Lesson 0-4 — Liaison, linking & numbers · A1

0

Goals

What you'll be able to do

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:

Read consonant clusters correctly (pl, br, gr…)
Tell apart liaison and enchaînement (linking)
Know the 4 pronunciations of the letter x: [ks], [gz], [s], [z]
Count from 1 to 99 in French
Survive the famous quirks: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix…

1

Liaison & linking

Why French sounds like one long word

① Consonant clusters

Two or three consonants in a row are pronounced together, with no pause, in the same syllable. English does the same thing (play, spring) — so this should feel familiar.

Common combinations in French:

With l: pl (place), bl (bleu), cl (clé), gl (glace), fl (fleur)
With r: pr (prix), br (bras), cr (crêpe), gr (gros), fr (frère), tr (très), dr (drôle), vr (livre)

⚠️ The trap for English speakers: French p, t, k at the start of a cluster are not aspirated. English p in play has a tiny puff of air after it; French p in place doesn't. Hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth: it should barely move on French place, but flap on English place.

② Liaison

In French, a silent final consonant (one that's normally not pronounced) suddenly wakes up when the next word begins with a vowel or a silent h. The consonant attaches to the next word.

les + amis → les‿amis [le-zami] (the silent -s becomes [z])
un + étudiant → un‿étudiant [œ̃-netydjɑ̃]
vous + êtes → vous‿êtes [vu-zɛt]
petit + ami → petit‿ami [pə-ti-tami]
les + hôtels → les‿hôtels [le-zo-tɛl] (silent h)

🔄 The consonant sometimes changes when it appears in liaison: s, x, z → [z] | d → [t] | f → [v] in neuf‿ans [nœvɑ̃].

③ Enchaînement (linking)

When a word ends in a consonant that's already pronounced, and the next word starts with a vowel, the consonant simply slides over and attaches to the next syllable. It's quieter than liaison — no new sound appears.

il + est → i-lest [i-lɛ]
une + amie → u-na-mie [y-na-mi]
elle + arrive → e-lla-rrive [ɛ-la-ʁiv]

Key difference: liaison brings a sound back from the dead (it was silent, now it's pronounced); linking just shifts an already-pronounced sound across the word boundary.

2

The letter x

Four different pronunciations

Sound	Rule	Examples
[ks]	default	taxi, luxe, maximum, extrême
[gz]	start of word + vowel · prefix ex- + vowel	xylophone, examen, exercice, exister
[s]	special cases	six, dix, soixante
[z]	in liaison	deux‿amis [dø-zami], six‿heures [si-zœʁ]
silent	word-final, on its own	paix, vieux, choix

3

Numbers from 1 to 99

The infamous French counting system

From 1 to 20

#	Word	Pronunciation
1	un / une	[œ̃] / [yn]
2	deux	[dø]
3	trois	[tʁwa]
4	quatre	[katʁ]
5	cinq	[sɛ̃k]
6	six	[sis]
7	sept	[sɛt]
8	huit	[ɥit]
9	neuf	[nœf]
10	dix	[dis]
11	onze	[ɔ̃z]
12	douze	[duz]
13	treize	[tʁɛz]
14	quatorze	[katɔʁz]
15	quinze	[kɛ̃z]
16	seize	[sɛz]
17	dix-sept	[di(s)sɛt]
18	dix-huit	[dizɥit]
19	dix-neuf	[diznœf]
20	vingt	[vɛ̃]

From 20 to 69 — regular pattern

Tens	Word	Quirk
20	vingt [vɛ̃]	21 = vingt et un (with et)
30	trente [tʁɑ̃t]	31 = trente et un
40	quarante [kaʁɑ̃t]	41 = quarante et un
50	cinquante [sɛ̃kɑ̃t]	51 = cinquante et un
60	soixante [swasɑ̃t]	61 = soixante et un

For 22, 32, 42… just say vingt-deux, trente-deux, etc. (with a hyphen, no et). Only "1" gets the et.

From 70 to 99 — the famous quirk ⚠️

France keeps an old base-20 system inherited from Gaulish: there's no separate word for 70, 80, or 90. Instead, you do the math out loud. (In Belgium and Switzerland they use the regular septante, nonante — much simpler!)

#	Word	Logic
70	soixante-dix	= 60 + 10
71	soixante et onze	= 60 + 11
72	soixante-douze	= 60 + 12
79	soixante-dix-neuf	= 60 + 19
80	quatre-vingts	= 4 × 20 (with -s)
81	quatre-vingt-un	= 4 × 20 + 1 (no et, no -s)
90	quatre-vingt-dix	= 4 × 20 + 10
91	quatre-vingt-onze	= 4 × 20 + 11
99	quatre-vingt-dix-neuf	= 4 × 20 + 19

🇧🇪🇨🇭 Travel tip: in Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland you'll hear septante (70), octante or huitante (80, in Switzerland), nonante (90). They make sense! But in France, stick with soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix.

4

Beyond 99

Hundreds, thousands, millions

English	French	Pronunciation
100	cent	[sɑ̃]
1,000	mille	[mil]
10,000	dix mille	[dismil]
100,000	cent mille	[sɑ̃mil]
1,000,000	un million (de)	[œ̃ miljɔ̃]
10,000,000	dix millions (de)	[di miljɔ̃]
100,000,000	cent millions (de)	[sɑ̃ miljɔ̃]
1,000,000,000	un milliard (de)	[œ̃ miljaʁ]

⚠️ French billion ≠ English billion! A French billion = 1,000,000,000,000 (a trillion in modern English). What anglophones call a billion (10⁹) is un milliard in French. In doubt, prefer milliard — it's unambiguous.

📝 Number formatting: French uses a space (or a non-breaking space) as the thousands separator, and a comma as the decimal point: 1 234 567,89. The opposite of US/UK style (1,234,567.89).

5

Practice

Try it out

Exercise 1 — Consonant clusters Groupes consonantiques

Read out loud, no pause between consonants.

pleut · bleu	clé · glace	fleur
prix · bras	crêpe · gros	frère · vrai
très · drôle	arbre · tigre	règle

Exercise 3 — The letter x Four sounds

Sort the words by how x is pronounced.

[ks]	[gz]	[s]	[z] (liaison)
luxe	examen	dix	deux‿amis
taxi	exister	six	six‿heures
maximum	exercice	soixante	—
extrême	xylophone	—	—

Exercise 4 — Count! Comptez !

Write each number in words. (hyphens optional)

5 →
13 →
21 →
33 →
47 →
71 →
78 →
80 →
91 →
99 →

Exercise 5 — Phone numbers Numéro de téléphone

In France, phone numbers are read in pairs of digits, not digit by digit. Read: 06 12 34 56 78 → "zéro six, douze, trente-quatre, cinquante-six, soixante-dix-huit". (Quite different from English "oh-six-one-two-three-four…")

Now try saying your own number French-style!

Exercise 6 — I'm speaking French Je parle français

Ce sont de grands arbres. — These are tall trees.
Il y a trois crabes ici. — There are three crabs here.
Il y a quatre grues là-bas. — There are four cranes over there.
S'il vous plaît, madame. — Please, ma'am.
Autres temps, autres mœurs. — Proverb: "Other times, other customs." (Times change, and so do habits.)