Pronunciation

My better half has just told me that the “f” in oeufs is silent - doesn’t seem right to me. It’s pronounced in the singular, but not plural. Similarly, boeuf.

Can anyone advise?

She is right Mark, as we say in french, l’expression fait la règle !

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Do you mean l’exception fait la règle or is there something subtle happening which is way above my rubbish French?

Thanks Babeth, so “oeufs” is pronounced something like “eux”?

Learn something new every day, and then immediately forget it :frowning:

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Yes Paul, l’exception, not l’expression of course. Maybe time for me to go to bed :sleeping:

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I think there is only those two words that finish with o-e-u-f

That’s quite un œuf about French pronunciation, je vous en pris, it’s giving me œufs headache :confounded::wink:

Geddit?

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Un neuf deuzeu

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Un œuf is enough :grin:

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Mark tar raisin, tay oh currant old (dried) fruit! :grapes: :scream::no_mouth::grin:

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This intrigued me , at lunch today with my children and their partners it came up for discussion

In French it’s un œuf and you prononce the F

Then in pluriel des œufs you do not prononce the F

This has been bothering me lol lol :joy:

Sadly, José is no more… but for many years I would often jump when his wife called him in from the garden…
es-te-là !!

I would call out an answer and peer over the wall… and all three of us would chuckle…at my folly…

Having finally learnt to tune-out… I am now in trouble for not answering… when she bellows…

Stella… ( pronounced… eh, Stella…)

:relaxed::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::roll_eyes:

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In the new film Murder on the Orient Express which Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in as Poirot last year he has a whole scene about his breakfast eggs. He pronounces the f in the plural throughout. We were very surprised that nobody picked up on this error post production.

Ah yes, but Poirot is not French… he comes from Belgium and they “do” things a little differently there… :wink:

Like saying nonante instead of quatre-vingt-dix (90) !

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What sensible people :slight_smile:

I believe the Swiss use septante, huitante and nonante as well.

Quite why the French ran out of ideas after 60 I don’t know but I still can’t get used to it.

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There was nearly a civil war at the dining table, when I merely asked the question… Which is correct pronunciation… … chabroh or chabrolle

The Parisiens opted for saying chabroh… and the rest backed chabrolle

What chance do I have to get things correct, when even my friends argue the toss…

I always have to think twice with numbers… especially if taking a message over the phone… nonante would be so much easier for me… aaaarrgh

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One of my small faux-pas in the village1 was to give totally the wrong change (with rather more confusion ensuing than necessary) in the local shop (now closed sadly).

I heard “trois quatre-vignt” and offered 3,80€

It should have been “trois,… quatre vignt”, i.e three was still adding up and 4,20€ the final amount.

1] I make lots of much larger faux-pas as well :slight_smile:

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