Transcript

Bonjour !

Today we are going to look at the u and the ou sounds in French. This is what were going to do, remember you can pause my recording at any time and you can also go back.

The ou sound in French is close to the oo sound in English, in zoo or oops. To get an idea of the position of the mouth try saying zoo or oops in English or try a scary noise oooh and notice the position of your lips.

They are round, pushed forward and the mouth is almost closed.

Say ou

Le cou

Maintenant, écoutez et répetéz

bijou caillou chou genou hibou joujou pou

Now this is a very interesting list of words. We all learn all these words by heart because in the plural they end in x instead of s. now your turn. You read the words first then listen to my recording. Remember you can pause my recording at any time.

bijou caillou chou genou hibou joujou pou

Now lets talk about the position of the tongue for the ou sounds. Its at the back of your mouth, and up, the middle part of your tongue is slightly raised and this is a reminder about the position of the lips.

Now we get to compare the u and the ou sounds. For both sounds, the lips are rounded, pushed forward and the mouth is almost closed.

For the ou sound the tongue is towards the back and up

For the u sound you need to move your tongue forward and place the tip behind your lower teeth, the front part of the tongue is curved up. In fact for the u sound the tongue is in the same position as for ee/i.

Now you can switch from the ou sound to the u sound just by moving your tongue. Say ou. Keep your lips in the same position, rounded, pushed forward, and the mouth is almost closed, now move your tongue behind your lower teeth, the front part of the tongue is curved up. Say u. Did this work for you? If not, try another method.

You can switch from the ee position of the mouth to the u sound without moving your tongue. Say ee (tea, cheese). In fact the i sound French is slightly shorter.

Île

Notice how you are smiling. Keep your tongue in the same position and change the position of your lips. So they are rounded, pushed forward, and the mouth is almost closed.

Let’s try to pronounce some u sounds. écoutez et répetéz.

Salut tu une nature utile du vu bu tutu