Spoken French - How to pronounce the French R

Do you still struggle to pronounce the “R” sound in French? It can be tricky! Learn the correct pronunciation… and whether it even matters.
💾 Read, save and/or print the full written lesson here (free): www.commeunefrancaise.com/blo...
🎓 Join my Everyday French crash course (free): www.commeunefrancaise.com/wel...
If you still struggle with the pronunciation of the “R” sound in French, you’re not alone! A lot of my students struggle with this, and you could be speaking French for ten, even twenty years and still not quite get it. It’s so frustrating!
But the real question is… does it even matter? We’ll explore that in today’s lesson, and then I’ll share my tips to help you improve your pronunciation of the French R? Let’s dive in!
Take care and stay safe.
😘 from Grenoble, France.
Géraldine

[@kaymuldoon3575]

When I first started French class back in high school, my French teacher taught us how to say the “R” correctly, by saying that it’s just like gargling but with no water. A bit of a softer sound, of course, but the generally the same thing as gargling. I had the most amazing French teacher in high school.

[@Commeunefrancaise]

lovely tip, Kay!

[@kaymuldoon3575]

@@Commeunefrancaise Merci, Géraldine!

[@martinneumann7783]

This time I am very happy to be a German speaker: no problems with "R" and "Ü". To all french learners: train it! When you get it in French, learning German will be easy 😊 "It always seems impossible until it's done" (Nelson Mandela)

[@pushparahi5681]

Merci we will try out best

[@paulaswaim8434]

You have a beautiful smile. Your channel warms my heart. Greetings from Evergreen, Montana, USA. ❤❤❤

[@talideon]

I've never had much of a problem with 'r' in isolation, but there are certain consonant clusters involving 'r' that have always tripped me up, worst of which by far is 'rl', as in 'parler'. Going from an uvular fricative to a liquid consonant like that feels awkward, no matter how much I practice.

[@bisforbegum]

It's the same for me. I really don't understand why i struggle with the verb 'parler'. I've been practicing this verb for months and I still feel like I can't pronounce it properly.

[@talideon]

@@bisforbegum There's some irony in the word meaning "to talk" being difficult to say!

[@BaerRennen]

This video helped me immensely with being able to pronounce those types of words: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKO6n5utn5WIipY

[@williamreymond2669]

Try moving the rolled-r forward in your mouth closer to the point where the soft palate meets the hard palate. You may have already noticed that the sensation of the rolled-r naturally moves forwards and backwards across the soft palate when it occurs at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, or if it occurs more than once in the same word. What always works best for me is to pay very close attention to the sensation in the mouth and then you can learn to move it around more or less at will. You can actually feel it when you are getting it right, the rolled-r seems to be about selectively relaxing the soft palate more than anything else. I'm not a linguist, but I believe that technically this would be pronouncing the rolled-r as almost a velar rather than uvular fricative. What trips me up now is that I sometimes accidentally put the velar fricative in some words like, 'voyager' where it does not belong.

[@sarah_7814]

Same! No matter how much my pronunciation improves, I still seem to struggle with that one word lol

[@arrakis7132]

it just seems natural to me after i learnt how to do it......im sure everyone can reach it.

[@pushparahi5681]

Wish me luck. Imma trying for two days

[@dianehunter3034]

“On part de la gare St. Lazare pour les points du nord.” was the phrase that my college French professor taught us to learn the French “r”. He said it with pronounced emphasis on the “r” It worked for me.

[@Hilltop_Hinny]

OMG, I’ve tried for years to make the French R sound and the Pagui, Paris combination actually worked for me. Thank you Geraldine!

[@christopherdieudonne]

I've lived in France since 2003 and I have simply given up on the French R. I don't feel defeated at all. I just don't care anymore. People can still understand me when I speak and the French end up finding my accent cute anyway. Also, no matter how much you try, French people will still make fun of your accent, especially if you're an Anglophone! Not to discourage anyone but it's a fact. One thing I have noticed is that the French would *never* make fun of an African accent on someone who rolls their r's (for example) but it seems to be open season on English accents. lol

[@emmanuelteshome2469]

If you want a tip, the tongue curls up when you pronounce the English r. With the french r, the lips and the tongue do not move AT ALL. The tongue sits in its resting place. Now say the word air with the English r. The tongue curls upward, right? Now say the word air again, but this time when you say the 'r' sound, keep the tongue in its resting place, and don't move the lips.

[@christopherdieudonne]

@@emmanuelteshome2469 Oh my goodness ! You're right ! No one has ever explained it to me like that before. I just tried your tip and it has *definitely* improved my "r" . Mind blown. Wow, thanks so much !!

[@emmanuelteshome2469]

@@christopherdieudonne Anytime!

[@emmanuelteshome2469]

@@christopherdieudonne I'm not learning french by the way 😂

[@christopherdieudonne]

@@emmanuelteshome2469 if you're not learning French, then how did you know that tip ? It's great ! I've heard so many tips about the French "r" but yours is the best I've ever heard. Perhaps you are a French speaker, native tongue, who knows how to teach your language ?

[@lacrima152]

Ah, I was about to mention Edith Piaf and here you are talking about her! 😀 Also, Charles Aznavour had amazing "r" 🙂

[@lameeekillah]

Best explanation i have found so far. When we make the R sound is made in front of the mouth sort of like an aeroplane sound. When making G sound, it happens in the back. The only problem is no matter how hard i try, when i make the "english version" R sound my tounge comes to the front automatically. Thanks anyway.

[@madlvemusic1753]

I’m so glad you make the pronunciation videos because that’s the hardest part for me and I think for a lot of people and I’m so scared I’m gonna offend someone because I sound like I’m saying something I’m not when I got France!

[@zengseng1234]

Thank you for actually showing us how to do it. Other Learn French channels on KZbin just do it with no explanation.

[@bsg7580]

Vous êtes la meilleure! Merci pour vos explications et vous avez la meilleure personnalité aussi! 😃

[@johnknight9150]

Some accents like Congolese are more of an R than an errrr. I learnt my errr from Alexa (the French teacher, not the robot!). I got it pretty quickly, but struggled when there were three of them in one word, which actually happens quite a lot! I'm a few years into French and don't struggle with it any more. Try reading out loud a lot and you will naturally adapt to the needed tongue and throat movements that we don't have in English.

[@Commeunefrancaise]

great tips, John!

[@johnknight9150]

@@Commeunefrancaise :) Danke. I mean, merci.

[@rc9272]

Looking forward to a video on facial articulator muscles used for making french sounds and speaking French in general...

[@martkbanjoboy8853]

I watched an old recording of Patricia Carli singing Demain tu te Maries. She really did an amazing demonstration of the r sound.

[@lucaskanyo]

Pertinente et efficace. Félicitations Géraldine♡

[@thaifoodbento-authenticbut5793]

Merci beaucoup! This is the clearest explanation clip I've seen so far. Would you mind making a video about how to pronounce "g" and "j"? I am so struggle with these 2 letters.

[@rahelkassaye5760]

Thank you.

[@Geker3]

I'm from the Czech Republic and French "R" if you use it in Czech it's considered as a disorder and you're make to go to a specialist to teach you the proper Czech way of sayng "R". And even my cure of French "R" was sucsesfull I still remember how to do the sound and it helped me during my French lessons at high school.

[@katherinemarsh784]

Merci Beaucoup. Pas difficile. :) Je comprend. :) Bonne apres midi. :)

[@gyp3xp48]

C'est difficile à dire 'rurale' ou 'ruraux' avec deux 'r's.

[@juliaz3072]

Exactement ! je peux pas dire "rire"

[@gyp3xp48]

@@juliaz3072 Type 'How to pronounce rire in french' into youtube. There are a number of videos. It's just practice. It is exactly like 'dire' but substitute the 'd' for 'r'. You will succeed. Just listen and repeat again and again. Good luck and happy hew year.

[@juliaz3072]

@@gyp3xp48 thanks, I'll give it a try!! Happy new year ☺️

[@ntakovacj3644]

From what I understand there are areas of France that roll the R. My French teacher once said, "You must choose one or the other -- rolled R or soft gargled R. Is it preferable to roll the R rather than just skip trying?

[@Andy_U]

I haven't been able to roll my r's for 60 years! Stay safe. All the best to you.

[@bekithomson5200]

I love your rabbit. Is it from Oaxaca?

[@leonardojerkovic3618]

I pronounce french R as rolling R and I never had any problems communicating with the French people or being understood.

[@Graphite2983]

I've always wondered if we can omit some R's like in "parler" or "marché". Would it be okay?

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

Bonjour Géraldine, votre vidéo et lien excellent. Magnifique. And I have just received your e mail for the free French courses. Merci beaucoup. 🥇🏆

[@leyankee247]

Je viens de montrer la vidéo 'Je reviens' par Kaolin à mes élèves. Il y a beaucoup de bons exemples du R français.

[@amandadavies..]

If you want to really test your French R, say "serrurerie" 😁 I'm English and I actually don't even remember at what point I switched from saying the R in a typically English way. My point is that with practise ( enough / a lot) it should become easier and natural. When I started learning French at school a LONG time ago, I don't think I even realised that the R sound was even different from the English pronunciation. I don't remember it being taught at school either....I have very little memory ( or none) of pronunciation being taught in depth. You can spend years learning "text book" French but the only way to learn real French is to speak with native French speakers, or at least someone who can speak it in the same way as a native. Having said that, I would say that it is still possible thanks to KZbin etc, which was not available to me at the time ( I'm old 🤔) How amazing it would have been.

[@xoxb2]

Ce n'est pas tant difficile comme le "r" italien ... Questo è un incubo! I was lucky to have a French French-teacher at school. She used to despair of our accents, and would say, "if you want to sound French, do the most exaggerated impression of a vaudeville French caricature. Then you'll be almost there!" Elle avait une angoisse particulière sur notre prononciation de "bouteille", comme "booteye"!

[@stevedowler2366]

Ahh! Le ours fait le 'grrr', comme un local!

[@tilywinn]

This whole time I’ve been copying Edith Piaf’s voice while singing to her music, I didn’t realise I was practicing my French r’s. 😁 “Non, rrrien de rrrien. Non, je ne regrette rrrien.” 🎤🎼

[@pushparahi5681]

Thanks , imma try this out

[@portapotty69]

I wonder if that's acceptable for spoken French. I know some French singers roll their Rs, but do people do that while speaking? Je ne sais pas.

[@tilywinn]

@@portapotty69 I don’t know, but I suspect it’s not done. However, even if it’s exaggerated, it’s good practice. All you have to do is just scale it back. 😉

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

I cannot hear the "R" in "ours" :( For me, the L is very difficult. People used to think I was saying R. Instead of Sheila, for instance, it would sound to them as She-Ra (without the gargled French R sound). I believe the French say SHAY-LA, comme la chanteuse. It is just my Pacific Northwest accent. But I do try to make both of those sounds correctly. I want to look at the OU vs U video next. Thanks for these wonderful, helpful videos.

[@bookishthings1967]

To me it kinda sound like the word "air". I'm not sure if this is correct or not but it kinda helps me😅❤

[@bazcuda]

I was wondering how important it really was to try and get that French R sound at the back of the throat whenever and wherever there's an R in a word, and then you played the Daniel Radcliffe clip.... OMG 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ I will redouble my practice every day from now on 😂

[@juliaz3072]

Je suis polonaise et quand j'etais l'enfant, je pouvais pas dire le "r" polonais et ma copaine a me demandée si j'etais française 😂 c'est très drôle pour moi maintenent. Excuse ma (probablement) mauvaise grammaire, j'ètudie français depuis quelques semaines. J'adore tes vidèos !!!

[@franck4727]

For a few weeks of learning French this is very impressive

[@MsDezB1]

Laughing at the time I asked for L'imperatrice perfume in my best French accent, lol. Words with multiple r's challenge me. Sometimes, it sounds to me like native French speakers will pronounce the r sound like an throaty h. Example: preferee = pre-fe-he

[@VKjk]

I’m of Chinese descendant and have the most difficulty with the pronunciation of ‘r’

[@Albatrosspro1]

Je croyais pendant un moment que vous alliez laisser passer les Rs de M. Radcliff parce qu'il est un acteur célèbre ;P

[@ralphtomlinson4520]

En Louisianne et en ben-ben de parts du Canada, on énonce l'"R" sitôt comme on l'énonce en espagnol ou-t-italien. On se devroit rendre compte, toutefois, qu'y-y-a quelques italiens qui énonceont l' "R" comme un francophone. Les italiens l'appelleont "erre moscia".

[@cesarantonioespinosamadrid4153]

The sounds CR-, GR-, DR- are the most difficult to me. Speaking of Edith Piaf, singing “Je ne regrette rien” is such a struggle!

[@talideon]

I've noticed that quite a few French people tend to roll or tap their 'r' when singing.

[@johnknight9150]

For a more exaggerated movement, try swallowing slightly while you do it. Then you can separate those hard consonants towards the front of your mouth, and send the Rs back into your throat. It takes a while to build the muscle memory, but stick with it and you'll be able to do it without thinking.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

@@talideon It's a more regional sort of thing.

[@user-cx4ot1uz7q]

منيح اني عربية اذا بعرف الفظ هاد الحرف بسهوله😄😂

[@cub68134]

Vraiment, c'est pas trop difficile.

[@simonelavigne8618]

I have given up on the R, actually.....

[@mic498]

don't worry too much though, even if you pronounce it the English way, people will understand what you say

[@johnfitzgerald7618]

The "French R"? There are several French pronunciations of R. The best solution for English speakers might be to attempt one of the Canadian French accents that use trilled Rs and furthermore substitute short vowels for many long ones -- that way they're less likely to make the mistake of turning French long vowels into diphthongs.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Yeah. I find it odd when people talk about "French R". There's more than one!

[@cuddlycritter]

I have learned french in High school, then spent the summer at a french speaking camp in quebec! I went on to college and took french as well! I decided to learn learn spanish so I went on KZbin and found Enrique Saldivar and I sang along with him four a long time to PERFECT the spanish R, After a few moths I was invited out to dinner with my family! I started to speak to someone in english and I started to stutter when when I spoke in english! Everyone looked at me in wonder and thought! " Oh, My! What is wrong with him?" I could see it in the expressions of their faces! Should I see a doctor? Maybe i was having a stroke or something! But I soon realized that it was because I had been singing along with Enrique Saldivar in spanish to perfect my accent for so long! Yes, i learned that practice makes perfect! LOL!

[@Ygsendd]

Je suis français et ce genre de vidéo me rappelle que souvent quand je me pose la question inverse, qui est "comment mieux apprendre l'anglais aux français", je me suis souvent dit que la première erreur de nos profs de collège et lycée était de ne pas avoir insister sur le faite que parler une autre langue, c'est mettre sa bouche complètement dans une autre configuration. Peut importe le son, les mots, la bouche n'est jamais dans la même position quand on parle une langue ou une autre. C'est l'erreur des français. C'est pour ça que les français sont majoritairement mauvais en anglais. parce qu'il ne comprennent pas ça et aussi parce qu'il ne veulent pas faire l'effort de comprendre. Mais ça c'est un tout autre problème... ^^

[@lucaskanyo]

Une chose que j'ai fait pour améliorer mes Rrrrrrr, c'était d'exagérrrrrrrer les Rrrrrs comme les basques font norrrrrrrmalement...cela peut êtrrrrrre peut-êtrrrrrre une façon d'y arrrrrrriver : on exagèrrrrre au début et, avec le temps, on trouve l'équilib"r"e phonétique

[@pushparahi5681]

When we pronounce *Etre** we must sound like.............. this = *ethah-khhr* Please correct if I'm wrong 🙏

[@cub68134]

I'm sure there are betters examples other than Harry Potter!

[@mouvement784]

Pour moi il est impossible de prononcer le mot "chirurgien". 😭

[@Commeunefrancaise]

C'est super dur !

[@dimiw5435]

or chirurgirie!

[@gloipsdegalerf2104]

Quand il y a deux "r" dans un mot, j'ai déjà remarqué que c'est plus compliqué pour les anglophones. Par exemple : "le trafic est perturbé" (qu'on entend souvent dans les gares !). Le mot perturbé peut être prononcé avec les 2 "r" si on se concentre en le prononçant lentement. Cependant, en prononçant la phrase à vitesse normale, j'ai déjà remarqué que les anglophones n'arrivent à prononcer qu'un seul des deux "r". Ca donne "pertu'bé" ou "pe'turbé", je trouve ça assez fascinant :) Si quelqu'un a une explication sur le mécanisme mis en oeuvre ici et qui semble empêcher la répétition rapprochée du son "r", je suis intéressé :)

[@orionaugustwatson]

Harry Potter trying to learn from Fleur Delacour

[@charles1413]

To be fair, our R's aren't that pronounced for the most part. I don't know why foreigners try their hardest to pronounce the harshest R's possible. Better to pronounce them very softly than butchering the words lol

[@mic498]

Indeed some learners pronounce it a too hard (and somehow sounds Russian by doing this ^^) but I think it's very difficult for foreigners who literally never pronounced this sound to find the right balance between "too much" and "not enough"... Be nice to them, the French "R" is really THAT difficult...!

[@cakiepop2038]

The same reason most people who are learning English absolutely butcher our "R" lol

[@hynesie11]

Plus de confinement.... Plus de micro-fictions !

[@Commeunefrancaise]

eh non...

[@hynesie11]

🤣

[@nicp2344]

The closest thing I can make is the rr sound in spanish, but I'm Greek and spanish comes easier to me.

[@nmgram8356]

Noooon, rien de rien.... I want to sound like Edith... But I can't... 😭😭