French Liaison: When Words Hold Hands (and When They Must Not)

Written French buries consonants at the ends of words; spoken French quietly resurrects them. Say vous avez and a z appears from nowhere: voo-z-avay. That resurrection is la liaison — and it’s not decoration. Some liaisons are mandatory, some are forbidden, and getting them wrong is instantly audible.

Liaisons you must make

Notice the sound changes: s and x liaise as z, d as t, f as v in neuf heures (neu-veur).

Liaisons that are forbidden

• After et: un chat et // un chien — never “é-t-un”.
• Before an aspirated h: les // héros, en // haut. (Say “lé-z-héros” and you’ve said “the zeros”.)
• After a singular noun: un étudiant // intelligent.
• After quand as a question word: Quand // est-il parti ?

The h that decides everything

French has two silent h’s. The mute h behaves like a vowel and welcomes liaison: les hommes (lé-z-omme). The aspirated h is a force field: les // haricots, les // héros. Nothing marks the difference in spelling — dictionaries flag aspirated h with an asterisk, and the wrong guess changes meaning.

Optional liaisons: the formality dial

After être, after adverbs, between verb and complement — liaison becomes a register choice. A newsreader says « je suis‿allé » ; friends at a café say « je suis // allé ». More liaison = more formal. Start by nailing the mandatory ones; add optional ones when you want to dress up.

FAQ

Why do the French say “z-yeux” for eyes?

Les yeux = lé-zyeu, liaison from les. Kids even say “un zyeu” by mistake — the liaison is THAT welded to the word.

Is liaison the same as enchaînement?

Cousins. Liaison revives a silent consonant (vous‿avez); enchaînement just re-syllabifies one that was already pronounced: elle est → è-lè.

How do I know if an h is aspirated?

You memorize the common ones — we keep the complete h aspiré word list with audio. Related: silent letters explains which finals sleep in the first place.

Liaison is why French sounds like one long ribbon of sound. Pair it with French accent marks and you’ve covered the two pillars of reading French aloud.

Quick practice