​

In my studies I believe the sound of future tense is the same as the conditional tense.  I remember learning the only way to know the difference is the structure of the sentence.  But recently someone (who is not french by the way) suggests that the sounds are different.  I can't remember for certain so I am wondering if any french people out there know if there is a difference.

For example:

future - je mangerai (i will eat)
conditional - je mangerais (i would eat)

the "ai" and "ais" endings I believe are the same sound, "eh" or è.
But some say the sounds are different.
They say future (ai) is pronounced é (closed e) while conditional is è (open e)

Can anyone advise?

Thanks.


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## Ze Zeum

yes, you are right : future is eh and imparfait is è


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## Dantes

so you are saying the endings sound the same?  

Thanks.


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## Ze Zeum

yes, sorry for the joke.


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## Lizette12054

Hello-  Is there any way I can get help with distinguishing the pronunciations of the first person singular future tense and conditional?  je parlerai vs je parlerais?


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## jimreilly

Hélas, I think there is no difference in their pronunciation. Context is all....


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## Joelline

I think I can hear a difference in French Canadian where the conditional ending sounds more "open" to me (eh).  But you'd better wait until a Canadian comes along to confirm this.


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## viera

When I learned French Canadian a long time ago, there was a clear distinction between the two:

"je chanterai" was pronounced exactly the same as "vous chanterez" (rhymes with "gray")

"je chanterais" was slightly different, rhyming with "frais" or "très".

Nowadays in France I hear both pronounced the same way (rhyming with "très").  And indeed I see many spelling mistakes confusing the two, whereas in French Canadian they are easily dstinguished and I don't remember such mistakes.


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## mapping

I can confirm that here in France both are pronounced exactly the same, which causes a lot of spelling mistakes !


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## CARNESECCHI

Hello,
Same thing in Auvergne. However the sound "ai" should be pronounced "è" (large mouth opening), most french people pronounce it "é", (small mouth opening). Anyway, open or close mouth, both are pronounced exactly the same way.
Hope it helps!


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## claudine75

Comme disait l'autre poster, c'est entièrement une question de contexte: est ce une action future certaine ou simplement une possibilité...
en français il y a officiellement une difference de prononciation entre les différents ai/ais/ez/er/é mais franchement de nos jours  on ne l'entend pas...


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## timpeac

mapping said:
			
		

> I can confirm that here in France both are pronounced exactly the same, which causes a lot of spelling mistakes !


I was taught that the chanterai chanterais (é-è) difference had only dropped in the north, particularly in the Paris region, and that it was still maintained elsewhere, particularly in the south - Do southerners also agree that there is no difference for them?


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## anangelaway

To me yes, there is still a difference.  
La bouche légèrement ouverte, avec un petit son qui chante...


Edit: En tous cas en ce qui me concerne.


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## Radiance

As a Canadian in French Immersion, I must say that most (if not all) of my classmates make no distinction between the pronunciations but my teacher specifically spent one whole lesson on the differences in sound!


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## KaRiNe_Fr

anangelaway said:
			
		

> To me yes, there is still a difference.
> La bouche légèrement ouverte, avec un petit son qui chante...


Oui, je le prononce ouvert aussi comme toi Anangelaway ! 
Mais, Tim, ça dépend et du lieu et de la personne. Donc on ne peut pas vraiment généraliser sur les différences de prononciation nord/sud je crois.


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## JynnanTonnyx

Hi everybody,

This is something that's been bugging me for a while. Is there a pronunciation difference between the present conditional and the future tenses?

Are 'Je serai' and 'Je serais' pronounced exactly the same? I've been told that they are but I could swear I hear a difference when French people say it. Is it my imagination?


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## la reine victoria

Hi Jynnan Tonnyx (Cheers! Mine's a double.  )

I'm not a native but I've always pronounced them in the same way.  I was taught that this is correct.

LRV


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## JynnanTonnyx

Your Majesty, you're the first to get the joke! 

Yeah, I've always believed that they're pronounced the same and you can tell the difference from the context but I swear I hear the French pronouce the conditional ending a little 'flatter', almost like it drops off quicker. Maybe it's just the legendary Strasbourgeois accent, though.


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## Agnès E.

No, it isn't. 

Theoretically speaking, we are supposed to pronounce the future tense (je serai) more like an é -- and the conditional tense (je serais) like an ê (wide open).

Nowadays, this difference tends to disappear; some regional accents maintain it, though.


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## JynnanTonnyx

Oh, okay Agnès and LRV, that makes sense now. That's exactly what I was hearing but it really is very difficult to detect. I suppose it will disappear completely soon. So it's agreed! We'll both put them into practice while we still have them. 

Thanks again.


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## Markus

I learned them as different sounds and I can detect the difference. It's more difficult to hear the difference in Paris but it's there. I recommend to pronounce them differently when speaking even if you can't hear the difference.

To compare to English, the ending of serai is like in "eight" and the ending of "serait" is like "bet". You're right that in reality these sounds are much closer, the ending of "serait" is to my ears somewhere between "eight" and "bet".


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## carolineR

As a Paris-born Frenchie, I swear I've never heard nor made any difference between serai & serais !!!
Where on earth have you all got thone finely attuned ears  !?!?


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## AWhiteFlame

Hi there.

Is there a difference in pronounciation between, for instance "J'ir*ai*" and "J'ir*ais*"?

I've read on here that there is, but I don't really hear one when I listen to people or the various text-to-speak engines speak.

Any help would be great. Thanks!


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## vince

It's a regional thing. In Parisian French I believe there is a distinction. ais is the same vowel as in English "set", while ai is like é. There are some threads that talk about where the distinction is not made. I believe southern France doesn't distinguish the two.


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## irish_elmo

To my ear, there is a difference. It's difficult to explain phonetics over the internet, in words, when I have no idea how you pronounce your English!!! 

My basic attempt :

J'ir*ai* combines the vowel sounds of the English words "ear" and "ache".
[The AI vowel is pronounced like *é*.]

J'ir*ais* combines the vowel sounds of the English words "ear" and "heck".
[The AIS vowel is pronounced more like the "eh" sound of "egg". It is not the exact same vowel sound though. The example is very extreme, and perhaps separates these two similar sounds a bit too much.]

I hope this helps show the _direction_ in which the vowel change moves, even though it is impossible to find English equivalents for these sounds.


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## roland098

I'd like to ask native speakers about the sound they use to pronounced words ending in -ait -ais -aient.

This came up before in the context of the pronounciation of the imperfect tense endings, however I'd like to widen the discussion.

As I said in the other thread, I was taught that the imperfect (and conditional) endings were more of an (è) sound, compared to the (é) sound in the future tense, for example:

(è)

mangeais (mange - eh)
mangerais

(é)

mangé (mange - ay)
mangerai
mangeai

I found a reference in Grevisse's Le Bon Usage, saying people sometimes used (è) for the future and passé simple but that it was useful to always pronounce them with (é) so as to distinguish them from the imperfect and conditional -- which seems to suggest the difference I outlined above, *is* supposed to exist. However perhaps it's not observed any more?

I note also, looking through my Petit Robert, that many words ending in -ait are given the phonetic symbol for the (è) sound, which in speech, I think, are often said with a sound more like the (é). These include:

Lait
Mais
Français
Imparfait
Frais
Charentais
laid

I'd like to know how native speakers here pronounce endings like these.


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## Fred_C

Bonjour, voici mon point de vue.
La france est divisée en deux parties. Dans la moitié nord, qui n'a pas été influencée par la langue d'oc, (mais peut-être que ça n'a aucun rapport), les gens prononcent la voyelle AI comme è, c'est à dire [E] en phonétique sampa. Ces gens prononcent lait, mais et français comme lè, mè francè, ou en phonétique : [lE], [mE], [frA~sE]. Ces gens prononcent les infinitirs en er, les participes passés différemment : ils les prononcent é, soit [e] en phonétique sampa. Parmi ces gens, rares sont ceux, je pense, qui se souviennent que bien que le futur se termine en AI, on doive le prononcer é (ou [e]), et le prononcent [E] comme n'importe quel mot en AI, et comme l'imparfait.

Dans la moitié sud, les gens ne prononcent la voyelle [E] que si elle est suivie d'une consonne dans la même syllabe. Sinon, ils la prononcent é (soit [e], en phonétique). Ces gens prononcent donc lé, mé, francé. (ou [le], [me], [frA~se]). Ils prononcent le futur comme é, et l'imparfait aussi.

Paris est une grande ville, qui abrite des gens d'origines très diverses. en s'influençant les uns les autres, les gens de Paris adoptent une prononciation qui est parfois un mélange de ces deux tendances, difficile à analyser.


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## IreneO

I'm confused concernign the pronounciation of th letters "ai", as in J'ai, aimer, parelerai...  I would prounce the "ai" in all these words with an "eh" sound.
In highschool French, I was taught "ai" sounds like "ez". (As in the American English word "pay")
In college French I was taught that "ai" sounds like "eh". (As in the American English word, "pet")
Then I found this, which describs both pronounciations: french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-ipa-vowels.htm
and this, which only allows the pronounciation I was taught in high school, by grouping "ai" with "ez" and "er":
w ww.fonetiks .or g/so u2 fr.h t ml

So whats the story here?!


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## joleen

Can't really say, I'm from the south, all my"ai", "et" etc... sound the same.

At least I brought up the topic


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## Spiderkat

IreneO said:


> ..., which only allows the pronounciation I was taught in high school, by grouping "ai" with "ez" and "er":
> ...


Probably because your teacher couldn't hear nor reproduce these two different sounds or maybe to make it simple for the students.
The _ai_ sound is the same as the _è_ sound like in _f*ai*re_ or _col*è*re.
_The _ez_ and _er_ sounds are the same as the _é_ sound like in _part*er*_, _*é*vas*er*_ or _*é*tuv*é*e_.


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## DearPrudence

[…]

Here is what I came across in the resources (merci Chabada)
Et voilà.  
Hope it helps.


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## Lane

Bonjour à tous,

Can anyone tell me if there's a difference in pronunciation between "je devrai" and "je devrais"?

For example,

Je devrai partir demain.  -  I'll have to leave tomorrow [I must leave; I have no choice.]

Je devrais partir demain.  -  I should leave tomorrow [but I might not - I haven't decided yet.]

If there isn't, then in spoken French, how would one distinguish between "I'll have to..." and "I should..."?

Merci en avance pour vos réponses.


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## carolineR

non
prononciation identique


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## absol

as in english, it depends on the context
but if, for example an english friend who is here, in paris, told me "je devrais partir demain", it would sound more like "conditionnel" (i don't know how we say in english sorry)
because usually, when you talk about something you are going to do, something that is planned, you don't use the future tense
if my friend is going to leave tomorrow, he will rather say: "je pars demain", or "je vais partir demain", once more, it depends on the context as for which one he is going to use..

(we say "merci d' avance", not "en" avance ^^)
j' espere avoir pu t' aider (un minimum au moins)


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## espoac

When you say words in the conditional tense, such as "il ferait", you pronounce "ait" as "eh" as in elephant. So why is it that one does not say "il feh" for il fait or "meh" for mais? Also is it 100% necessary to say words in the imperfect like "faisais" as "fais_eh_ "?


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## franglophile

While I'm sure that the pronounciation books have an exact answer to your question, I'm suspecting that in practice, regional accents would erase any grammatical distinctions, so that what is important is the context and the more obvious parts of the conjugation to the ear, where one can tell at once whether the verb is in the past, present or future or conditional.


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## franglophile

I'm taking a second pass at this one.

Take the verb "parler", for example.

parlé, parlais, parlait, parlaient, etceteras.

If you took five audio clips of each of these conjugations without context from different movies, and then played the clips to groups of francophones from ten different francophone countries, and then asked each subject to correctly identify the tense according to the above list, you would see much confusion.

If you then added in the context, you would see 100% agreement.

That being said, there are purists who will certainly profess to know how to pronounce the distinctions between each of the examples, and plenty of books that will tell you that there are in fact differences.  And so, theoretically, there are differences in how to pronounce each of these conjugations.

But in real-life practice, it is the context that gives you the best clues.

Again, regional differences in accent erase any distinctions in how to pronounce these different examples.

Just my anglophone 2 cent opinion, eh?  OOPS, I meant, ay?


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## Valosh

espoac said:


> When you say words in the conditional tense, such as "il ferait", you pronounce "ait" as "eh" as in elephant. So why is it that one does not say "il feh" for il fait or "meh" for mais? Also is it 100% necessary to say words in the imperfect like "faisais" as "fais_eh_ "?


 


You definately say "il feh" ,"meh" etc..


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## hoshiko

Ok, opinion from a Southern French girl:
As I am from Toulouse (Southern France, in general), I would pronounce with my regional accent "parlé, parlais, parlait, parlaient": the same! that is "parlé" (closed, like the spanish "e").
But I was taught that, speaking good French implies to differentiate the "parlé" from the other ones "parlais, parlait, parlaient". The latter must be pronounced "parlè" (open, like "way" in English, say...).
You don't need to discriminate those forms ("parlè") by pronouncing them differently to write them the right way: "parlais" is always preceded by "je" or "tu", "parlait" by "il", "elle" or "on" and "parlaient" by "ils" or "elles".
It may sound difficult for a non-native, but it seems obvious for me. ;-)


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## themaster

As far as i'm concerned, regarding: *"ais", "ait" and "aient"...
they've got all the same pronounciation to me >>> é


*


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## polaire

Est-ce que les mots "parlé" et "parlait" se prononcent pareillement? Quand j'ai commencé mes études de français ils se prononcaient différemment.  Moi, je préfère la différence, mais je ne veux pas sembler snob.

Qu'en pensez-vous?


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## valvende

Ils se prononcent différement comme tu as appris


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## polaire

valvende said:


> Ils se prononcent différement comme tu as appris



Merci.  In the past when I've asked various francophones I've gotten the impression that the subject is a little controversial.


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## xtrasystole

Ils se prononcent différemment. 

'Parlait': same vowel sound as in 'set', 'pen', 'head'. 
'Parlé' : more like the vowel sound in 'day', 'eight'. 

But it all depends on the région of France. In the South, they tend to sound the same ('parlé').


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## orlando09

Hi

I remember being told this distinction at school, and I have read it in books about good use of French in France, however my experience is that actual French people's usage varies. Sometimes you will hear a clear difference, more often not. Often it is not a case of a clear-cut eh or ay difference between regardais/regardé (for example) but I think the ais/ait sound is often not quite as sharp as the é - it is somewhere in-between the two extremes. This is what I think I do now. I feel a bit too artificial saying a full-on 'eh' sound for the imperfect, even though this is what seems to be recommended in dictionaries with phonetic alphabet pronunciations - ie I think it's commonly not really 'eh' (like bet, get) but something in between that and the 'ay' sound used for the perfect tense. The saome goes for lait. mais etc.

I have noticed (I live in Paca) that the way people say things is often not quite what dictionaries suggest. For example, if you believe dictionaries bon soir is pronounced bon swar, with an 'a' sound as in pat/cat, whereas I hear bon swahr (more like in father).


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## 1337

Are parlerais and parlerai pronounced the same?        

I find it hard to hear a difference. I've heard parlerai should be pronounced with a 'eh' sound at the end, while parlerais should have the 'ay' sound-- They all sound the same to me!

I'm curious as to what the natives say.


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## Outsider

If I remember well, it is _parlai_ (the _passé simple_) which is pronounced _"parlé"_. _Parlerais_ and _parlerai_ are both pronounced _"parlerè"_. There's no difference between the _futur_ and the _conditionnel_. 

There have been many threads in the French forums about the pronunciation of the digraph _"ai"_. Search for the keywords "pronunciation", "simple past", "future", "conditional", and their French translations.


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## jann

For pronunciation questions, may I recommend our Phonetics, Pronunciation thread in Resources?  Not only will you find useful sites like this one, but you will also find a post about IPA symbols, which are rather a more meaningful way to type out phonetics.


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## viera

When I was at school (a long time ago), we learned to pronounce the future tense and the conditional tense differently.  This made the spelling simple.  But in recent decades they have come to be pronounced exactly the same (è).  I find this has lead to confusion and a huge increase in spelling mistakes.


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## orlando09

I am currently perfecting my French accent with a (French) French teacher of several decades' experience and she agreed with me that there IS meant to be a difference - future and _passé simple_ is the [é] sound and conditional and imperfect is the [è] sound. However in practice they often now all sound the same in many people's usage (é). I read the same in a (French) book about good language use recently.


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## Canard

I was taught differently in my classes and by friends: -ai on its own sounds like -é, and -ais/t/ent sounds like -è. In France, the conditional ending is a vowel between -é and -è, but still separate from pure -é, at least as far as my phonetics books say. But in Québec especially, the difference is very distinct, and despite some deviations in some words (mais = mé, c'est = cé), you will hear a very pure "parlè" (parlais) and "parlé" (parlai).


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## orlando09

I don;t see how what you say here is much different from what I said? However I agree with you that, IMO, the "è" sound in the conditinal/imperfect ending sounds better kind of halfway between the è and é rather than a full-on è (which to my ears can sound a bit over-formal - thought it might also be a question of regional differences to some extent?). However my -ais etc sounds are definitely not the full, sharp "aigu" sound of é, which to me would sound wrong. I think you should aim for two different sounds with e.g. je regarderai and je regarderais. However, I guess you can usually tell what is meant from the context.


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## jcrow046

canard, you are exactly right in defining this difference in the french and quebecquois pronunciations...
I find in france they tend to pronounce ai on its own (eg j'en ai plein le casque) more as I would pronounce est (il est sophistiqué ce canard), and thus it can indeed be confused easily with the imparfait and conditionel conjugations. in québec, the ai is definately a higher sort of tone (more like é). maybe we have bigger noses..... in any case, very interesting to find out the origin of this difference


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## tilt

I agree with Orlando09, except that in my opinion, the common way to say it is [*è*] (except with the so specific Southern accent.)
Nowadays, in France, anyone saying _je "parlé" _or _je "parleré"_, whatever the tense is, would be considered as an alien. _Parlé_, said and written in this way, is for the _participe passé_.


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## Philippe1185

tilt said:


> I agree with Orlando09, except that in my opinion, the common way to say it is [*è*] (except with the so specific Southern accent.)
> Nowadays, in France, anyone saying _je "parlé" _or _je "parleré"_, whatever the tense is, would be considered as an alien. _Parlé_, said and written in this way, is for the _participe passé_.


 
i find this hard to believe. actually, the opposite is true. nowadays, especially with the younger generation, it is very common to hear _parlé/parlais/parlerai/parlerais_ all pronounced the same way [é]. this even applies to the french lexicon; for example, whereas _français_ used to be pronounced [françè], nowadays it's [françé]. the french _ai_ is undergoing a general shift from [è] to [é].


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## tilt

Philippe1185 said:


> i find this hard to believe. actually, the opposite is true. nowadays, especially with the younger generation, it is very common to hear _parlé/parlais/parlerai/parlerais_ all pronounced the same way [é]. this even applies to the french lexicon; for example, whereas _français_ used to be pronounced [françè], nowadays it's [françé]. the french _ai_ is undergoing a general shift from [è] to [é].


According to your profile, you live in Cannes, and I did say that in the South of France, the local accent makes people saying [é] instead of [è] in (almost?) every word.
But I keep saying that anywhere else in the country, people do say [è] for the tenses we spoke about. Just listen to the TV or the radio!


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## LaurentK

I concur, a large number of people still pronounce [è] in:

j'*ai* faim
je suis franç*ais*
[…]
édith piaff*ait* en entrant sur scène


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## DearPrudence

tilt said:


> According to your profile, you live in Cannes, and I did say that in the South of France, the local accent makes people saying [é] instead of [è] in (almost?) every word.
> But I keep saying that anywhere else in the country, people do say [è] for the tenses we spoke about. Just listen to the TV or the radio!


I concur with Philippe here, though I'm from (lower ) Normandy.
I must say my hearing is very bad but I think I rather say [é] than [è] (even if it's not good ). At the moment I quite realise when I say [è] instead of [é] as if it was an extraordinary event  (but don't worry, I pronounce words like "même" with an [è]).
I know someone called Audrey & I thought it rhymed with [é] but apparently not I'm told 

I think that in Laurent's sentences, I only pronounce a [è] once ("scène" of course (well, but I would say "française" [è] )) (but don't do that at home, I'm a real professional). Bref, tout ça pour dire que ... euh, que je parle mal, quoi  
I had a teacher in primary school that mentioned there was a difference between "les" & "lait" but said it was no longer the case so we never studied it ... I regret it 

(maybe I should really see someone for my hearing & speech ...)


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## tilt

My "anywhere else" was maybe a bit too strict, sorry. Pronunciation is obviously so much linked to regional accents that it seems impossible to find an "official" rule.

But I would like to know, DearPrudence and Philippe1185, if you have the feeling that people on TV have an accent or not? I know I have a slight accent from Lyons, but to my ear, most of the people I can hear on the medias (or even in movies) don't have any. And they say [è], don't they?

Other sounds are said in the same way by some people, while they shouldn't: _brun _and _brin_, or _jeu _and _je_. Many threads have already been open about that.


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## 1337

Thank you all for the number of responses! I've been saying most things with the accent aigu, even for words such as français and mais. :/

Should I learn to say è and é properly, even though as Philippe said, the é is becoming more and more common where the è sound should be?
I think I'm going to.


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## Outsider

1337 said:


> Should I learn to say è and é properly, even though as Philippe said, the é is becoming more and more common where the è sound should be?
> I think I'm going to.


Absolutely. Please notice that this shift (or merger) of _é_ and _è_ only happens in some verb tenses and in a handful of other words. In most French words, they _are_ distinguished consistently (not counting some regional accents).

P.S. Here's a page you may find useful.


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## Petrie787

I was told in my French classes that the sound of conditional and future tense conjugation is actually slightly different. 
That the future form of, say, "parler" ---> Je parlerai
And the conditional form ---> Je parlerais
are not the same. 

How do these three ends differ: parl*é*, parler*ai*, parler*ais*/parl*ais*

So I was wondering if anyone could explain this to me. I realize that trying to explain pronunciation through text is a daunting task, but some help would be appreciated.


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## justcurious

I think I read somewhere that the pronunciation of "ai" at the end of a conjugated verbs should be like the "é" at the end of the past participle.

However I pronounce "ai" the same as "ais" (i.e. "è"). To me there's no difference in sound at the end of "parlerai" and "parlerais".

May be someone could tell us more about it. I'm interested too.


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## Thomas1

Y a-t-il une difference dans la prononciation des terminations des premieres personnes du future simple et du conditionnel ? Par exemple : comment différent dans la prononciation les verbes suivants : 
regarderai -- regarderais 
jouerai -- jouerais 

Merci d'avance, 
Thomas


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## Bléros

Apparemment, il y a une différence. Mais, je ne l'ai jamais entendue. Alors, les deux se prononceraient de la même façon.


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## jdgamble

En parlant, comment est-ce q'on connait la différence entre les deux?

par exemple:

J'aurai beaucoup de pièces de monnaie. J'aurais beaucoup de pièces de monnaie.  Il me semble qu'il est difficile quand il n'y a aucune élision.


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## ascoltate

That depends on which variety of French you are speaking.
In "standard" French, the -ai is pronounced like -é (tense), and the -ais is pronounced like -è (lax). In many varieties of French, however, this distinction is not maintained, and the sound is usually somewhere in between. In Canada, they are very distinct.
And you wouldn't really make a liaison with either form, even though in theory you _could_ with the conditional, but it's very rare.


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## jdgamble

I was under the impression that "ai" and "ais" both sounded like "é". What do you mean by (lax)?

If I want to practice the RIGHT way, how should I pronounce "ais"?

I was also under the impression that "ê" and "è" sound the same.  Do you mean you should pronounce the "ais" like "è" in célèbre or the "è" in après which sounds to me more like "er, et, or é"?

Wouldn't an exemple with elision be: "J'irais au cinéma."?


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## ascoltate

There is no "right" or "wrong" way-- "lax" is a linguistics term (basically means your mouth is more open when you say it), but what I mean to say is that "-ais" in "standard" French sounds like "è" as in "lève" or in the English word "met".
"ê" and "è" sound the same in standard French, yes (not in Canada, but let's not get into _that_ one...).
So, there are two vowels "é" and "è"/"ê"

"é" is the vowel in the first syllable of "célèbre" or in the word "et" or the future form.
"è" is the vowel in the second syllable of "célèbre" or the conditional form.

"J'irais au cinéma" sounds very bizarre with a liaison.
"J'avais une amie" sounds more plausible, but it's still _much_ more frequent _without_ liaison (it's officially an "optional" liaison, but except in a very formal context or in poetry, it sounds better without a liaison...).


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## ascoltate

Honestly, it's not important if you are speaking to people from France--they pick it up from context. And plenty of native speakers from France misspell these forms, because they sound the same to them (annoying when you're working with transcribed interviews and these words are spelled wrong, but anyway...).
In Canada, it can cause some confusion, but it still usually comes clear from context.


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## octoplasm

How do you pronounce "j'ai"?  Is it with an open e or a close e?  Or is it regional?


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## sayah

I pronounce it, in my French classes, with an open e


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## Conchita57

The vowel sound in 'j'ai' is normally pronounced like the 'e' in 'pet'.


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## Fred_C

Hi,
In standard French (the one that is taught to foreigners), it is pronounced with an open E.
Actually, every occurence of AI is pronounced like an open E, except the indicative future in the first person, (Je mangerai) in order not to make a confusion with the conditional. (Je mangerais) But this latter rule is almost forgotten in France.


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## CapnPrep

Fred_C said:


> Actually, every occurence of AI is pronounced like an open E, […]


Every occurrence of _final_ AI (just to be clear). And even then, the Petit Robert has:
*gai, gaie* [ge; gɛ] _adjectif_
*quai* [ke] _nom masculin_
(and *assai* [asaj] _adverbe_, but this one doesn't count)​


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## octoplasm

Thanks for the information, Conchita and Fred C.
Does anyone know if it's pronounced with a close e in any dialect or by any (significantly large) group of speakers?


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## Fred_C

Hi,
I did not know about the pronounciation of "gai", and pronounced it "gE". The TLFI states that both pronunciations are correct, though.
Octoplasm : In southern France, many speakers will pronounce it with a closed e. Southern French accent always avoids open Es in the end of words.


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## Grop

Fred_C said:


> Octoplasm : In southern France, many speakers will pronounce it with a closed e. Southern French accent always avoids open Es in the end of words.



Tout à fait d'accord, je ne prononce pas du tout les mots terminant par "ai" comme font les gens du Nord.

(J'habite vers Nice).


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## Raoul_14740

En ce qui concerne la prononciation correcte du français, le sud de la France c'est tout sauf une référence.


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## mpop

Raoul_14740 said:


> En ce qui concerne la prononciation correcte du français, le sud de la France c'est tout sauf une référence.


Le sud de la France est une référence pour le sud de la France. Le français «correct» est une référence pour là où on le parle plus ou moins (mais j'avoue ne pas suffisamment connaitre les variations de prononciation dans mon pays pour le situer géographiquement — l'Ile de France, à tout hasard?).


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## Angle O'Phial

> En ce qui concerne la prononciation correcte du français, le sud de la France c'est tout sauf une référence.



Sauf, bien sûr, pour ceux qui vivent ou visitent ou aiment cette région. Je ne pense pas qu'il soit correct (ou utile) de parler de "la prononciation correcte du français" comme s’il n'y en avait qu'une. Il vaut mieux souligner les différances régionales qui existent tant au niveau phonétique qu'au niveau lexique. Comme ça, chaque personne qui apprend le français (ou l'anglais d'ailleurs) pourra choisir pour elle-même la région dans laquelle elle veut trouver son foyer linguistique.


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## Grop

mpop said:


> Le sud de la France est une référence pour le sud de la France.



Totalement d'accord: là où je vis, prétendre le contraire (par exemple soutenir que le 'ai' de lait se prononce comme le è de fève et pas comme le é de blé - alors qu'ici c'est faux) est un excellent moyen de passer pour un gros débilou.

(Ceci dit, j'ai passé des mois à Paris sans qu'on me fasse remarquer ce détail - alors que d'autres détails sont bien plus remarquables, croyez moi - et surtout sans problèmes de compréhension alors je pense que ces histoires de e ouvert ou fermé ne sont pas très importantes).


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## mpop

Par chez moi à Lyon (pas vraiment au sud mais pas au nord non plus), il me semble que la prononciation de "ai" est un peu indistincte. Chez certains locuteurs (dont moi par moments), elle est médiane entre un é et un è. Ou du moins quand ça tend vers un è celui-ci n'est pas très net.
Mais c'est difficile d'avoir du recul là-dessus.


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## DaniL

Selon _Grammaire méthodique du français_, -ai dans « je viendrai » se prononce comme e fermé (p*é*ch*é*), alors que -ais dans « je viendrais » se prononce comme e ouvert (m*è*re).

Mais je ne pense pas que tous les Français observent cette règle dans la pratique.


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## lodelalu

[…]



> -ai dans « je viendrai » se prononce comme e fermé (p*é*ch*é*), alors que -ais dans « je viendrais » se prononce comme e ouvert (m*è*re).


effectivement, et même si c'est subtil, un très grand nombre de personnes
font bien la distinction, souvent sans s'en rendre compte eux-même


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## mattdelm

Hi,

In france Je parlerai (future) and Je parlerais (conditionnal) are pronounced exactly the same, that is why there are a lot of spelling mistakes. But when you same them they will understand becuase it depends on the contexte after those 2 verbs.

Hope this helps.


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## orlando09

Technically most language experts say there is meant to be a difference as I understand it, and you do hear it in some speakers, and I aim to make a difference myself because it is what I was taught at school. But it is probably a difference that is dying out somewhat, and as you say, the context usually makes the meaning clear. It may depend partly on what part of France you come from and the kind of grammar teaching that was drilled into you as a child etc.


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## orlando09

If I could be bothered I would look it up in Grevisse Le Bon Usage. In any case, the traditional version is definitely - a é sound for the future and a è sound for the conditional


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## xtrasystole

mattdelm said:


> In france Je parlerai (future) and Je parlerais (conditionnal) are pronounced exactly the same


Sorry, I completely disagree on that. 

Ils se prononcent différemment. 

_'Je parlerai'_ (future): about the same vowel sound as in _'day'_, _'eight'_. 
_'Je parlerais'_ (conditional): more like the vowel sound in _'set'_, _'pen'_, _'head'_. 



orlando09 said:


> In any case, the traditional version is definitely - a é sound for the future and a è sound for the conditional


That's right 



Actually, it all depends on the région of France. In the South, they tend to sound the same ('parlé').


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## chajadan

Can French speakers hear the difference between the words parlerai and parlerais?

Does the "ai" in parlerai rhyme with the "er" in parler, while the "ais" in parlerais rhymes with the è in problème?


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## ManuelM

No it is impossible to make a difference between the 2 words just be listening to them; context is what will give you which one is used.
As for the pronunciation, both should be pronunced as "è" but a lot of French speakers would pronunce them as "er" depending on their accent.


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## chajadan

I thought that they couldn't be distinguished, but this page shows them as being pronounced differently.


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## Gwan

I distinctly remember being taught at school that you should make *some* sort of distinction between them (from memory I think they said to make the 'r' sound softer in the conditional - ring any bells with anyone?), but I've asked French people that question before and I think the consensus is that I was taught incorrectly...

Anyway, does the 's' liaise if it's there?


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## Argyll

The page you point to, Chajadan, is correct. The answer to the question you ask in #1 is Yes. There should be this difference in pronunciation between the two endings. 

However, many people nowadays do not make the difference, as ManuelM suggests.


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## Donaldos

Et il existe en plus de nombreuses variations régionales.

Personnellement, je fais clairement la différence entre:

_je ferai_ /e/ et _je ferais /_ɛ/

ou entre: 

_j'allai_ /e/ et _j'allais__ /_ɛ/


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## enoo

Gwan said:


> I distinctly remember being taught at school that you should make *some* sort of distinction between them (from memory I think they said to make the 'r' sound softer in the conditional - ring any bells with anyone?), but I've asked French people that question before and I think the consensus is that I was taught incorrectly...



I do make a slight pronunciation difference between the two, with a softer r for the conditional (your memory is good  ) but ... I didn't learn that as a rule in school, it's just the way I heard that around me. (And it's really hardly noticeable)
About the liaison with the s ... I guess it should be done, but it's very often omitted.

However, what I was taught was that "ai" is prononced _/_ɛ/ (and not /e/) but maybe there's regional differences (or a change in school programs).

Anyway, *to me*, the link given by chajadan lists *incorrectly* "parlerai" under the /e/ sound, instead of the _/_ɛ/ one. 
I know some people that pronounce "lait" [le], poulet [pule], (and maybe parlerai with -rai as [ʁe]) and it's *really* irritating.


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## jetset

To be honest, the issue is more in the way we write it -ai*"s" *or not-, because for many people future or conditionnal tense make no difference.


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## Frisian

CARNESECCHI said:


> Hello,
> Same thing in Auvergne. However the sound "ai" should be pronounced "è" (large mouth opening), most french people pronounce it "é", (small mouth opening). Anyway, open or close mouth, both are pronounced exactly the same way.
> Hope it helps!



If I am not mistaken, it is necessary to pronounce "j'ai" as jé in order to distinguish it from the present subjunctive, "j'aie", which is always pronounced jè. However, with "je sais" and "je vais", there is no confusion possible, so one can pronounce them as sé or sè and vé or vè, respectively. My French textbook from the seventies explicitly states that "ai", "vais", and "sais" all contain the é vowel. However, I have been criticized for pronouncing "(je) sais" as "sé".


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## jekoh

Frisian said:


> If I am not mistaken, it is necessary to pronounce "j'ai" as jé in order to distinguish it from the present subjunctive, "j'aie", which is always pronounced jè.


It's certainly not "necessary". Dozens of millions of natives pronounce both the same (either "jè" for both or "jé" for both).


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## Frisian

Oh, I see. Thanks!
I'm still confused why I was criticized for pronouncing "(je) sais" as "sé".


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## atcheque

Frisian said:


> I'm still confused why I was criticized for pronouncing "(je) sais" as "sé".





Frisian said:


> However, with "je sais" and "je vais", there is no confusion possible, so one can pronounce them as sé or sè and vé or vè, respectively.


Non, il y a tout de même des prononciations standards : ai [e], ai+ [ɛ]. Après, vous avez des variantes régionales.


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