Sorting game
French letter names by their final vowel: épeler with clear families
Sort French letter names using supplied IPA: find the final vowel in each whole name, including double vé and i grec, with an oral-vowel key.
- A1
- 26 words to sort
- 7 boxes
- Tap to play
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In short
Sort by the last vowel sound in the whole letter name. In B /be/, it is /e/; in M /ɛm/, it is /ɛ/. W, double vé /dubləve/, ends with vowel /e/. Y, i grec /iɡʁɛk/, has /ɛ/ as its final vowel, even though /k/ is its final sound.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
When you spell a name, you say the names of letters rather than their usual sounds inside words. This written activity supplies a pronunciation for each letter name in IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet. Read the transcription, find its last vowel symbol and place the card in that group. The sorting result checks your reading of these supplied forms.
A vowel key for the letter names below
| IPA | Anchor in French | Letter-name example |
|---|---|---|
| /e/ | é in été | B /be/ |
| /ɛ/ | è in très | M /ɛm/ |
| /i/ | i in ici | I /i/ |
| /a/ | a in ami | A /a/ |
| /o/ | eau in beau | O /o/ |
| /y/ | u in tu | U /y/ |
| /ə/ | e in le, when pronounced | E /ə/ |
All the vowels listed here are oral. The letter name M is /ɛm/: an oral vowel followed by /m/. N is /ɛn/: an oral vowel followed by /n/. The written m and n do not make those letter-name vowels nasal. Also keep /y/, the vowel in French tu, separate from /u/, the vowel in tout. The table uses one conventional set of letter-name pronunciations for this activity.
Tap a word, then the box it belongs in.
Two names contain more than one vowel
W is written here as double vé, /dubləve/. It contains several vowel sounds, so starting with its first vowel would place it in the wrong group. Continue to the final /e/. Y is i grec, /iɡʁɛk/: begin with /i/, then continue to /ɛ/. The final vowel is /ɛ/, although the word grec finishes with a consonant.
Mon prénom commence par M : /ɛm/.
My first name begins with M: /ɛm/.
X has the name /iks/, so its last vowel is /i/ and the two following consonants are /k/ and /s/. H /aʃ/ belongs with /a/, while Q /ky/ belongs with /y/. Follow the transcription printed on the card even if you know a regional alternative letter name. For a real introduction, ask the other person to repeat a letter if the name you hear is unfamiliar.