French liaison

We make the “liaison” in French when we pronounce the last consonant of a word with the first syllable of the following word, when it starts with a vowel or a silent h.

The liaison is mainly made with the sounds [z], [t] and [n].

When the last consonant is an “s” or an “x”, we make a [z] sound.

Also, after “grand” and “quand” we make a [t] sound.

Liaison in groups of nouns

We make the liaison in groups of nouns and after all numbers, like the examples in the table below:

Français	IPA*	English
Des_histoires	[de zistwaʀ]	Some stories
Mon_ami	[mɔ̃ nami]	My friend
Aux_États_Unis	[o zeta zyni]	In the United States
Huit_ans	[ˈɥi tɑ̃]	Eight years
Six_euros	[si zøʀo]	Six euros

We make the liaison between an adjective and a noun, when the noun follows the adjective:

Français	IPA*	English
Joyeux_anniversaire	[ʒwajø zanivɛʀsɛʀ]	Happy birthday
Bon_appétit	[bɔ̃ napeti]	Enjoy your meal
Un petit_objectif	[œ̃ p(ə)ti tɔbʒɛktif]	A small goal
Un grand_arbre	[œ̃ gʀɑ̃ taʀbʀ]	A tall tree

Liaison in groups of verbs

We make the liaison in groups of verbs after the personal pronouns, “on”, “nous”, “vous”, “ils” and “elles”, like in the examples below:

Français	IPA*	English
On_a	[ɔ̃ na]	We have
Nous_écrivons	[nu zekʀivɔ̃]	We write
Vous_êtes	[vu zɛt]	You are
Ils_apprennent	[il zapʀɛn]	They learn
Elles_achètent	[ɛl zaʃɛt]	They buy

Liaison after short adverbs

We make the liaison after short adverbs like:

Français	IPA*	English
Elle est très_optimiste	[ɛl ɛ tʀɛ zɔptimist]	She is very optimistic
Vous avez bien_écouté	[vu ave bjɛ̃ nekute]	You listened carefully

Quand

We also make the liaison after “quand”, and it makes a [t] sound. For example:

Français	IPA*	English
Quand_on marche	[kɑ̃ tɔ̃ maʀʃ]	When we walk

Liaison in specific expressions

We also make the liaison in specific expressions like these common ones:

Français	IPA*	English
Plus_ou moins	[ply zu mwɛ̃]	More or less
De temps_en temps	[də tɑ̃ zɑ̃ tɑ̃]	From time to time
Pas_à pas	[pɑ za pɑ]	Step by step
Petit_à petit	[p(ə)ti ta p(ə)ti]	Little by little

Aspirated h

Some words starting with an h in French have an aspirated h and with these words we don’t make the liaison. For example:

Français	IPA	English
Un héros	[œ̃ ˈeʀo]	A hero
Des haricots	[de ˈaʀiko]	Some French beans
Des hérissons	[de ˈeʀisɔ̃]	Some hedgehogs

If you want to exercise yourself with the liaison you can do it here.

Thank you for reading this post. Feel free to share it if you liked it.

Watch this content in video format on my YouTube channel.

Book a French lesson with me on italki.

Find my other post about French grammar here.