Le Français, Reconstruit — French, Rebuilt
L'alphabet — Naming Letters, Spelling Names
One tap, one voice: every ▶ button — and every French sentence or dotted-underlined word — plays a clear recorded French voice built into this file: fully offline, works on Mac and iPhone. ▶ read hears a word instantly; ▶ PLAY reads a whole dialogue, text, or the alphabet in sequence. Eudic ↗ links (new tab) keep Eudic’s official human recordings as backup. For a PDF with clickable links: Safari → File → Export as PDF (or Chrome → Print → Save as PDF). Sound cannot travel into a PDF — for offline listening, keep this HTML file.
This is Lesson One, so instead of review questions, a quick diagnostic — let's see what still stands from your three years at university. Answer aloud, no writing.
How to say it — mouth & rhythm
French letter names are short and flat: no diphthongs, no trailing vowels. Where English says "bee" for B (with a little glide), French says [be] — one crisp beat. Run the alphabet as a chant, not as a list: rhythm carries memory. English speakers tend to "sing" letter names; keep each one clipped, like closing a small door.
▶ TAP ▶ FOR THE INSTANT VOICE — or open the Eudic rules page (new tab) for official human recordings; tap a letter, echo it back: https://dict.eudic.net/Content/help/dict/fr_pronunciation_rules.html
| Letter | French name | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | [a] |
| B | bé | [be] |
| C | cé | [se] |
| D | dé | [de] |
| E | e | [ə] |
| F | effe | [ɛf] |
| G | gé | [ʒe] |
| H | hache | [aʃ] |
| I | i | [i] |
| J | ji | [ʒi] |
| K | ka | [ka] |
| L | elle | [ɛl] |
| M | emme | [ɛm] |
| Letter | French name | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| N | enne | [ɛn] |
| O | o | [o] |
| P | pé | [pe] |
| Q | ku | [ky] |
| R | erre | [ɛʁ] |
| S | esse | [ɛs] |
| T | té | [te] |
| U | u | [y] |
| V | vé | [ve] |
| W | double vé | [dubləve] |
| X | ixe | [iks] |
| Y | i grec | [iɡʁɛk] |
| Z | zède | [zɛd] |
| Danger letter | What it tells you | Examples to feel |
|---|---|---|
| G [ʒe] | Sounds like English "J" — the swap trap | gare [ɡaʁ] — the train station |
| J [ʒi] | Sounds like English "G" as in "gee" | jour [ʒuʁ] — the day |
| E [ə] | The lazy schwa of "about" — never "ee" | le [lə] — the ("the" for masculine words) |
| H [aʃ] | Named loudly, but silent in most words | hiver [ivɛʁ] — winter |
| W [dubləve] | "Double V" — the letter was drawn as two V's, and it stayed rare | wagon [vaɡɔ̃] — the train car, carriage |
| Y [iɡʁɛk] | "Greek i" — it arrived late, through Greek loanwords | style [stil] — style |
Trap — where English habits bite
The famous G/J inversion: gé and ji. When you spell your name over the phone, G will come out as J and a hotel clerk will write the wrong name. Train the pair as a reflex: gé — ji — gé — ji, faster each time — the official recordings on the rules page above will keep you honest. And remember: the letter E is called [ə], the "uh" of about — many learners say "ee" out of panic. Slow is fine; wrong is not.
▶ ÉCOUTER & RÉPÉTER — how to listen today
| Listen | Link | How |
|---|---|---|
| MAIN | https://www.bilibili.com/video/av1131749887870086/ | Watch once through — let the letter names settle into your ear before you repeat anything. |
| SHADOW | https://www.bilibili.com/video/av113135369835908/?t=57 | The alphabet starts at 00:57 — speak over the voice, matching its rhythm exactly. |
| TAP | https://dict.eudic.net/Content/help/dict/fr_pronunciation_rules.html | Tap open the rules page — today just read the letters section, no more. |
Bonjour ! Bienvenue au musée d'Orsay. Votre nom, s'il vous plaît ?
Hello! Welcome to the Musée d'Orsay. Your name, please?
Je m'appelle Bai. Ça s'écrit B — A — I, trois lettres.
My name is Bai. It's spelled B — A — I, three letters.
Merci, monsieur Bai. Voici votre billet.
Thank you, Mr Bai. Here is your ticket.
Merci ! Le musée est grand et calme. Où sont les tableaux de Monet ?
Thank you! The museum is big and quiet. Where are the paintings by Monet?
Au deuxième étage. Monet est un artiste très célèbre en France.
On the second floor. Monet is a very famous artist in France.
Merci beaucoup, madame !
Thank you very much, madam!
Petite chasse — little detective task
Spell Monet and France aloud, using French letter names only. Which letter of France is called emme?
Tap ▶ read to hear the word instantly — click the word itself for Eudic's official human recording (new tab).
| Mot | Listen | English |
|---|---|---|
| le musée | the museum | |
| la dame | the lady | |
| le nom | the name | |
| écrire | to write (ça s'écrit = it is spelled) | |
| la lettre | the letter |
| Mot | Listen | English |
|---|---|---|
| le billet | the ticket | |
| grand | big, tall | |
| calme | calm, quiet | |
| le tableau | the painting | |
| l'artiste | the artist |
Culture note — Le musée d'Orsay
Before it held masterpieces, the Musée d'Orsay was a railway station — the Gare d'Orsay, built for the 1900 World's Fair. Saved from demolition and reborn as a museum in 1986, it now keeps the world's greatest collection of Impressionist painting on its top floor, under a giant glass clock. Monet — the artist in today's dialogue — is one of its hosts.
A tiny story built only from this lesson's ten words. Tap any sentence to hear it; the whole text reads itself line by line below.
« Une lettre pour Claude »
Au musée, je regarde un tableau de Claude Monet.
L'artiste est très célèbre en France.
Une dame écrit une lettre : « Bravo ! »
Sur mon billet, j'écris mon nom.
Le musée est grand et calme.
C'est l'art.
Why this little text
Ten words, one painter, one museum — a whole scene you can already read on Day 001. The dialogue taught you to speak these words; this récit teaches you to read them. When your words come back to you in a story, they stop being vocabulary and start being French.
COPY PROPRE — clean re-read
Au musée, je regarde un tableau de Claude Monet. L'artiste est très célèbre en France. Une dame écrit une lettre : « Bravo ! » Sur mon billet, j'écris mon nom. Le musée est grand et calme. C'est l'art.
The infinitive — the verb, folded
s'appeler [sapəle] — a 1st-group verb (-er), and a pronominal one: s' (= se, "oneself") + appeler ("to call"). Read literally: to call oneself. So je m'appelle is really "I call myself" — French states your name as a small act you perform on yourself. The infinitive is the form you will always find in a dictionary; conjugation is that same machine unfolded, one form per person.
▶ OFFICIAL RECORDINGS — the verb & its full conjugation machine (all tenses): https://dict.eudic.net/dicts/fr/appeler — tap the speaker icon on the entry to hear it, then the conjugation link at the top of the page.
| Person | Present — s'appeler | IPA | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | je m'appelle | [ʒə mapɛl] | my name is (I call myself) |
| tu | tu t'appelles | [ty tapɛl] | your name is |
| il / elle / on | il s'appelle | [il sapɛl] | his / her name is |
| nous | nous nous appelons | [nu nuzaplɔ̃] | our names are |
| vous | vous vous appelez | [vu vuzaple] | your name is (formal / plural) |
| ils / elles | ils s'appellent | [il sapɛl] | their names are |
How the French use it — in the wild
Give your own name: Je m'appelle Bai. — the little m' is glued to the verb and must match the subject: it is the "myself" half of the machine.
Ask for a name: Comment tu t'appelles ? (casual, with a friend) · Comment vous appelez-vous ? (formal — notice the hyphen: the subject vous flips over to sit after the verb, like a question mark made of word order).
Ask politely (vous): Comment vous appelez-vous ? — why two vous? The first is the mirror ("yourself"), the second is the subject ("you"). The elegant question swings the subject behind the verb — vous appelez → appelez-vous — while the mirror stays glued in front of it: Comment · vous (yourself) · appelez-vous (call-you) ? That is why French never says ✗ comment vous vous appelez: after a fronted question word you must either invert, add est-ce que, or leave comment at the end. Three registers, one meaning: Vous vous appelez comment ? (spoken) · Comment est-ce que vous vous appelez ? (neutral) · Comment vous appelez-vous ? (elegant).
Say it negatively: Je ne m'appelle pas Claude. — the pronoun m' stands right before the verb, wrapped inside the ne…pas sandwich.
The pronoun mirror: me · te · se · nous · vous · se — each person carries its own reflection of "self". Drop the mirror and the sentence collapses: ✗ j'appelle Bai would mean "I call Bai", as if summoning a friend across a room.
Worth noticing
Look at the double L: je m'appelle and ils s'appellent double it; vous applez keeps it single. Two spellings — but your ear hears one family: [apɛl] beside [aple]. Spelling lies; the ear is honest. This will be a running theme of the next 156 lessons.
1. « Comment ça s'écrit, s'il vous plaît ? » — the question you will use a thousand times in France.
AUDIO OF THE DAY — once this morning, once tonight: open each word (new tab), tap the speaker on the entry, then say it along with the voice:
musée — Eudic ↗
lettre — Eudic ↗
Le modèle · the model — read it first
« Je m'appelle Bai. Ça s'écrit B — A — I. »
Play it, read it aloud twice — then hide it with your hand and write your own below, on a fresh line, like real homework.
Exercice A · à vous — your own name, open answer
Je m'appelle .
Ça s'écrit .
No correction here — your name is your name. But say it out loud, letter by letter, as you type it.
Exercice B · s'appeler — complete the six forms, then check your spelling
| Person | Complete | Check | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | je m' | ||
| tu | tu t' | ||
| il / elle | il s' | ||
| nous | nous nous | ||
| vous | vous vous | ||
| ils / elles | ils s' |
Some forms double the L, some keep it single. Read the table in section 05 once, then fill everything from memory. Press Enter to check — the ? column is only for when you are truly stuck.
Exercice C · écoutez — tap ▶, hear a letter, write its French name (accents count)
| Sound | Write the letter's name | Check | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
Two of the four are the swap traps. Accents count — no accent, no point. Listen again rather than guess; the ? column is a last resort.
Day 002 — the first vowel: [i], tight and bright. One sound, four spellings: i · î · ï · y. You will meet an island in the middle of Paris.
Révision éclair. 1. W = double vé [dubləve]. 2. G = gé [ʒe] (sounds like English "J"); J = ji [ʒi] (sounds like English "G") — the great inversion. 3. False — H is named loudly (hache) but stays silent in hiver [ivɛʁ].
Petite chasse. Monet = emme–o–enne–e–té. France = effe–erre–a–cé–e. The letter called emme in France is the N.