Basics
French from the start
Learn to read French spelling, hear every letter, and read short guides to how French works.
67Letters to learn
4Charts
38Guides
Consonants and silent letters
Most French consonants sound as in English. These cards cover the ones that don't, the pairs of letters that make one sound, and the letters left silent, above all at the end of words, where French spelling keeps letters it no longer says.
Read the guide: ConsonantsReview these lettersSign up to learn them with spaced repetition, as you do words.
Tap a letter to hear it and see how it's written.
Consonants
16 lettersc and g are hard before a, o and u and soft before e, i and y. A cedilla makes c soft before a, o or u, and a silent u keeps g hard before e or i.
Silent letters
11 lettersMost consonants at the end of a word are silent, and so is a final e. They come back before a vowel in liaison (les amis) and in the feminine (petit, petite).