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| 2.3.1.2 Open and closed oe |
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The open and the closed oe is a sound that is not known to English language. If you know German, Swedish, Finnish or Danish, you probably know the ö. However, if this does not help you, let's say for a start that the sound of the tubby e will first be just a bit prolongued, the lips formed to a small o, to get an open oe.
For a closed oe, purse your lips as if you wanted to whistle a tune. Instead of blowing air through the lips, press the tongue down form the oe.
These two sounds are represented by two graphemes o and eu.. Unfortunately they are not assigned one to one, so that both graphemes can represent both sounds.
 Open oe and |
closed oe |
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cœur (heart) |
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peu (a bit) |
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seul (alone) |
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peut (can) |
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Do not worry, when you do not hear the difference right away. It will not cause any misunderstanding when you are not able right away to pronounce it the right way. Neither does it any harm in your understanding others. However, let's try again and compare the correct and a wrong pronunciation. Maybe you will now hear the difference.
| Instead of an open oe |
a closed oe |
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right |
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cœur |
wrong |
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cœur |
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right |
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seul |
wrong |
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seul |
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| Instead of a closed oe |
an open oe |
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right |
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nœud (knot) |
wrong |
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nœud (knot) |
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right |
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peu |
wrong |
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peu |
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Even if you do not feel quite confident yet, all words will be available as a sound sample also in the following chapters. So you always have a chance to hear how the words are going to be pronounced the correct way. And, when looking into a dictionary you always have the phonetic script that guides you which one of the many sounds it is.
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