# Prononciation du R en français / Pronunciation of the French R



## johnL

Does anyone have any helpful hints on how to get that French r-r-r-r, as in "Mirrrrrrreille" or "Rrrrroberrrrt?"
Rolling the r in Spanish is easy, just takes a little tongue work, but the French r is a different story!

Thanks
John

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one. This question is however too broad to be discussed in a single thread. This thread is therefore closed. If you have a question about a specific word, you are welcome to open a new thread if such a thread does not already exist. See also the following related discussions:
Prononciation du R dans les chansons en français (Piaf, Aznavour, Mathieu, Brel, etc.)
Prononciation du R final en français
See also the links in the Pronunciation thread from our Resources subforum.


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## Isotta

I learned French as a child, but I do know how it works technically.

When you think about doing the French "r," try not to think of English or Spanish "r's" because in French, you use the tongue in a different manner entirely. In English, the tip of the tongue curls up at the front, while the back of the tongue sinks down. In French, it is just the opposite: the tip of the tongue sinks down to touch the bottom teeth, while the back of the tongue arches up.

Just keep trying. I never thought I would be able to roll a nice double "r" in Spanish, and now I can. 

Hope this helps a little--

Isotta.


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## OlivierG

I know I'm phonetically wrong, but here is what you could try:

- Forget the Spanish rolled R. 
- Start from the Spanish "j" (jota)
- Make it sound very soft, and a little bit more from the back of the palate
- Then instead of pronouncing it as an unvoiced consonant, use the vocal chords (like F becomes V, or S becomes Z when vocal chords are used)

I don't know whether this method is right (I'm French, so I have no problem in pronouncing a French R), but I think it could be a very good approximation.


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## gliamo

OlivierG has given you good advice. I would add that in some spanish accents, the 'g' sound in _llegar, los gatos_ sounds pretty close to the french 'r'.

Don't worry if you can only do a jota instead of a back-of-the-throat 'r': many french people cannot do it either!

G.


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## beri

simply I would say: pronounce a voiced jota.


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## Amityville

I said the word "trente" to a French person recently (well it's not a crime). Just that one word I said and their reply was "You're English, aren't you  ?". Cringe. I can sometimes do 'r's, they are a lot easier preceded by a vowel or as part of a long rambling sentence when you're not singing sharp because you're trying too hard. That was very helpful, Olivier, even though I have no Spanish, I get it.


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## timpeac

Are you a Spanish speaker John? If so the French R is very similar to an intervocal "g" in Spanish, eg in "ligue".

If not, I would just go for a gargle and move the point of contact between the back of your tongue and your mouth forward.


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## Kelly B

Say "guh" (no experience here with spanish, but the English one is close enough). Feel where the back of your tongue is when you do that. Now arch the part of the tongue that is still further back against your soft palate and make noise in between, no touching. If you can get vibrations going on back there, it'll roll and you can sing like Piaf. 
Or maybe not.
You can make really good bullfrog noises if you say guh with that "further back" part of the tongue and palate, too.


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## Benjy

i have no idea about all these spanish ideas. but it might help you to know that its a uvular approximant.. basically you need the toungue right back almost touching the uvular and blast air out until you can get them vibrating. then just play around with it till you get it right. maybe i will record my best bullfrog impresions for you tomorrow haha.


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## rayb

It came out at this thread that, you dont have only one "r roulè" en France, but almost as many as regions you have in the country. In fact, for a non native like myself, the most difficult accent to get is the accent from Paris, which is an "r non roulè". However, if you live in Paris and you wish not to be treated as someone who speaks as a "vache espagnole" you have to learn the Paris accent. IMHO, the most beautiful "r roulè" is the one pronounced in Lyon. Misfortunately, having tried so hard to get the aacent of Paris, I'm not able now to pronounce the " French r roulè".....


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## OlivierG

In standard French, the R is not rolled anymore. To hear it pronounced, you can use the link provided in "Useful link and resources" sticky thread:
http://www.research.att.com/projects/tts/demo.html
Just type "Robert" in and ask Juliette to say it. You'll hear there is almost neither "gargling" nor rolling in it.


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## beri

if you want to hear some "R roulés", just listen to Georges Brassens or Edith Piaf singing, but don't imitate them. You can listen to the radio, to improve yourt pronunciation. Listen to France Info (just click on "écouter le direct"

Beri


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## LV4-26

But then you'll only get throat/uvular 'r's, not 'r' roulés. (except if it's an interview of someone living in Burgundy or something  ).

EDIT : Well, this is what JohnL had asked for in the first place, so it's a good piece of advice.


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## Tabac

Even the 'r' has differenct pronunciations in French. The final 'r' in 'par' is much softer than the intervocalic or initial 'r' in 'marron' or 'ranger'. In fact, compare the two 'r's in 'Robert'. Initial is quite stronger than the final.

One has to practice a sound that doesn't come easily, and it involves using the muscles that aren't normally used in one's speech pattern. In the case of the stronger 'r' in French, the back of the tongue needs to be attended to: try gargling (first with liquid, then dry). It isn't exactly the sound of the stronger 'r', but it helps to get close.

I learned this many years ago as a student of the French language while in Colorado, where we had a visiting professor from the U. of Grenoble; she used _phonétiques_ texts by Pierre Delattre for a separate course ONLY for pronunciation.


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## timpeac

It's even worse for Brits than Yanks, as we don't pronounce an /r/ in final position at all, and so for the second /r/ in "robert" we not only have to try to pronounce it correctly, but remember to pronounce it at all...


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## johnL

[…]
Now I'm wondering if there _is_ a "French R."  I listened to that demo web site saying "Robert" and it sounds kind of gutteral, like German.
Is there really any point to learning how to do that roll? If people heard me, would they roll their eyes and think, "Boy, where did you get that?"


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## timpeac

My experience of the French /r/ is that it is stronger than you think, and really just like the German one. Apart from in final position where it is softer. I am only really thinking of northern French here, I don't have a lot of experience of the southern accents.


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## johnL

When I said I wonder if there is a French R, I meant that it seems like there are _many_ French R's, depending on the word it's in, and also the part of France the speaker is from.

And since Olivier pointed out that the R is not rolled anymore in standard French, that's why I was asking if it was worth my time to learn it.


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## Starcreator

The R is not "rolled" ever in French, only in spanish. Rather we feel that nasal sound. Parahlay, je mangeherai. But you have to have some tongue roll - I can barely explain it. It's the unwillingness to produce even a slight curl of the r which gives people the dreaded anglophone accent .

It's worth your time, and it'll make you sound so much better. I've heard anglophones who've learned French at even 30 or 40 produce the French R and speak beautiful, authentic Français.

Edit: With regards to the English accent, can any of you describe it? Even the English R on a French word hurts my ears a bit, while in contrast I find the French accent delightful in English.


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## rayb

Starcreator said:
			
		

> The R is not "rolled" ever in French, only in spanish. Rather we feel that nasal sound. Parahlay, je mangeherai. But you have to have some tongue roll - I can barely explain it. It's the unwillingness to produce even a slight curl of the r which gives people the dreaded anglophone accent .


 
You are maybe right if you consider only standard French, but if you consider also real accent in France regions yuo'll find that the R is currently "rolled" in france. Just take a look to this URL: http://www.accents-de-france.fr.st/ 

Regards


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## Suzie

Hi,
In addition to JohnLs original question, can anyone tell me when to use the guttural r. I find that in a sentence with several r's, it is not used on every r.  I know how to pronounce it, but never when to use it.  Is there a rule or is it however it comes out?


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## LV4-26

I've heard that too (was it on this forum ?) but, strange as it may sound (for a native), I'd never realized it.
Come to think of it, there may be a difference when it's a final 'r' or not. A final 'r' is perhaps attenuated because there's no vowel behind it.
But you'd really need an expert to answer this question. I mean I can hear a slight difference (perhaps) but I'm totally unable to describe it.
NB : by "final" I mean final sound, not final letter. e.g. in the word _bière_ the 'r' is the  final *sound* though the final letter is '*e'*. (as the 'e' isn't sounded).


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## river

Our text describes the French /r/ as similar to the sound produced when saying the name of the German composer *Bach,* pronounced with a guttural *ch.*  You can also practice with words where the sound that precedes or follows the* r* is also pronounced toward the back of the mouth: /a/ as in* garage* or /k/ as in *parc.*


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## Agnès E.

As a French, I'm very surprised to see that all non-natives have compared our "r" to the German _ch_ or the Spanish _j_... which are VERY difficult to pronounce for French people!! I remember my German lessons, almost no pupil was able to pronounce the German _ch_ properly...


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## LV4-26

I concur.
I've always associated the _-ch_ in Bach with the Spanish_ jota._ 
And this sound (/x/ in phonetics - and in phonetics only : no link whatsoever with the English letter 'x') has little to do with the French 'r'.
Have I been wrong all the way ?


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## Kelly B

I think that the comparison arises because those three sounds are pronounced in the same area of the mouth/throat. Americans don't generally pronounce anything back there, so the comparison is useful for focusing, even if the actual motion is different for producing each sound. Otherwise we would produce the r with the tip of the tongue and the front teeth, as we are accustomed to doing.


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## LV4-26

I understand. I guess if you're learning French and already know German or Spanish, it may be a good intermediate step.


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## river

We understand your *r *is inimitable. That's why we love it.


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## pieanne

The French "rrrrr" (have you seen the film?) is about the sound a dog utters when it is in a bad mood


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## Suzie

I've noticed that the guttural 'r' is used more strongly when the r follows a consonant, for example pr, tr, gr, fr, cr whereas in words like lire or sorte, it's much softer (but still guttural).  Confusion sets in when I sometimes hear the same person pronounce the 'r' as a spanish r, more rolled in these same words.  It may not be obvious to native french speakers but when you're listening out for it, you tend to try to look for a rule to follow. Unfortunately my only real role models are french newsreaders (which I feel are a good example as you'd expect newsreaders to speak clearly and correctly).  Yes oddly enough we do receive the french news broadcast daily from Paris on Australian television.


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## gmnstrunr37

I kind of said words like "très" too often, and eventually, started saying all "r's" with the slightly "rolled" edge to it. Softer r's, as people have mentioned, come easier when you try words like "Paris," where the "ris" is much more of a "rhee" than it is a "r-r-r-r-r-r-e-e," which you might aliken to the r in très. 

Saying one word over and over, slowly if necessay, may help as well.


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## Suzie

I tend to just roll the r  when I speak french.  I can do the guttural sound but I have to do it consciously, it does not come naturally to me.  Just wondered if there was a rule on when to say which.  There doesn't seem to be.


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## timpeac

I hadn't thought about it before, but I think Suzie has hit the nail on the head hasn't she? The "r" is only really strong in these consonant combinations. The "r" is particularly weak - pretty much devoiced (your vocal cords don't vibrate) - at the end of the word (bearing in mind of course that in lots of words it is not pronounced at all, eg "aller") - although it is still present, which is sometimes difficult for a non-rhotic speaker like me to remember.

Edit - if you look at this link here

http://www.linguiste.org/phonetics/ipa/chart/keyboard/

You will see that the German /X/ and the French /ʁ/ are pronounced quite close together (the uvular French sound being further back in the throat than the velar German one). A bigger difference is that one is voiced and one not. As I suggest above, at the end of words the R tends to devoice which would make it quite similar to the German sound, and maybe that is why some courses suggest it as an alternative. Note that the voiced form of the German sound (ɣ) is the intervocal sound in Spanish "ligue" which I suggested above and is even closer, being voiced.


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## LV4-26

Suzie said:
			
		

> I've noticed that the guttural 'r' is used more strongly when the r follows a consonant, for example pr, tr, gr, fr, cr


 Quite right. I'd never realized that before. It only takes non natives to realize this sort of things. 
My opinion (but I'm aware it doesn't help ) is that the preceding consonant forces the speaker to pronounce a stronger 'r'. That it is just physically impossible to pronounce the usual softer 'r' in this phonetic environment.
I also notice (of course I'm experimenting right now) that it isn't the same with all consonants. The "softer" the preceding consonant, the softer the 'r'.
e.g. I think I pronounce a soft 'r' in gr, dr and br. And my 'r' in 'cr' is even "stronger" than in 'tr'. Indeed, in 'cr' it's closer to /x/ than in any other situation. 
So that there are at least 3 or 4 different 'r's. My God, I'd never realized it could be so complicated. 
But again, I don't think you need worry too much. I mean I think these variations are "natural", like, in the sense that your vocal apparatus can't possibly do otherwise as I said in the beginning. Once you get the "soft r" right, the stronger ones should come by themselves.


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## gliamo

Suzie said:
			
		

> I've noticed that the guttural 'r' is used more strongly when the r follows a consonant, for example pr, tr, gr, fr, cr whereas in words like lire or sorte, it's much softer (but still guttural). Confusion sets in when I sometimes hear the same person pronounce the 'r' as a spanish r, more rolled in these same words. It may not be obvious to native french speakers but when you're listening out for it, you tend to try to look for a rule to follow. Unfortunately my only real role models are french newsreaders (which I feel are a good example as you'd expect newsreaders to speak clearly and correctly). Yes oddly enough we do receive the french news broadcast daily from Paris on Australian television.


 Good point. It is closer to a_ jota_ after unvoiced consonants (pr, tr, cr, fr), and really rolling after voiced consonants (br, dr, gr, vr). (Depending on the speaker, of course, but it is a general trend. Terms and conditions apply.)

Edit: Further to what LV4-26 said, it makes sense that 'r' would be stronger in *cr* than *tr* since the shape of the tongue doesn't change as much in the first case as in the second.


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## Don Keyshot

A trick Sometimes used to give students an idea of the location of the uvular "r" is to have them place their index finger horizontally across the top of their adam's apple, press in gently and breathe out.  Exhale and add a little voice and you get a pretty fair idea of where the sound should originate.  Having the tip of the tongue in the right place also helps.


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## becki13594

the R is the a chesty cough R-R-R-R-R-R-R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r
that probably dosnt help sorry


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## non-historical-fact

it's like when a dog growls/snarls, you use your throat when pronouncing the french 'r' . besides, the french 'r' corresponds to the german and danish 'r' . but yes it is difficult to explain when you are born with that pronunciation of 'r' .


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## Jumot

Hi John,

Do you have any mouth wash? Then get some in your mouth and gargle. Then spit it out and gargle again and pronounce Robe or Radis!

Julie


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## polaire

Go to fluentfrench.com and send an email to David Tolman (the address is on the site).  He prepared a 20-minute downloadable audio lesson on the French "R."  I can't recall whether or not it was free, but it was helpful and is worth looking into.


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## polaire

Jumot said:
			
		

> Do you have any mouth wash? Then get some in your mouth and gargle. Then spit it out and gargle again and pronounce Robe or Radis!


My only problem with this advice is that when people overdo the "r", they literally sound like they're gargling and this might put them on the wrong track. But I'll try it when I brush my teeth tonight. 

I wish someone could come up with an exercise on how to roll one's "r"s.  I've never been able to do that.


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## polaire

timpeac said:
			
		

> The "r" is particularly weak - pretty much devoiced (your vocal cords don't vibrate) - at the end of the word



timpeac,

How strongly do you pronounce the "r" in "pour"?  I've become so fixated on that word that sometimes I think I'm actually making it harder to pronounce than it should be.

Does anyone know of any exercise sentences with a lot of "r"s in them?

Pour ronronner dans la Rue de Rivoli . . .  (I just made that up and it probably has mistakes.  But that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.)

Polaire


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## timpeac

Well, I think a native speaker should really answer your question to be sure, but to my ear the r or "pour" in a phrase (as opposed to saying it separately or with particular emphasis) is certainly pronounced by a soft quick closing of the back of the throat and vibration but is not that strong - nowhere near as strong as the r in "grenouille", say.


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## Gardefeu

As far as I know, there's only one kind of R in French.
See here:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prononciation_du_fran%C3%A7ais


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## polaire

timpeac said:
			
		

> to my ear the r or "pour" in a phrase (as opposed to saying it separately or with particular emphasis) is certainly pronounced by a soft quick closing of the back of the throat and vibration but is not that strong - nowhere near as strong as the r in "grenouille", say.


I say the r in those two words very differently, too.


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## polaire

I have noticed that certain sounds change depending on their position in a word or their relationship to other words.  It's hard to clarify this without being to give aural examples.


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## timpeac

This is true - all sounds are affected to some degree by the sounds that follow or precede. Intonation and other factors will all alter the precise pronunciation (even if the difference is fairly slight).


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## polaire

"Pourquoi" -- Not hard for me to pronounce.

"Pour ramener" -- Not hard; the r that follows in ramener helps.

"Pour"  alone -- I wonder how much I should "close" the r.


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## OlivierG

Phonetically speaking , the French R is special because it can be either a voiced or unvoiced consonant depending on the kind of phonemes before and after it.
When starting a word, it is voiced
When ending a word, it is unvoiced.
When surrounded by vowels or voiced consonants (b,g,j,v,z) it is voiced.
In all other cases it is unvoiced.

In its unvoiced form, it sounds a bit like a soft German "ch" or Spanish "j",  more or less "vibrated" as in partie, car, pourquoi, cran, pour...

The voiced form is the same phoneme, but the vocal chords are in action: ramener, grenouille, garage, grand...

I haven't read this pronunciation rule anywhere yet, but other native speakers should concur if they try to pronounce these words slowly and pay attention to the Rs.


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## polaire

I just came across these pronunciation exercises and guides, which include one for the French r.  They may be helpful.

http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k4226&pageid=icb.page18549


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## David

Can you gargle? Try it with a little water. Then without.

It´s the same little gizmo vibrating back there. Just once in normal speech, several times for heavy emphasis.


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## Fox123

Hello everyone,

My question is how is the "r" properly pronounced.
I've noticed sometimes it sounds like an r like in *répondeur* but other times
it sounds like a guttural H like in *rancune.  *
Is there a way to know which "R" pronunciation to use?

Thanks in advance.


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## Gutenberg

I pronounce the same way the "r" in "répondeur" and the "r" in "rancune".

See this site
http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation-r.htm


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## [Marc]

actually, I can't hear the difference between the two words you proposed... were they pronounced by the same person ?


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## ggviedma

If I tell you the truth, I am spanish native and never managed to pronounce correctly the rrrr. I think my R sounds closer to the french. Amazingly, 60% of my family cannot pronounce it either


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## NewToFrench

Hello Everyone,
                 This is my first post on the forum, just began learning French but confused with 'R', I tried hearing it at alot of places on net but to no use, even I find the sounds totally different at times.

      Kindly help


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## Nil-the-Frogg

The "r" prononciations varies widely according to accents AFAIK, but not from word to word. I too pronunce the ones in "répondeur" and "rancune" the same way.

Oh, and welcome!


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## ewanog

As grotesque as it sounds, try to make the noise you do as if you're hocking a lugie


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## Musical Chairs

It's like you're coughing with your tongue slightly against the back of your throat. I find this a lot easier than the Spanish or Italian "r."


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## DaiSmallcoal

My French (native) teacher told me that some years ago there was a course at the Sorbonne for poor benighted anglophones which involved repeated but unforced pronuncation of 
"La Rrrrr eine"             to get the soft uvula going

followed eventually by..
d'Angleterrrrrrrrrrrrre  

it rather worked for me !

Prince Phillip


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## argentina84

Salut! Comment Ça va? Je parle un peu de français. J'ai une question: 

What is the articulation of the consonant sound "r" in French? How do you have to move your speech organs? It is very different from the Spanish and the English "r" sounds. I need help with the "Phonétique"! Il est difficile! 

Merci!


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## P1ofTiffielle

The sound and "strength" of the r depends on where it is in the word. Do you have an example word?


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## orlando09

I believe the French "r" (grasseyé) is produced by vibrating the soft palate at the back of your mouth. 

[...]


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## argentina84

oh! I didn't know that difference! well, this are the words that I have already learnt:

rose; arrive; offre; directeur; merci; heureux; pour;revoir. The list is very long...and that is why I'm worried about its "prononciation".

Merci!!!


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## LMorland

The French 'r' is the bane of a lot of foreigners in France.  Dave Barry once wrote a hilarious column about being an American trying to pretend to be French while sitting in a Paris café.  But the clever waiter challenges him: _"Oh, so you are French?  Tell me, what is the capital of Normandie?" _

(Trying to pronounce the initial "R" of "Rouen" with the succeeding nasal vowel "en" will expose the origins of most every wanna-be Frenchie!)

At any rate, after years of practice I have managed to produce a crackly approximation of the French 'r', which is not a _liquid _at all, as is the English 'r', nor is it trilled like the Spanish or the Italian. 

I've always maintained that it's not a real 'r' at all, and my confirmation came one happy day when our chorale was given a transliterated Hebrew song to sing, and where in English would be  "ch" in French was written "r"!


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## argentina84

[…]

French and English "r" are very different. I have mastered the English sound but I find the French "r" very difficult, although I know it is produced at the back of the mouth and that it is a *uvular sound*.

Merci!​


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## SBAONSM

Hello All,

I have just started learning French but I am struggling to pronounce later R. My client name is Herve, I tried so many times to speak correctly but unable to do so.

Can someone pls give me tips how to pronounce R.

Thanks
SBA


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## Michelvar

Hello,

Hervé is to be pronounced /ɛʁ.ve/ .


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## Le-Petit-Prince

Try to remember when you catch cold, your voice gets husky, and is hoarse because sound comes from the throat.

 Train yourself and pronounce Rolls-Royce, but trying to make the sound issue from your throat, when pronouncing "R" you should have the same feeling that when you get cold, if you feel that it could be OK, "R" from Hervé must come from your throat.


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## Kelly B

You're probably accustomed to lifting the tip or front of your tongue to pronounce an R. In French, you keep the front of your tongue flat on the bottom of your mouth, and arch the back of your tongue up to your palate instead.


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## Urben Kristen

Hello! 

I'm not sure where this fits, but I did a search on 'French r' and it found a thread in this section, so here goes. 

My ability to pronounce the French r seems to be quite evasive. There are times where I can nail it, and then there are those where I can't. I noticed that it might be because my mouth is sometimes dry. Does anyone else have the same problem, and if so, how do the French say it with a dry mouth? 

Also, is it just me, or is it harder to pronounce after and before an 'i'?


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## Robert2milles

Dry mouth should make no difference. The way to make a proper french R has to do with the position of your tongue. Instead of making the r in the front of your mouth, as in English, use the back of your tongue, brushing it ever so slightly against the back of your pallet.


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## YvDa

'i' makes no difference. Try saying "ra re ri ro ru".


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## Micia93

the french "r" is produced by the throat, whatever the position of the tongue may be


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## Uncle Bob

Or try a different French accent, the "r" varies with region!


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## Le-Petit-Prince

As I said in another post, try to remember when you catch cold. I think that microbes make no difference with English or French... when you catch cold sound naturally comes from the throat (guttural sound)


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## geostan

Place a pencil horizontally between your lips and wrap your tongue over it. Then pronounce words like_* right*_ and _*wrong*_. You'll end up with a good approximation of the uvular R.
Another trick I used with my students was to have them pronounce the word _*gant*_, with a slight gargle after the g. Continue stressing the gargling sound without rushing through the word. You should end up with a close approximation of *grand*. 

As others have pointed out, unlike the English R, which is pronounced near the front of the mouth, the French R is pronounced at the back, in the throat.

I hope this helps.


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## emmanuel92

Note that the "r roulé" is not the typical pronunciation. In addition, there is also a "soft" version of the r used in non-prominent contexts: http://pronouncefrench.net/consonants/pronunciation-of-french-r/


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## OkashiChan

I speak Dutch but live near Brussels, I have a "French r", back in the throat, as if you're trying to get some slime to loosen up or do some lion growl haha. In fact, I think the 'old man scraping his throat to spit out a disgusting piece of mucus' might be the best way to get in touch with the back of your throat. There's other r's as well though... For example, Jacques Brel had a peculiar one. As long as you're not rolling your r with the tip of your tongue, I think you're fine. Talk a lot with native speakers, you'll catch on their accent fast enough.


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