when to make a liason between words spoken

Michael H.A0Kwiziq community member

when to make a liason between words spoken

Hi there, can anyone suggest a rule that works for making a liason between words pronounced...? Not as simple as before a vowel as I have found in the above examples:

"Nous sommes allées..." (liason pronounced between sommes-allées...)

"Pauline a dit Je suis allée en France..." (no liason pronounced between suis-allée...)

"Ils etaient meilleurs amis..." (liason pronounced between meilleurs-amis...)

Grateful for any tips on a rule that works...

Michael 


Asked 3 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Michael, 

First just to say that there are three types of liaisons in French -

Mandatory liaisons: liaisons every French person will pronounce

Forbidden liaisons: these are liaisons which would never be said by a French native (but might be tempting)

Optional liaisons: some liaisons depend on social background, age, mood, and tradition. In this section ‘over liaising’ can sound precious.

Your first two examples - come under 'optional' as you will hear both in France 

Your third example has two liaisons which are mandatory

Ils (z) étaient ( because otherwise, you would hear the singular 'il était')

In fact, after the personal pronouns nous, vous, ils, and elles,  you will liaise the last -s with a following verb starting with a vowel or an h- mute.

i.e.

 elles (z) ont, vous (z) avez, ils (z) habitent  etc...

In the case of meilleurs amis, again you would make it to mark the plural.

Here is a sentence that has many liaisons -

Les artistes sont arrivés chez eux en avance -----> Les (z) artistes sont (t) arrivés chez (z) eux en (n) avance ( The artists arrived home early

All are mandatory apart from sont arrivés which can be pronounced -

sont// arrivés or sont (t) arrivés

This is a vast and complicated subject that involves lots of different cases and is in the pipeline but hope this helps!

 

Michael H.A0Kwiziq community member

Thanks so much for taking the time to give that explanation Céline! I totally get the mandatory liasons...since they sound pretty straightforward to understand, and will now work to include them. However, is interesting to know that others can be a bit discretionary! ...at least that stops me hunting for a rule that doesn't exist! Thanks again, Michael   

when to make a liason between words spoken

Hi there, can anyone suggest a rule that works for making a liason between words pronounced...? Not as simple as before a vowel as I have found in the above examples:

"Nous sommes allées..." (liason pronounced between sommes-allées...)

"Pauline a dit Je suis allée en France..." (no liason pronounced between suis-allée...)

"Ils etaient meilleurs amis..." (liason pronounced between meilleurs-amis...)

Grateful for any tips on a rule that works...

Michael 


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