Pronunciation of 'marcher'

Question

Hi could you please explain the pronunciation of Marcher

1. The 'e' at the end of Matcher is clearly pronounced. I had understood that the final e of a word was not pronounced ... could you please clarify.

2. It sounds as if the 'ch' in marcher is pronounced exactly as an English 'ch' though I'd understood that a French 'h' is not pronounced. If the 'h' is not pronounced then 'c' should, according to the pronunciation rules, be pronounced as [s] or [k] depending on circumstances ... but this is not so.

Please advise Thank you

Answer

1. Often the final letter or letters are not pronounced in multi-syllable words in French. So, sure it's pronounced in "je" but not in "marche." However, your example is "marcher." And "-er" and "é" ("e" with an accent aigue) is always (or perhaps almost always???) pronounced something close to the English "ay." (Make sure it's the pure vowel, not a dipthong.)

So marcher and marché have the same pronunciation.

2. For your second question, "ch" is French is pronounced like the English "sh."

Also neither "ch" or "sh" has an "h" sound in it. You need to make sure differentiate what you mean by "letters" and "sounds."

There is no "h" sound (like exhaling air "hhhhhhh") in "ch" in English or French. The "ch" in English is not the sound [s] or [k] and "hhh"; just like the English "th" is not a "t" sound followed by an "h" sound.

Because the letter is there, it doesn't mean you make the sound. For example, unlike the consonant blend SPELLINGS of "cr," "bl," "pr," etc. in both languages, "ch," "sh" and "th" in English SPELLING are not those pronounced by saying the two consonant sounds.

For example, "sh" is one SOUND--note "action," "ocean" and "passion" all have the "sh" sound and are all pronounced by saying a vowel followed by "shun." The spelling is misleading.

So "ch" in "marcher" is phonetically five sounds "m" plus "a" plus "r" plus "shhh" plus "ay."

Hope that helps.