The French U, finally: rue vs. roue
Round your lips, say “ee”, and stop asking for directions to the wheel.
Ask a French person for directions to la rue Victor Hugo (Victor Hugo Street) and they will understand you. Ask for la roue Victor Hugo and you are asking for Victor Hugo’s wheel. The difference is one sound, and English doesn’t have it. Let’s fix that.
Two sounds, not one
- OU sounds like the “oo” in food: roue (wheel), vous (you), tout (all), sous (under).
- U is a sound English doesn’t have: rue (street), tu (you), vu (seen), salut (hi).
Most English speakers pronounce both as “oo”. That’s why tu and tout, or dessus and dessous, end up sounding the same.
The trick: “ee” with a kiss
- Say “ee”, as in see. Notice where your tongue is: high, at the front, touching your lower teeth.
- Keep your tongue exactly there. Don’t move it.
- Now round your lips tightly, as if you were about to whistle or give a kiss.
- Keep saying “ee” through your rounded lips. That sound is the French U.
If it sounds a bit like a surprised cat, you’re doing it right. The key is the tongue: for ou it moves to the back of your mouth, for u it stays at the front.
Practise with pairs
| U | OU |
|---|---|
| rue (street) | roue (wheel) |
| tu (you) | tout (all) |
| vu (seen) | vous (you) |
| dessus (on top) | dessous (underneath) |
| bu (drunk, as in “I have drunk”) | bout (end) |
| su (known) | sous (under) |
Read each line slowly, then faster. Record yourself on your phone: you’ll hear the difference better than you feel it.
Three sentences to train
Salut, tu vas où ?
Tu as vu la rue ?
Le chat est sous la voiture, pas dessus.
A small bonus
After q, the letter u is usually silent: qui, quatre, quand are pronounced with a simple “k”. And after g, before e or i, it is only there to keep the g hard: guitare, baguette. So you only need the new sound when the u is really a vowel.
Five minutes a day for a week and your rue will stop rolling away like a roue.