Phrasebook
How to pronounce cinq: five, five o’clock and five minutes
Use cinq in appointments, quantities and number labels. Compare its final /k/ before a vowel and the two pronunciations heard in cinq minutes.
- A2
- 6 phrases
- 3 situations
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In short
Say cinq /sɛ̃k/ on its own and keep /k/ in cinq heures /sɛ̃kœʁ/. Before a consonant, as in cinq minutes, you can hear /sɛ̃k/ or /sɛ̃/. Keeping /k/ gives you a clear starting pronunciation.
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| Setting | Phrase | Sound to notice |
|---|---|---|
| On its own | Il en reste cinq. | /sɛ̃k/: nasal vowel followed by /k/. |
| Before a vowel | cinq heures | /sɛ̃kœʁ/: connect /k/ to the next vowel. |
| Before a consonant | cinq minutes | /sɛ̃k minyt/ or /sɛ̃ minyt/. |
Fix a meeting time
The h of heures is silent and allows the sounds to connect. Keep the /k/ of cinq.
Ask for a little more time
Before minutes, some speakers keep /k/ and others omit it. Both refer to the same five-minute wait.
Check how many are left
Here cinq comes at the end of the answer. Give its final /k/ a brief release.
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How do you pronounce cinq in French?
The spelling in gives the nasal vowel /ɛ̃/ here. There is no separate /n/ between the vowel and /k/. When you say cinq heures, carry the /k/ into the next vowel smoothly. It is already present when cinq stands alone; you are connecting an existing consonant.