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French conditional spelling and sound: -ions and -iez in advice

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Read IPA for six nous and vous conditional forms, including pourrions and voudriez. Follow glide and vowel notes through ten written checks, with no audio test.

In short

In these conditional forms, -ions ends in /jɔ̃/ and -iez in /je/. Read pourrions /pu.ʁjɔ̃/ and pourriez /pu.ʁje/. The full reference forms voudrions /vu.dʁi.jɔ̃/ and devrions /də.vʁi.jɔ̃/ also show an /i/ before the glide. The table and quiz are written pronunciation study.

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Two people talk at a table with an open blank notebook between them.
Use the written reference forms to practise paired advice sentences aloud. Illustration: Atelier

The IPA below gives full dictionary-style verb forms, with the subject pronoun written separately before each one. Dots mark syllable boundaries within the verb. This exercise checks reading the notation and relating it to the spelling; it does not play or assess a recording.

Full reference forms for slow practice
FrenchIPA with subjectWhat to notice
nous pourrions/nu pu.ʁjɔ̃//ʁj/ leads into nasal /ɔ̃/.
vous pourriez/vu pu.ʁje//ʁj/ leads into oral /e/.
nous voudrions/nu vu.dʁi.jɔ̃/The full cited verb has /i.j/ after /dʁ/.
vous voudriez/vu vu.dʁi.je/The full cited verb keeps /i.j/ before /e/.
nous devrions/nu də.vʁi.jɔ̃/The full cited verb has /i.j/ after /vʁ/.
vous devriez/vu də.vʁi.je/The full cited verb keeps /i.j/ before /e/.

/j/ is a glide, not the French letter j sound

For /j/, move the tongue towards the high front position associated with /i/, then pass into the following vowel. It is the glide heard in an English word such as yes, rather than the /ʒ/ represented by French j in jour. In /jɔ̃/, the following vowel is nasal; in /je/, it is oral.

Read the actual full form rather than erasing a vowel

Pourrions places /ʁ/ directly before /j/ in the cited notation. Voudrions and devrions show /dʁi.j/ and /vʁi.j/ respectively. The /i/ therefore has a syllabic place before the glide in these full reference forms. Start from that written sequence rather than assuming every consonant cluster is followed by the glide in exactly the same way.

Move from /i/ towards the final vowel

In /i.jɔ̃/, the tongue begins high and forward for /i/, makes a short glide and moves into the rounded nasal vowel /ɔ̃/. In /i.je/, the final /e/ stays oral and unrounded. The tilde belongs to the vowel symbol /ɔ̃/; it does not mean adding a separate pronounced n after it.

  1. Question 1No account needed
    Which final sequence matches -ions in the supplied forms?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    /jɔ̃/. The nous forms end in /jɔ̃/ in the given notation.

  2. Question 2No account needed
    Which final sequence matches -iez here?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    /je/. The supplied vous forms end in /je/: a glide followed by the oral vowel /e/.

  3. Question 3No account needed
    Which is the cited verb form pourrions?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    /pu.ʁjɔ̃/. The table gives /pu.ʁjɔ̃/, with /ʁ/ directly before the glide and a final nasal vowel.

  4. Question 4No account needed
    Which full reference form is given for voudrions?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    /vu.dʁi.jɔ̃/. The researched full form includes /i.j/ after /dʁ/.

  5. Question 5No account needed
    Which full reference form is given for devrions?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    /də.vʁi.jɔ̃/. The cited full form /də.vʁi.jɔ̃/ includes a syllabic /i/ before the glide.

  6. Question 6No account needed
    Which sound does /j/ represent in this notation?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    A high-front glide towards the following vowel. /j/ is the glide, not French /ʒ/.

  7. Question 7No account needed
    What does the tilde in /jɔ̃/ mark?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Nasalisation of the vowel. The tilde marks the nasal vowel /ɔ̃/; it does not add a separate consonant /n/.

  8. Question 8No account needed
    How many syllables does the cited verb voudriez /vu.dʁi.je/ contain?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Three. The full verb is divided into vu, dʁi and je.

  9. Question 9No account needed
    Which subject-and-verb notation matches nous pourrions?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    /nu pu.ʁjɔ̃/. The subject is /nu/ and the verb is /pu.ʁjɔ̃/.

  10. Question 10No account needed
    Does the spelling -ions alone prove that a verb is conditional?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    No; the stem and sentence context also matter.. The ending also occurs in other grammatical forms; the whole verb and context identify the conditional.

For slow practice, pair a nous sentence with a vous sentence: Nous pourrions comparer les horaires ; vous pourriez demander les dates. Keep the study notation as a reference and connect the form to a useful suggestion rather than judging a voice from text alone.

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