Bonjour et bienvenue à tous! 😊 I'm your host, Mathilde, and you're listening Effortless French Pronunciation. This is a special pronunciation series from the French Made Easy podcast, and specifically designed for French beginners wanting to perfect their pronunciation.

Today, we are going to learn the pronunciation of a word that you have probably heard or even used in English - 'rendez-vous'. In English, rendez-vous is pronounced a bit differently, and it's all written as one word, without a hyphen in the middle, like we have in French.

Now, in English, 'rendezvous' kind of sounds off a bit mysterious or romantic, right? But in French it's maybe not as sexy, sure, 'rendez-vous' can be used for secret meetups or romantic dates, but it's also used for everyday stuff, like an appointment or business meeting. 

Ok, now let's learn the pronunciation of that word. 

Alright, let's break it down into syllables: [rɑ̃devu]. 

Now, let's deconstruct the pronunciation of this word.

1. The letter 'r' in French is pronounced [r]. If you want more practice of the pronunciation of the French 'r'? Check out episode 21.
2. The letters 'en' together create the nasal sound [ɑ̃]. 
3. The letter 'd', same as in English, is pronounced [d].
4. The letters 'ez' in the middle of this word, are pronounced [e]. 
5. The letter 'v' is pronounced like the English 'v' [v]
6. The letters 'ou' in that word are pronounced [u].
7. Finally, the 's' at the end is completely silent. 

Putting it all of these sounds together, now we have [rɑ̃.de.vu]

And there it is, you've just said 'rendez-vous' in French!

Just a quick note: not all letters or letter combinations sound the same in every French word. For example, the 's' is not always silent at the end of words. This is something we delve into in my French Pronunciation Made Easy course. If you're curious, click the link on your podcast app.

Now, let's practice together, and let's use 'rendez-vous' in a few example sentences:

1. J'ai un rendez-vous avec mon ami demain. (I have a meeting with my friend tomorrow.)
2. Prends rendez-vous avec le dentiste, s'il te plaît. (Make an appointment with the dentist, please.)
3. À quelle heure est ton rendez-vous ? (What time is your meeting?)

And there you have it—today's episode on how to pronounce 'rendez-vous.' the French way.

Keep practising and soon, you'll be saying this word effortlessly in no time!

Thank you for listening to Effortless French Pronunciation, a series from the French Made Easy podcast. À la prochaine!