French · Difficult words
How to pronounce fou in French
fou
Crazy
French of France · Choose 1.00× to hear the original pace.
fou is pronounced /fu/ in French. In fou: Round your lips and keep the tongue toward the back. Follow the closer /u/ or more relaxed /ʊ/ quality written in the IPA. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.
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Find the sounds in fou
The reference transcription for fou is /fu/. Read adjacent consonants together without inserting extra vowels. French prominence belongs to the spoken phrase. Do not impose a heavy English-style stress on every isolated word.
1.Back rounded vowels
In fou: Round your lips and keep the tongue toward the back. Follow the closer /u/ or more relaxed /ʊ/ quality written in the IPA.
Watch out: Avoid inserting a y sound before the vowel unless the IPA includes /j/.
Hear it in context
C'est fou, ils se marient déjà ?
That's crazy—they're getting married already?
Listen once, say it aloud, then replay at 1.00×. Keep the word connected to the surrounding sentence rather than giving every syllable equal weight.
Pronunciation and variety
fou is presented using French of France. Regional accents and connected speech can change details. The isolated word and the example let you compare the dictionary form with a short spoken context.
The English-style respelling is approximate. Use the IPA and recording together for vowel quality and consonants that do not have an exact English equivalent.
Meaning and everyday use
Questions about fou
How do you pronounce fou?
fou is pronounced /fu/ in French. In fou: Round your lips and keep the tongue toward the back. Follow the closer /u/ or more relaxed /ʊ/ quality written in the IPA. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.
What should I listen for first?
In fou: Round your lips and keep the tongue toward the back. Follow the closer /u/ or more relaxed /ʊ/ quality written in the IPA. Start at 0.75×, then return to 1.00× to hear the natural rhythm.
