N'importe quoi and regarde-le pronunciation.

Question

I notice the ees on the end n'importe and regarde are both pronounced here.  Have you any hints on when an end ee is pronounced?  As ever thank you for the opportunity to ask such novice questions.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Jennifer and Ron !Wow! Such an interesting question! The fact is that I had never really noticed these cases where indeed we do pronounce the final e [euh]. This isn't a regional particularity here, as we would all do it :)The only explanation I can give relates to poetry reading: In poetry, if the mute "e" at the end of a word is followed by a consonant (la belle robe), you will need to pronounce it to respect the pace of the poem.In those cases, I think a similar rule applies, to make it sound more harmonious to the French ear.Some people speaking fast could omit them, but doing so immediately sounds less elegant.I hope that's helpful!Bonne journée !

Answer

Bonjour Jennifer,
I asked a similar question a couple of years ago about the word «parle» where the speaker also pronounced the «-e» final.  I was told by my French professor at the time that this is a predominately south of France pronunciation.  It appears that native speakers who grew up in the south of France learned to pronounce the final «-e» when there were no other following letters.  
However, now my French professor, who grew up in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, teaches us that the final «-e» is silent, muet.
I will say, having traveled in several French regions, that pronunciation varies by region.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera

Answer

A belated yes, it does help me.  Thank you for your reply.

Answer

The North and South are two extreme opposites. Southerners will even add e's to words that don't contain them (for example, say cinq-e instead of cinq). The regions in between seem to vary. To add to that, it also seems to vary from speaker to speaker. Some people mush together and swallow letters and syllables to an extreme, for example.

So in short, I think you can't know because it depends on who you ask, but not saying them unless there is a liason seems to be your safest bet.