Different word pronunciations

How do you pronounce the word les in French?

The, in French translate into le (for a masculine noun – le garçon), la (for a feminine noun – la fille) and les (for plural nouns – les enfants (no matter the gender.)

I pronounce les like the word \let\ in English (but without the t). You may come across people who will pronounce it \lay\. I have seen the IPA transcription written both ways in different French dictionaries. I suspect that the pronunciation \lay\ is more common in France than it is in Québec, but I could be wrong.

Online last week, I came across in interesting thread about the pronunciation of word ending in il, like fusil (gun), baril (barrel), and persil (parsley). I never pronounced the l, but found out that people have been pronouncing it both ways (pronouncing the l and not pronouncing it). The amazing thing (to me) was both pronunciations were in used in Québec and in France.

When you suspect that people are pronouncing a particular word differently to what you know, check your dictionary, survey French speaking people around you to see which way they pronounce it and go with the majority.