French · Difficult words
How to pronounce mère in French
mère
Mother
French of France · Choose 1.00× to hear the original pace.
mère is pronounced /mɛʁ/ in French. In mère: Use gentle friction toward the back of the mouth. Keep the tongue tip relaxed while connecting r to its neighboring vowel. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.
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Find the sounds in mère
The reference transcription for mère is /mɛʁ/. 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.The French r /ʁ/
In mère: 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.
2.The open /ɛ/ vowel
In mère: 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
J'appelle ma mère ce soir.
I'm calling my mother tonight.
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
mère 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 mère
How do you pronounce mère?
mère is pronounced /mɛʁ/ in French. In mère: Use gentle friction toward the back of the mouth. Keep the tongue tip relaxed while connecting r to its neighboring vowel. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.
What should I listen for first?
In mère: Use gentle friction toward the back of the mouth. Keep the tongue tip relaxed while connecting r to its neighboring vowel. Start at 0.75×, then return to 1.00× to hear the natural rhythm.
