If we check the pronunciation of Merci: [mɛʁ.si] the 'e' sound is the same as 'è' in Mère: [mɛʁ]. But why is there no accent on the 'e' in 'merci'? With no accent, shouldn't the 'e' sounds like: 'le' or 'de'?
Asked
Active
Viewed 232 times
0
-
My previous comment was incorrect, you might be interested in the following: https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-24174.php#:~:text=1%2D%20le%20son%20'%C3%A9%20ou,%2D%3E%20esprit%2C%20esp%C3%A9rance%20.. – shintuku Mar 02 '23 at 01:02
-
1Does this answer your question? Les règles pour "é/è/e" ? – livresque Mar 02 '23 at 01:27
-
My French is very basic, is it going to take quite sometime for me to read that answer, but thanks. – Hooman Bahreini Mar 02 '23 at 02:28
1 Answers
1
It depends on the syllable. If it is open (le, me, te, ne, de, re-ve-nir etc) it is pronounced like in the article "le" [ə].
If it is closed or with the accents è; ê (mer-ci, après, mère, les, des, mes, tes etc) it is pronounced [ɛ] like in the word "Merci".
In the word "Merci" there is no accent because the syllabe is closed, we will pronounce it without problem. We need to write the accent when we need to pronounce it like [ɛ] but the syllabe is opened (après, près, forêt etc)
Also there is another sound [e]! télé, cinéma, février; au Passé Composé: dansé, parlé etc.
If you have some questions, write me, I am a french tutor (I conduct french classes online)!
JulieN
- 26
- 1
-
1I'm from Switzerland, so maybe my pronunciation is different, but aren't "les, des, mes, tes" prononced like [e] instead of [ɛ] ? – Alois Christen Mar 02 '23 at 11:42