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Pronouncing s at the end?

  Tags: Pronunciation | French
 Language Learning Forum : Français Post Reply
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yong321
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 Message 1 of 13
11 April 2013 at 4:17am | IP Logged 
Google translator pronounces "s" at the end of "Coedès" (a person's name):
http://translate.google.com/#fr/zh-CN/Coed%C3%A8s
as well as made-up words "oedès", "edès", but obviously not "dès". If you were to pronounce Coedès, would you pronounce the last "s"?

(Georges Coedès is a scholar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Coed%C3%A8s )
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Cabaire
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 Message 2 of 13
11 April 2013 at 6:00am | IP Logged 
It depends on the word. For example:
dès, près end in [ɛ],
ès, londrès end in [ɛs].

There are not always fixed rules for final consonants in French. My stomach says, that the pronunciation in [ɛs] is the expected one, but high frequency words like prepositions may have lost the [s].
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Iversen
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 Message 3 of 13
11 April 2013 at 10:33am | IP Logged 
The simplest rule would be to drop the s in common words (apart from the cases where you have to make a liaison), but expect that it may be used in proper names. The word "ès" ('en' + 'les' as in "docteur ès lettres") is obviously an exception - probably because it is meant to be quaint, old and precious.

Edited by Iversen on 11 April 2013 at 10:36am

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DaraghM
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 Message 4 of 13
11 April 2013 at 11:35am | IP Logged 
Cabaire wrote:
ès, londrès end in [ɛs].



What is the meaning of londrès ? I know London is londres in French, where the final s is silent.


Edited by DaraghM on 11 April 2013 at 11:36am

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Cabaire
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 Message 5 of 13
11 April 2013 at 12:26pm | IP Logged 
Londrès is a type of cigars from Cuba, a Havana.
Maybe someone can remember more usual words, which end in -ès? The capital is of course "Londres"
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Ogrim
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 Message 6 of 13
11 April 2013 at 1:21pm | IP Logged 
Unfortunately, for proper names there isn't any rule at all. In some geographical names you do pronounce the final s, e.g. Reims, Gigondas, Cornas, Le Gers. However, in Carpentras, Aubenas, Cassis, Sauternes, you do not pronounce the s.

You also have regional differences. French-speaking Belgians pronounce Anvers (Antwerp) with a final -s, but people from France normally do not. (By the way, in Belgian French the capital of Belgium is normally pronounced "brussell(e)", in France they tend to say "bruksell").

Now, if you see a name ending in -ès, it is highly likely that the s is pronounced.


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Ogrim
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 Message 7 of 13
11 April 2013 at 4:22pm | IP Logged 
Cabaire wrote:
Londrès is a type of cigars from Cuba, a Havana.
Maybe someone can remember more usual words, which end in -ès? The capital is of course "Londres"


I've been trying to find some, but ès is not a common ending in French. It appears above all in place names in Southern France, (Argelès-sur-Mer, Barcarès, Canohès, Arès) which leads me to believe that it comes from Occitan or Catalan.
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Ogrim
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 Message 8 of 13
11 April 2013 at 5:22pm | IP Logged 
yong321 wrote:
Google translator pronounces "s" at the end of "Coedès" (a person's name):
http://translate.google.com/#fr/zh-CN/Coed%C3%A8s
as well as made-up words "oedès", "edès", but obviously not "dès". If you were to pronounce Coedès, would you pronounce the last "s"?

(Georges Coedès is a scholar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Coed%C3%A8s )


And a final point: I checked the French wikipedia entry on Georges Coedès, which says:

"George Cœdès (prononcer [sedɛs])".


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