A reader of OffQc asks how to pronounce là because he’s been hearing two pronunciations of it. In fact, it’s not just là that has two pronunciations but also ça. Let’s look at how they’re pronounced in this post.
(Below, IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. In French, it’s called the alphabet phonétique international, or API.)
LÀ
What are the two ways that là is pronounced?
1. la (or [la] in IPA)
Rhymes with ma, ta, sa.
2. lâ (or [lɑ] in IPA)
Rhymes with bas, cas, pas.
In là-dessus, là-dessous, là-dedans, etc. (where là is joined by a hyphen to an adverb), it’s pronounced the first way — like [la].
Elsewhere, là is pronounced the second way — like [lɑ]. In the following, là is pronounced [lɑ]: Moi là, j’pense que… Pis là, y’est parti. Je sais pas, là! C’est juste là, devant toi.
ÇA
Ça also has two pronunciations. What are they?
1. ça (or [sa] in IPA)
Rhymes with ma, ta, la.
2. çâ (or [sɑ] in IPA)
Rhymes with bas, cas, pas.
When ça is used as a subject, it’s pronounced the first way — like [sa]. Ça fait mal. Ça s’peut pas! Ça commence aujourd’hui.
Elsewhere, ça is pronounced the second way — like [sɑ]. C’est ça qui est ça! Pourquoi t’as fait ça? Quand ça? J’aime pas ça. C’est comme ça.
We can continue looking at this in future posts.
Uh oh, I need help b/c can’t tell any difference between ma and pas sound.
I’ll see what I can do in another post to help. In the meantime, when you’re listening to spoken French (spoken by the Québécois), start listening to how ça and là are pronounced.
Moi, aussi. Is there an online pronunciation resource?
Ça a l’air que quand ça s’emploie comme un pronom sujet, c’est la prononciation “ça”, pis quand c’est le pronom tonique on dit “çâ”. Je le prononce déjà comme ça (çâ), mais ce poste m’a aidé à comprendre le pourquoi (ou au moins il m’a permis de formuler une hypothèse). Merci!