Hello everyone, bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast. This is episode 225, numéro deux cent vingt-cinq.

In today’s episode, we’re looking at the mute e, or le E muet in French.I’ll explain what the mute e is in just a second.

As usual, before we start. if you’re new to the podcast, welcome! Please make sure you have your lesson cheat sheet handy so you can see how the words are written while you listen. And after the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practise what you’ve learned. You’ll find all the links in the episode notes, and it’s free.

Let’s get started.

What Is the Mute E?

When French speakers talk at a normal speed, you might notice that some words sound shorter than the way you first learned them.

For example, you may have learned the word petit, but then hear French speakers pronounce it more like p’tit. (The apostrophe is just there to show you where the letter E has been dropped!)

Now, you’re going to ask me why you are learning the full pronunciation of the word if French speakers are shortening it.

Well, it’s always best to learn the standard pronunciation of a word first, so French speakers can understand you correctly.

But, and this is exactly why I’m teaching you this episode today, it is also good to know that in everyday spoken French, some words are shortened .

That doesnt mean I want you to do it yourself at the beginner level. For now, it’s simply useful for you to recognise these different pronunciations, so that words you know in French don’t sound unfamiliar in conversations.

And then, as you become more confident speaking French, you can start using some of these shortcuts yourself. I always say, first learn the rule, then when you’re comfortable with it, you can play around and break the rules.

Now, one sound that often disappears in speech, and tha’ts the topic of todays episode, the mute e, or le E muet in French.

In everyday spoken French, French speakers can take shortcuts and that particular e can sometimes be dropped.

And attention, it can disappear in speech, but not in writing. The E is still very much there when in writing.

And this is not a hard rule btw. The more slow someone is speaking, the more likely you are to hear the that mute E. But in faster, everyday French, it’s more likely to disappear. But again, not a hard rule, people might drop it and might not.

And im not going to talk too much about this because that gets a bit more complicated but, but it also depends on the letters around it:

• If the consonants around the E are easy to pronounce together, the e is more likely to disappear.
• If removing it would make the word difficult to pronounce, we’re more likely to keep it.

But its not something that you need to remember for now at your level.

Alright, let’s see some example words.

petit. → in every day speech, you might hear p’tit.

petit — p’tit.

For example: J’habite dans un petit appartement.

another one:

semaine. → in every day speech, you might hear s’maine

semaine — s’maine.

For example: on part la semaine prochaine

So, really dropping that mute e is a little shortcut. It shortens the word and helps speech flow more quickly.

It’s also very common that the mute E is dropped, in very short words, such as:

• je
• me
• te
• le
• de

Let me give you a few examples.

1) Je vais au travail (I’m going to work)

In fast speech, its becomes: j’vais au travail. Dropped the mute e from “je”

Je vais au travail — J’vais au travail.

2) Je te parle (I’m speaking to you)

Je te parle — J’te parle.

3) Tu le connais bien (You know him well.)

Tu le connais bien — Tu l’connais bien.

4) Je me démaquille (I’m taking off my makeup.)

Je me démaquille — J’me démaquille.

5) Pas de problème (No problem)

Pas de problème — Pas d’problème.

So thats it for our examples.

Now please remember that you don’t particularly need to worry about doing this when you speak. The useful thing at beginner level is being able to recognise these shorter pronunciations when you hear them. So when you hear “j’vais”, you know that it’s “je vais.” when you hear “j’te” it means “je te…” etc.

And that’s it for today’s episode!

Don’t forget to download your free lesson cheat sheet and complete the exercises in the French Made Easy Exercise Library. You’ll find all the links in the episode notes.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll chat with you next week.

À bientôt, bye!