The French language’s rhythm

Last week I showed you how to separate French words into syllables.  This week we will see how syllables are used to mark rhythm in French.

In French we pronounce each syllable with the same weight, or length if you prefer, except for the last one, which is slightly longer, but only a tiny bit longer.  Which last syllable, I hear you thinking? That would be the last syllable of a word pronounced on its own or the last syllable of a group of words representing a single thought/idea. For example:

le chapeau	le cha-peau
le chapeau noir	le cha-peau noir
Le chapeau noir est beau.	Le cha-peau noir / est beau.

On its own, le chapeau (the hat), has its last syllable peau pronounced slightly longer.

Le chapeau noir (the black hat) is a complete idea; le and noir do belong with chapeau, so noir is the last syllable in the group and is pronounced a bit longer.

In the final example, a new group is introduced: est beau (is nice).  This is the group relating to the verb (the action word); the word is on its own dangles, the reader/listener thinks is what? (Is nice, in this case.)  In this group the last syllable beau is pronounced slightly longer.

Granted, these examples are simple, but simple is always a good starting point.

Can you begin to see (or hear) how some people say that French sounds musical?  It is because of all these slightly longer syllables here and there in an otherwise steady stream of sounds!