How to Survive Spoken French (Without Losing Your Mind)

So you’ve been studying French for months, maybe years. You know your "passé composé", you can conjugate "être" and "avoir" like a champ, or ordering a croissant in perfect textbook French (a very important point I must say!). But then… you meet a real French person. And suddenly, it’s like your ears are broken. Are they even speaking French? Or is it some mysterious “secret level” of the language no teacher told you about?

Welcome to spoken French. Don’t panic here is a little survive guide:

Liaisons: The French Version of Glue

French words love sticking together. A liaison is when a normally silent final consonant is pronounced because the next word begins with a vowel.

Letter

Sound

Example

[t]

Un grand arbre → Un gran[t]arbre

[n]

Un enfant → U[n]enfant

[r]

Le dernier avion → Le dernie[r]avion

[z]

Elles ont → Elle[z]ont

[z]

Chez elle → Che[z]elle

[z]

De beaux arbres → De beau[z]arbres

At first, it can sound like a completely different word. The good news is that liaisons follow predictable patterns, and with practice, your ear will adjust.

Elisions: The Great Disappearing Act

It's when two words are combined: some letters are dropped and replaced with an apostrophe.

Example:
Le + argent → l’argent
Ce + est → c’est
Je + aime → j’aime

Important: If the h is a h aspiré (aspirated h), there is no elision:
❌ L'héros → ✅ Le héros
❌ J'hais → Je hais

Casual Elisions

But sometime when French are talking magic happens: the words vanish into thin air.

Example:
Je ne veux pas → J’veux pas

Or this classic:
Il y a → Y’ a
Poof, the “il” is gone forever.

These aren’t “official” grammar, but they’re very common in everyday French.

Keep listening, and one day, you’ll understand your first French pun. That’s when you know: you’ve officially survived. 🎉

Struggling to survive French conversation ? Our next classes are just what you need — check them out here!