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The French alphabet with pronunciation: 26 letters through play

Tap a letter to hear how it sounds in French, followed by a word. Listen to the whole alphabet, play four games and learn to spell your name or email in French — with é, è and ç.

  • 26 letters
  • Audio in French
  • IPA transcription
  • 4 games
  • No sign-up
Listen to the alphabetPlay

Tap the letter

[a]

ananas — pineapple

The French alphabet with pronunciation

Tap a card: first you hear the letter’s name, then a word. Vowels are pink. Every letter you listen to gets a star — collect all 26!

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French alphabet chart with IPA

All 26 letters: IPA transcription, an example word and the word used to spell the letter out over the phone.

The French alphabet with IPA transcription and example words
LetterIPAWordSpelling (A comme…)
A a[a]ananas — pineappleAnatole
B b[be]ballon — ballBerthe
C c[se]chat — catCélestin
D d[de]dauphin — dolphinDésiré
E e[ə]escargot — snailEugène
F f[ɛf]fraise — strawberryFrançois
G g[ʒe]girafe — giraffeGaston
H h[aʃ]hibou — owlHenri
I i[i]iguane — iguanaIrma
J j[ʒi]jus — juiceJoseph
K k[ka]koala — koalaKléber
L l[ɛl]lion — lionLouis
M m[ɛm]maison — houseMarcel
N n[ɛn]nuage — cloudNicolas
O o[o]orange — orangeOscar
P p[pe]pomme — applePierre
Q q[ky]quatre — fourQuintal
R r[ɛʁ]renard — foxRaoul
S s[ɛs]soleil — sunSuzanne
T t[te]tortue — turtleThérèse
U u[y]usine — factoryUrsule
V v[ve]vache — cowVictor
W w[dubləve]wagon — railway carWilliam
X x[iks]taxi — taxiXavier
Y y[iɡʁɛk]yoyo — yo-yoYvonne
Z z[zɛd]zèbre — zebraZoé

To spell over the phone, the French use the traditional spelling alphabet: “A comme Anatole, B comme Berthe”. E, U and R have no exact English equivalent — listen to the audio and check the IPA.

French alphabet games

10 questions per round. Great for kids and adults alike: praise for every right answer, stars for every round.

Choose a game

Spell it out

How do you spell your name, surname or email in French? Type it and see (and hear) what to call each letter — accented letters too: é is “e accent aigu”, ç is “c cédille”.

  1. Start typing and the letters will appear here.

Vowels and consonants

The French alphabet has 26 letters — the same as in English: 6 vowels (A, E, I, O, U, Y) and 20 consonants. Letters with accents — é, è, ê, à, ç and others — don’t count as separate letters: they are the same E, A, C with a mark.

French has about 36 sounds, including nasal vowels (an, on, in) and [y] as in tu. So one letter can be read in several ways, and some aren’t pronounced at all: h in hibou, s and t at the end of a word (petit, vous).

Vowels · 6

Consonants · 20

Letters people mix up

These letter names don’t sound the way English suggests. Tap to listen.

  • G is [ʒe] (“zhay”), J is [ʒi] (“zhee”) — the other way round from English, where G is “jee” and J is “jay”.

  • E is [ə], like the “u” in “fur” said short. I is [i], like “ee” in “see”.

  • U is [y]: round your lips for “oo” and say “ee”. Y is “i grec” — the “Greek I”.

  • H is [aʃ] (“ash”) and is silent in words: hibou sounds like “ee-boo”. W is “double vé” — literally “double V”.

  • Q is [ky], K is [ka]. Q almost always comes with u, and qu sounds like “k”: quatre — “katr”.

  • é (accent aigu) is a closed [e] as in café; è (accent grave) is an open [ɛ] as in mère. Spelling out: “e accent aigu”, “e accent grave”.

How to learn the French alphabet

You can learn the alphabet in a few days with a little practice every day. Here’s what works.

For parents: the alphabet with your child

  • 5–10 minutes a day instead of one long hour: your child won’t get tired and will look forward to the next time.
  • Listen to the alphabet together and sing along — French kids have their own alphabet song, and a rhythm sticks faster than a list.
  • Start with the letters of your child’s name: “Ton prénom — L, É, A !”
  • Play “First letter” and look for things at home starting with the same letter: pomme, ballon, chat…
  • Praise in French: “Bravo !”, “Super !” — kids pick it up fast.

For adults: why the alphabet matters

  • Spell your name or email at a hotel, a bank, the préfecture or over the phone — without “comment ça s’écrit ?”.
  • Understand abbreviations: SNCF, TGV, RER and SMS are said letter by letter.
  • Know the marks: accent aigu, grave, circonflexe and cédille are always named when spelling.
  • Practise G, J, E, U, H, W and Y separately — that’s where most mistakes happen.

FAQ

Didn’t find your answer? Send us a request — we’ll tell you everything.

How many letters are in the French alphabet?

26 letters — the same as in English: 6 vowels (A, E, I, O, U, Y) and 20 consonants. Letters with accents (é, è, ê, à, ç, ë…) don’t count as separate letters.

How do you pronounce French letters?

Listen and repeat: tap any card on this page. The IPA transcription is the most accurate guide: E is [ə], U is [y], R is [ɛʁ] with the French throaty R.

What are accent aigu, accent grave and circonflexe?

They are marks over letters. Accent aigu (é) is a closed [e]; accent grave (è, à, ù) is an open [ɛ] or simply tells words apart (a — “has”, à — “to”); the circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û) often marks where an s used to be (forêt — forest). The cédille (ç) makes c sound like [s]: français.

How do you spell a name or email in French?

Name each letter and its mark: Hélène — H, E accent aigu, L, E accent grave, N, E. For double letters say deux: Anne — A, deux N, E. Symbols: @ — arobase, dot — point, hyphen — tiret, _ — tiret bas. Try the “Spell it out” tool above.

At what age can a child learn the French alphabet?

Children can listen to and sing the alphabet from 4–5, and recognise and write letters from 6–7. If your child already knows the English alphabet, French goes faster: the letters are the same, only the names change.

Where do I start learning French?

The alphabet and reading rules come first. Then take the free French level test, and at a free trial lesson at Slay School a teacher will suggest a programme for your goals.

What’s next

Next step

Keep learning with a mini-course

Short online courses by Slay School teachers: a 15-minute lesson a day with audio, exercises and dialogues, and the words you forget come back on their own.

  • Day 1 is free
  • 15 minutes a day, at your own pace
  • Every word has audio
  • Lifetime access once paid
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