Pronunciation - again!

[Pete Laubscher]

Sorry about this, just don't get it I'm afraid:

How to pronounce the -ent in, say, tranchent.

Does one, or doesn't one?

I think I have been helped on this in the past, so in anticipation, apols!

I think I remember the answer depends on which part of France one hailed? N'est pas?

If so, what to do when one doesn't hail form ANY part of France?

Or am I totally at sea - yet again?

[Frank]

Hi Pete,

When -ent is the end of a conjugated verb, you don't need to pronounce it.

Thus, tranchent sounds like tranch.

If you got an iPhone or an iPod Touch, download French Audio Shtooka, it can help you a lot with pronunciation.

[Pete Laubscher]

Thnks Frank, much obliged. I think I finally have it.

'Fraid not, not that switched on.

Regards.

[Neil Coffey]

Essentially, it's not pronounced on the end of a verb... most of the time.

The situation is ever so slightly more complex for two reasons:

- as you may know, French has something called a "mute e" ("e muet", "e caduc"), which is essentially a sound that is pronounced under certain circumstances (and depending, indeed, on the regional variety of French in question); and the "-ent" ending contains a 'mute e'
- the final "-t" may, under certain fairly rare circumstances, be pronounced (this is the process called "liaison")

If you're starting out, you don't really need to worry about these complexities -- to all intents and purposes, you can consider that the -ent "isn't pronounced".

When eventually you want to get down to the dirty details, then in actual fact, because of the complexities of the mute 'e' combined with the complexities of liaison, there are cases where it could be pronounced, and its pronunciation could vary (you could have any combination of the mute 'e' pronounced, the 't' pronounced, and both).

[Pete Laubscher]

Thnks hugely Neil.

As you and Frank have guessed, 'starting out' is indeed where I am, so the basic idea, at this stage of my development, of it not having to be pronounced, gives me a good idea what I can get away with.

Thks again for the interest. MUCH obliged. So nice to know I can call on you chaps. AND get superb advice.

[Frank]

While the -ent ending is usually not pronounced when it's a conjugated verb, it looks like it is often pronounced when it's a noun, an adverb or an adjective (to tell the truth, I wasn't able to come up with an exception, but there must be some). The final "t" is not pronounced unless there's a liaison but the "en" is.

Now back to verbs: "en" is usually not pronounced but a major exception is very short words (it might be more correct to say that it's only with the 3rd person, plural. But "very short words" is a good rule of thumb). A simple example is Il ment. Not pronouncing the "ent" would be next to impossible because there's no consonant before.

[Pete Laubscher]

Yes, got that. I was only referring to the conjugated 3rd pers pl.

Thnks Frank. Very comprehensive answer between you and Neil. !!

You have been a great help. Thanks!