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« Pronouncing the letters D and T in Quebec French (#209)
Distinguish between the French vowel sounds A and  (#211) »

Keep ear out for D and T when listening to French (#210)

2 June 2011 by OffQc

In entry #209, you read that the letters d and t are sometimes pronounced as dz and ts by French speakers from Quebec. If you don’t remember when this happens or don’t know what any of this means, read (or reread) that entry before continuing.

While listening to 98,5 FM online, I made a list of the first 10 words I heard containing a dz or ts sound. I made another list of the first 10 words I heard that do not contain these sounds but that still contain a d or t in their spelling.

Here are the lists:

10 words spelled with a d or t and containing a dz or ts sound

dix, gratuit, dur, parti, effectivement, structure, type, diminuer, candidat, étudiant

10 words spelled with a d or t and not containing a dz or ts sound

date, devoir, douzaine, donner, rester, sondage, temps, taxe, réalité, invité

If you’re working on perfecting your accent, you can try this same exercise on your own. Don’t just listen for the words containing the dz and ts sounds but also the ones that don’t.

Remember, the dz and ts sounds never occur before nasal vowels, even if the following letter is an i or u. None of these words contain a dz or ts sound:

matin, timbre, timbale, tintamarre, tinter, dinde, dingue, dindon, pantin, boudin

When the -tion ending is pronounced -sion, there’s no ts sound. None of these words contain a ts sound:

information, formulation, exposition, etc.

If you find this a little overwhelming, don’t worry about these rules. Simply be aware that the letters d and t will sometimes take on a different pronunciation in French when spoken by people from Quebec. Let it all sink in with time.

Remember, you never have to adopt the dz and ts pronunciations yourself to make yourself understood. No pressure, mes amis!

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Posted in Entries #201-250 | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on 4 June 2011 at 17:15 Gene Geppert

    I presume that ‘dune’ would be pronounced with a dz sound, since here we are not dealing with a nasal ‘u’.


    • on 5 June 2011 at 15:10 OffQc

      Yes, that’s right: [dzune].



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