French · Difficult words

How to pronounce grand-père in French

grand-père

Grandfather

grah-pehr/ɡʁɑ̃.pɛʁ/

French of France · Choose 1.00× to hear the original pace.

grand-père is pronounced /ɡʁɑ̃.pɛʁ/ in French. In grand-père: Let some air pass through the nose while keeping the vowel continuous. The tilde /̃/ marks nasalization. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.

Practice French out loud

Speak with an AI partner · 7 days free

Find the sounds in grand-père

Read grand-père in these IPA segments: ɡʁɑ̃ · pɛʁ. Dots and stress marks identify the boundaries shown in the reference; these symbols are not English spelling. French prominence belongs to the spoken phrase. Do not impose a heavy English-style stress on every isolated word.

  1. 1.Nasal vowels

    In grand-père: Let some air pass through the nose while keeping the vowel continuous. The tilde /̃/ marks nasalization.

    Watch out: Do not automatically add a separate n or m after the nasal vowel.

  2. 2.The French r /ʁ/

    In grand-père: Use gentle friction toward the back of the mouth. Keep the tongue tip relaxed while connecting r to its neighboring vowel.

    Watch out: Avoid a strong English curled r or adding a vowel before the consonant.

  3. 3.The open /ɛ/ vowel

    In grand-père: Keep the vowel open, like the vowel in many pronunciations of English “bed”, without a final glide.

    Watch out: Avoid turning this vowel into English “ay”.

Hear it in context

Mon grand-père raconte toujours les mêmes histoires.

My grandfather always tells the same stories.

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

grand-père 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 grand-père

How do you pronounce grand-père?

grand-père is pronounced /ɡʁɑ̃.pɛʁ/ in French. In grand-père: Let some air pass through the nose while keeping the vowel continuous. The tilde /̃/ marks nasalization. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.

What should I listen for first?

In grand-père: Let some air pass through the nose while keeping the vowel continuous. The tilde /̃/ marks nasalization. Start at 0.75×, then return to 1.00× to hear the natural rhythm.

Ready to say it out loud?

ChatPal is a voice-first app for practicing real conversations in French. Try real scenarios and get personalized feedback on your speaking.

Start with 7 days free.