How to Learn French - gee whizz!

I feel as though I’m developing a bit of a rhythm here with the French letters C and G. Make sure you’re sitting down before reading this next sentence:

It’s starting to make logical sense!

Let me explain.

Recently, we’ve been learning about how the sound of the letter C changes according to which vowel follows it. In cases where a forced change is required, the French use the c cédille (ç).

To summarise:

HARD C SOUNDS
after a, o and u

café
collège
cumin

SOFT C SOUNDS
after e, i and y

cent
merci
cymbales

FORCED SOFT C SOUNDS
use c cédille

ça va
garçon
reçu

After investigating the letter G, it seems there’s a pattern emerging.

HARD G SOUNDS
before a, o, and u

garage
golf
aigu (acute)

See the similarity? Hard C sounds are produced when followed by the same vowels.

SOFT G SOUNDS
before e, i and y

mange
gîte
gynécologue (think you can guess…)

Again, a soft C sound is produced when followed by the same vowels. Intéressant, non*?

Like the verb commencer, which uses a c cédille to soften the pronunciation of certain conjugations (compare je commence and nous commençons, for example), the verb manger also makes a small change in the spelling for the sake of the desired sound. This, by the way, is why these verbs are often called ‘spelling change verbs’. The name says it all and now hopefully you understand why. I don’t know about you, but once I know the “why” I find what I learn is much more likely to stick.

Take a look:

MANGER - to eat
present tense

je mange
tu manges
il/elle/on mange
nous mangeons
vous mangez
ils/elles mangent

Remember, the endings for regular -er verbs are e, es, e, ons, ez and ent, not ‘eons’.

UN PETIT PLUS*

Lastly, and very interestingly, on the subject of hard Gs, you’ll find many words that start with GU have another vowel directly after them. In fact, I’m unable to find a French word (not a loan word) that has a hard G sound where the GU start of the word is followed by a consonant. Here are a couple of examples:

guerre
guide
Guy*

(Note: the Y here is acting as a vowel, not a consonant).

Since French was a spoken language long before it was ever written down, and the words for “war” and “guide” already possessed hard G sounds, a sneaky little U was inserted between the G and the following vowel to preserve the hard sound when those words were transcribed. Clever, don’t you think? It’s as though the U is protecting the G and the other vowel (whether an E, an I or a Y) from getting too close and “ruining” the sound by softening it. Am I the only person to find that absolutely fascinating?

If so, I’ll just let that last sentence hang there and you can judge away. I stand by my feelings!

Interesting, isn’t it? Something extra