🅿 Les liaisons interdites – Forbidden liaisons
Les liaisons interdites
Forbidden liaisons in French
Écrit par / Written by: Anthony Lucas
Dernière révision / Last update: 9 April 2024
You’re about to discover a whole load of rules about phonetic bridges between two words that you’re not allowed to make…
Honestly, I think this is the kind of lesson that’s interesting, but I think practice and imitation are more effective than understanding these rules. So don’t worry if it seems too technical.
If you haven’t read the lesson on compulsory liaisons, I’ll give you that information again before talking specifically about prohibited liaisons.
Quelques explications sur les liaisons … – Here are some explanations of the liaisons…
Une liaison ? Qu’est-ce que c’est ? – A liaison? What is it?
A liaison is the pronunciation of a final consonant that is not pronounced when the word is written on its own. A liaison occurs when the following word begins with a vowel or a silent “h”.
In this lesson, in order to indicate that there shouldn’t be a liaison, I will use the sign⏐between the 2 words.
Comment ça marche ? – How does it work?
Liaisons are one of the biggest difficulties when listening or speaking French. Indeed, when there is a liaison, 2 words are linked so it makes it harder to differentiate the 2 words. And when you speak, you need not only to memorise the words in French but as well the correct pronunciation including the liaison, this little phonetic bridge linking the 2 words.
In this lesson, we will see situations that you actually need to remember because you mustn’t make a liaison.
Quand faut-il faire une liaison ? – When do you have to make a liaison?
Well, sometimes it is mandatory, you absolutely must do it (otherwise you will be the victim of a spell that will make ratatouille come out of your mouth every time you open it 😈) but sometimes it is strictly forbidden (if you pronounce a liaison when there shouldn’t be, a rat will come in the night and eat your tongue 🐀). And in some situations, you could or not pronounce a liaison, it is up to you 😇.
Liaisons interdites – Forbidden liaisons
In this lesson we focus on the forbidden liaisons so don’t worry about the ratatouille coming out of your mouth for now 😜
There are many situations where it is forbidden to make a liaison between 2 words. I’m not going to give you all these situations because I wouldn’t want to give you a headache. I’ll just give you the most common ones:
Entre un sujet qui n’est pas un pronom personnel et le verbe qui suit- Between a subject which is not a personal pronoun and the following verb
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Richard⏐adore ce sport ! | Richard loves this sport! | |
| Les chiens⏐aboient fortement. | The dogs are barking loudly. | |
| Leur maison⏐est très grande. | Their house is very big. |
Après le mot “et“ – After the word “et“
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Jason a bu une bière et⏐un cocktail. | Jason had a beer and a cocktail. | |
| Julien et⏐Audrey participent à un casting. | Julien and Audrey are taking part in a casting. | |
| Nous regardons le film et⏐apprécions les acteurs. | We watch the film and enjoy the actors. | |
| Et⏐alors ? | So what? |
Après les adverbes interrogatifs “quand“, “comment” et “combien“ – After the interrogative adverbs “quand“, “comment” and “combien“
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Comment⏐on écrit “pays” en français ? | How do you spell “pays” in French? | |
| Quand⏐est-il arrivé ? | When did he arrive? | |
| Combien⏐ont-ils de jetons ? | How many chips do they have? | |
| Comment⏐est calculé le PIB d’un pays ? | How is a country’s GDP calculated? |
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Quand‿est-ce que … ? | How do you spell “pays” in French? | |
| Comment‿allez-vous ? | How is a country’s GDP calculated? |
Entre un nom et un adjectif placé après le nom – Between a noun and an adjective placed after the noun
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| un enfant⏐intelligent | an intelligent child | |
| une situation⏐impressionante | an impressive situation | |
| un chat⏐albinos | an albino cat |
Devant un h aspiré – In front of an aspirated h
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Les⏐héros sont applaudis. | The heroes are applauded. | |
| Les mexicains mangent des⏐haricots noirs. | Mexicans eat black beans. | |
| Il y a un⏐hérisson dans mon jardin. | There’s a hedgehog in my garden. |
Après un nom au singulier – After a noun in the singular
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Ce cochon⏐attire les regards. | This pig is a real eye-catcher. | |
| Le bâtiment⏐est très sale. | The building is very dirty. | |
| C’est un repas⏐équilibré. | It’s a balanced meal. |
À RETENIR
WORTH REMEMBERING
“Pfff … lots more rules! What’s more, they’re going to be difficult to implement because when we’re talking we don’t have time to think about that!”
I totally agree with you! Just try to understand these rules and repeat the examples.
Do your best when you’re speaking French and concentrate on the mandatory liaisons as a priority.
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