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I am looking for some resource (book/website/...) that, for any french verb, would show me not only how to conjugate it, but also how to pronounce individual forms of the verb.

For a chosen french verb, e.g. "ouvrir", I would like to see something like:

j'ouvre [ʒ‿uːvʁ]
tu ouvres [ty uːvʁ]
il‿ouvre [il uːvʁ]
nous‿ouvrons [nuz‿uvʁɔ̃]
vous‿ouvrez [vuz‿uvʁe]
ils‿ouvrent [ilz‿uːvʁ]

In many cases I can guess the pronunciation, but in the cases where I hesitate, I would like to be able to reach out to some authoritative resource that would tell me the right pronunciation. Is there anything like that?

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  • I do not know any website that give you phonetic transcriptions, but there are some which give you the ability to listen to the pronunciation. Here's one: conjugueur-francais.com/conjuguer
    – Vlammuh
    Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 22:04
  • Well, the pronunciation of the verb endings is generally pretty consistent, so there is not a huge need for such a resource. I don't know if one exists. I can only think of a few words that would be troublesome, like "vainc," "vaincs" (silent c).
    – sumelic
    Commented Aug 15, 2015 at 1:48
  • For your information, this kind of resource is commonly called "Un bescherelle".
    – Sebastien C.
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 14:07
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    @SebastienC. As far as the original question is concerned, the Bescherelle contains no relevant information whatsoever about the pronunciation of forms.
    – GAM PUB
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 18:57
  • @Matej Košík Where do your transcriptions come from? They look quite weird with different [R]/[r] that are not very common nowadays (most speakers use [ʁ] for /r/). There should be a liaison between vous_ouvrez [vu zuvre] and linking between il_ouvre [iluvr], vowel length might still be there but it is not meant to contrast with anything...
    – GAM PUB
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 19:02

7 Answers 7

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Lexique.org has the resource you're looking for. The transcription keys used are given here.

There is also flexique, a newer more supervised version that separates verbs from the other categories.

You could also check out GLAWI based on the French Wiktionary which has lots of information including pronunciation but in XML format.

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    I failed to figure out where to find pronunciation of individual conjugated forms of individual verbs in Lexique, but I have found that in Flexique. It is a pity that Flexique does not indicate neither the length of vowels nor optionality of schwa. Those things are also relevant. Then it would be perfect.
    – Matej Košík
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 18:11
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    In Lexique.org, the phon field holds the information about phonological representation. Vowel length is not relevant in French. As for the schwas, the strategy anounced by Flexique is that ə notes the optional kind... Of course, there are also non-free lexicons with more phonological information available such as BDLex (but they might not be more accurate).
    – GAM PUB
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 18:52
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Wiktionary has a comprehensive pronunciation appendix for every verb, for example http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Annexe:Conjugaison_en_fran%C3%A7ais/ouvrir

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The infamous Bescherelle is the number one conjugation resource for students of French grammar, including French children themselves. It is a smallish red hardcover book which is simple and easy to use.

Pronunciation is usually straight forward, as most conjugation is rather standard and somewhat normalized, especially since the imperfect subjunctive has been officially replaced by past simple a few generations ago (you still find it in classic novels).

Verbs are of three groups and the third is indeed the one where everyone struggles, because there is no other way but to learn every form by heart. Etre and Avoir are of that group.

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  • I am not sure as to why this was voted down. Growing up in France as a child, I can guarantee you that the Bescherelle was the conjugation bible every grammar school student would carry around.
    – Charlie Mike No Shoot
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 17:35
  • Someone who wanted their answer to look good, voted every other answer down. It's common on SE. I have tried to re-balance with an upvote...
    – Cloud
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 14:48
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    As far as I know Bescherelle has no pronunciation information which was one of the point of the original question...
    – GAM PUB
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 19:52
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    Although the French language is not phonological in the way that you can't always know in advance how to translate from the spoken to the written form, there are very few exceptions where you do not know how to translate from the written to the spoken form. This is why there is no IPA transliteration next to words in French dictionaries or in a text book like the Bescherelle conjugation manual.
    – Charlie Mike No Shoot
    Commented Jan 2, 2019 at 17:33
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The Memrise app has a great course called 'Learn French Conjugation', that I used to learn all the tenses, both regular and irregular. I highly recommend that. Otherwise, @GAM PUB has provided the best answer.

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I like Reverso, since I often have to work in several languages and it makes it easy to cross-reference. Unfortunately it does not give pronunciation. Anyway, the web address is: http://dictionary.reverso.net

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  • There does not seem to be any instructions about the pronunciation.
    – Matej Košík
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 18:29
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I like this website. You can look for any verb you want. To check the pronunciation I use Siri on iPhone. If Siri understands, so does anyone.

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  • I am not sure how close/far are these robotic approximations from the real French. :-/
    – Matej Košík
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 18:27
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You could also check this website to see if it is useful for you or not: Le Figaro

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    You can have a look here too:amazon.com/s/…
    – Tower
    Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 6:29
  • There does not seem to be any instructions about the pronunciation.
    – Matej Košík
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 18:30

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