{"id":117485,"date":"2023-09-04T12:43:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T16:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/how-to-sound-french\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T05:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T10:11:59","slug":"how-to-sound-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/how-to-sound-french\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tricks to Sound French"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you dread the\u00a0moment when your French conversation partner<\/a> senses your foreignness and switches the conversation from French to English?\u00a0Whatever the reason for this might be, you’re dying to sound so perfectly French that natives will never guess that you’re a foreigner.<\/p>\n

So, if you want to sound so French that you pass for a native<\/a>, then check out this post for 10 simple but effective tricks to sound (and seem) more French, from adjusting your attitude to learning about French culture.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

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Having the Right French Attitude<\/h2>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Having the right attitude is key to seeming French. You can do this with both mannerisms and language use.<\/p>\n

1. Act as confident as possible<\/h3>\n

When said with confidence, even mispronunciations and mistakes<\/a> can be perfectly understood or overlooked. Speaking sheepishly will do you no favors. Allez-y!<\/strong><\/em> (Go for it!)<\/p>\n

2. Find French equivalents to expressions you use in English<\/h3>\n

Think of some fun phrases you always use in English that foreign people wouldn’t think to use or necessarily understand.<\/p>\n

For example, in English, we say things like “give it a go!” instead of just saying “try.” You might say “are you up for doing…” rather than “do you want to do…”<\/p>\n

It seems like a minor detail, but using and understanding these phrases is your key to coming across as a native, or even just as a capable bilingual.<\/p>\n

These are essentially just different versions\u2014perhaps slightly more complex ways\u2014of saying simple things. This adds color and natural flavor to our daily language.<\/p>\n

Beginners in English might not know how to use all of these, but they certainly aren’t beyond anyone’s capability. They’re easy to learn\u2014it’s just about the level of familiarity with the language that natives have, and having the ability to play around with word usage and phrasing.<\/p>\n

For some help on this, check out this excellent video that goes over seven French phrases to use in abundance to make yourself sound more like a native:<\/p>\n

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3. Train your English mouth to do French pronunciations<\/h3>\n

Make yourself aware of those certain tricky sounds and pronunciations that your darned English-trained mouth just can’t get the hang of.<\/p>\n

There are definitely going to be one or two trouble areas when it comes to learning French as an English speaker, as your mouth physically isn’t used to pronouncing certain things.<\/p>\n

You probably already know exactly which sounds I’m referring to, because you’ve stumbled over them in the past.<\/p>\n

You literally need to train and stretch the muscles to correctly enunciate as a native Frenchie would. Once you have identified which specific sounds you’re struggling with, you can start to fix the problems and stop sounding like a hopeless foreigner.<\/p>\n

For example, the importance of correctly pronouncing the difference between dessus<\/em><\/strong> and dessous<\/strong><\/em> (above and below) is a common one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Practice as much as you can, whenever you can. They’ll eventually fall out of your mouth more naturally.<\/p>\n

To practice getting down your French pronunciation, check out this video about common French pronunciation mistakes and how to correct and avoid them in the future:<\/p>\n

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Mastering French Mannerisms<\/h2>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The following points are five classic French conversational techniques and mannerisms to help you sound just a bit more fran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

4. The tactical use of bah<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fairly difficult to translate, the French bah<\/strong><\/em> is used rather regularly and can make your speech sound very authentic.<\/p>\n

In answer to an obvious question perhaps:<\/p>\n

Tu aimes bien la pizza?<\/em><\/strong> (Do you like pizza?)<\/p>\n

Bah oui, bien sur!<\/strong><\/em> (Well, yes, of course!)<\/p>\n

Or something like the following:<\/p>\n

Tu adores le brocoli?<\/strong><\/em> (Do you love broccoli?)<\/p>\n

Bah non! Je d\u00e9teste!<\/strong><\/em> (No, I hate it!)<\/p>\n

Or as a deep, elongated syllable to fill gaps while you think:<\/p>\n

Qu’est-ce que tu fais le weekend?<\/strong><\/em> (What are you doing on the weekend?)<\/p>\n

Baaaaaahh, en fait je ne sais pas encore.<\/strong><\/em> (Well, actually I don’t know yet)<\/p>\n

5. Addingquoi<\/em> to\u00a0the ends of sentences<\/h3>\n

This one is also not easy to translate, but it would be the French equivalent of “whatever.”<\/p>\n

So, you might imagine that it shouldn’t be used when talking formally, but it’s used often in casual conversation and can perfectly round off a sentence.<\/p>\n

C’est quoi, \u00e7a?<\/strong><\/em> (What is that?)<\/p>\n

Euuh, je ne sais pas exactement mais je pense que c’est une sorte de nourriture, quoi.<\/strong><\/em> (Um, I’m not really sure but I think it’s a type of food or whatever.)<\/p>\n

6. Using eh, <\/em>ah <\/em>and hein <\/em>like there’s no tomorrow<\/h3>\n

Whether it’s to fill space while you think or to provoke a response, these elongated vowels are very useful when speaking French.<\/p>\n

For example, in English we add “don’t you?”\/ “aren’t you?”\/ “isn’t it?” to the end of statements to toss the conversational ball back into the other person’s court. The French will simply say: hein?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Il fait beau aujourd’hui, hein?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(It’s nice weather today isn’t it?)<\/p>\n

Try it with raised eyebrows for added French effect.<\/p>\n

7. Plentiful use of voil\u00e0<\/em><\/h3>\n

The slangy English phrases “so, yeah” or “so, there you go” would probably be best translated into French as simply “voil\u00e0.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When you can’t think of anything else to say at the end of a sentence, you can’t go wrong with a\u00a0voil\u00e0<\/em><\/strong>. Sometimes even two. Voil\u00e0 voil\u00e0.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For more super useful French slang words, check out this video that goes over more than 15 highly used slang terms:<\/p>\n

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8. Not forgetting the classic French shrug<\/h3>\n

In response to a question to which you don’t know the answer, respond the French way with an exaggerated shrug, raised eyebrows and add a “baaah, je sais pas, moi!”<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0for good measure.<\/p>\n

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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