If the video below doesn’t play, this link will play it on youtube: https://youtu.be/_FPhnaJsMBc
Longer French listening exercises
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Comments
6 responses to “8-second French listening exercise: 2CV track7-2”
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As usual, David has produced a fine piece of instruction. However, regarding “c’est pour ça que j’ai dit”, there are two things going on here that affect what one hears, but are not mentioned in the video. First, the “mute-e” in “que” is not pronounced, so there is no syllable there, and only the consonant “qu” is left. This would normally be pronounced as a /k/ sound, but then there is the second effect, called “assimilation”: when two consonant sounds are pronounced one after the other (in this case, the “qu” and the following “j”), the first consonant will normally borrow (that is, assimilate) the voicing (or voicelessness) of the latter. In this case, since the “j” is voiced, the “k” will also be voiced, resulting in a /g/ sound instead of the /k/ sound. In effect, the phrase comes out much like “c’est pour çag j’ai dit”. For a case in which the first consonant loses its voicing, consider the word “medecin”. Here the second “e” is mute and rarely if ever pronounced (making this is a 2-syllable word), and the “d” loses it voicing and gets pronounced as a /t/ sound because the “c” is a voiceless /s/ sound.
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Hello Ray, great contribution. Thank you. I hope will help others.
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“Deux chevaux” sounds like deux “show” to my ears, and “c’est pour que ça que j’ai dit” sounds like one long string of sound. I guess I’ll be working on that one for a while. : )
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Me too 😱
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Thank you Carol, for letting me know. Does the video above help?
Best regards,
David
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Hello Stéphanie,
Thank you for letting me know. I posted a video above to help.
Does that help you hear it?
Best regards,
David
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