Usually “ne plus” in the negative for “no more, no longer” is pronounced without the s sound. But in this exercise “je n’aimais plus les vêtements que j’avais”, the s in plus is clearly pronounced. I cannot find the reason for this exception in any lessons - hoping it is just an error in the sound file? Also I can’t hear the “eu” in “j’ai eu envie” in the first sentence. Is this little word generally silent or omitted in oral, like “ne”, or is it just my ears?
Pronunciation of plus
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Bonjour Paul !
Thanks again for letting us know :)
Thanks to you, the audio files have been fixed : the "s" of "plus" needed to be silent indeed.
But regarding the "j'ai eu envie", I personally hear the "eu" as it should be pronounced, though I agree it can feel slight to untrained ears, but that is the way you would pronounce it in French :)
Please have another listen, thinking [é-U] as one sound, and I'm sure you'll hear it ;)
Merci et bonne journée !
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Hi Paul,
I would also expect the "s" in plus to be silent, though I haven't listen to the sound file myself.
As to your second question: the past participle of avoir, eu, is not generally silent or omitted, not even in spoken everyday language.
CécileKwiziq team member
Hi Paul,
Having listened to the two errors you point out, I agree with you and will get them corrected.
Thanks for pointing them out...
Paul Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Merci Cécile et Aurélie. I appreciate your answers and the correction. But as regards the [é-U] sound that Aurélie can hear - no matter how many times (lots) and how closely I listen (very), I can still only get [é] as in j'ai envie and can't detect any sign at all of the "eu" that is apparently there. I agree with you that my ear for French is definitely "untrained" though and I fear will always remain so, despite my best efforts - sad face emoji.
CécileKwiziq team member
Hi Paul and Drew,
We have altered the recording a little to make a slight gap between 'j'ai' and 'eu'.
I hope that you can hear the distinction better and that this helps!
Paul asked:View original
Pronunciation of plus
Usually “ne plus” in the negative for “no more, no longer” is pronounced without the s sound. But in this exercise “je n’aimais plus les vêtements que j’avais”, the s in plus is clearly pronounced. I cannot find the reason for this exception in any lessons - hoping it is just an error in the sound file? Also I can’t hear the “eu” in “j’ai eu envie” in the first sentence. Is this little word generally silent or omitted in oral, like “ne”, or is it just my ears?
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