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French Language Lessons: How to Pronounce France Place Names

David Ronis

France is organized administratively into régions, départements, arrondisements, cantons, and communes. (Notes: the term arrondisement, in this context, refers to a subdivision of a département, and not a neighborhood in Paris. Also, each of these French terms has either an English cognate -- e.g. "region" -- or an anglicized pronunciation - "canton".) This system can be challenging for North American travelers to understand as the political and geographic organization of France is different than ours. Generally, travelers are most aware of régions (such as Alsace), départements (like Seine-et-Marne), and communes - which are roughly equivalent to cities and incorporated towns in the U.S. Pauline's Regions of France page contains descriptions of these divisions as well as excellent detailed maps. In addition, the Subdivisions of France pages on Wikipedia provide more detailed information for those interested.

Names of French places can be tricky to pronounce, often seeming to defy all rules. Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that many place names are derived from older versions of the language incorporating regional dialects, local spelling and pronunciation, and to which modern rules do not apply. Often, if you would like to know how to pronounce a place name, it's best to either consult a native speaker or a pronouncing dictionary. In an effort to assist travelers, this lesson provides a pronunciation guide for the names of all the régions and départements in France as well as selected cities.

Listen

You can listen to the lessons. The audio versions are at the bottom of each section.

Notes on Pronunciation

French words tend to be accented lightly on the last syllable or the last syllable of a group of words. In rare instances for emphasis or where this is not the case, an accented syllable will be indicated by ALL CAPS. Liaisons are indicated by red, italicized initial consonants (e.g. "Puis-je vous aider?" pronounced as "pwee-zhuh voo zeh-day"). See Guide to Transliteration for more information.

Régions

The largest administrative subdivisions in France are régions, comparable in size to states in the U.S. or provinces in Canada, proportionate to the entire country.

* What we're calling the third syllables of Auvergne, Bourgogne, Bretagne and Champagne are not really proper syllables and should be pronounced very lightly.

** Third syllable rhymes with "hat".

Listen

You can hear this part of this lesson being spoken.

Download MP3 soundtrack: fr_places_regions.mp3 (108kb)
Click on the link to play the sound file (it may take a minute to download). Right click to download the file to save on your computer.

Départements

Départements are subdivisions of régions. Unlike régions, départements do have elected officials. Also the national government appoints a representative to each departement, a préfet. In addition to their names, départments are given a two digit numerical code, which is incorporated into the postal code.

* Rhymes with "hat"

** What we're calling the third syllable of Dordogne is not really a proper syllable and should be pronounced very lightly.

*** the final "s" is sometimes pronounced

Listen

You can hear this part of this lesson being spoken.

Download MP3 soundtrack: fr_places_departments.mp3 (538kb)
Click on the link to play the sound file (it may take a minute to download). Right click to download the file to save on your computer.

France Cities and Towns

Unfortunately it's impossible to include a pronunciation guide for every town and city in France here. The following selection is a list of some the most popular tourist destinations. Some of them are also names of other administrative areas.

If there is a name of a town not included in this list that you would like to know how to pronounce, post your question on the French French Language Forum on the Slow Travel Message Board.

* Try to pronounce in one syllable. If that's too difficult, "shahr-truh" is acceptable.

** Rhymes with "hat".

*** The second syllable basically duplicates the diphthong in the English word, "sigh."

Listen

You can hear this part of this lesson being spoken.

Download MP3 soundtrack: fr_places_towns.mp3 (763kb)
Click on the link to play the sound file (it may take a minute to download). Right click to download the file to save on your computer.

Swiss & Belgian Cities

We are also including a pronunciation guide for names of some Swiss and Belgian cities as well as other countries where French is spoken.

Listen

You can hear this part of this lesson being spoken.

Download MP3 soundtrack: fr_places_swiss_belg.mp3 (88kb)
Click on the link to play the sound file (it may take a minute to download). Right click to download the file to save on your computer.

Other Francophone Countries

Listen

You can hear this part of this lesson being spoken.

Download MP3 soundtrack: fr_places_other.mp3 (76kb)
Click on the link to play the sound file (it may take a minute to download). Right click to download the file to save on your computer.

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