this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
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Absolutely once you get to the age of ten your ears are tuned to the language(s) you've already learned and you'll never hear the same as a native speaker of a different language. If you weren't raised in French you cannot hear the differences between é è and ê
Eeehhh. Native speaker here. I can hear the difference, doesn't mean I can pronounce it without it feeling alien. In my southwestern accent, a distinct "ê" doesn't really exist. We tend to ignore length and/or closed vowels.
For example, "les" /le/ (pl. the) and "laid" /lɛ/ (ugly) are both pronounced [le], "fête" /fɛt/ (party) and "faîte" /fɛ:t/ (roof ridge) are both [fɛt]. Another exemple is "ô" and "o" being both merged into a very open [ɔ], "paume" (palm) and "pomme" (apple) sound exactly the same.
That's a bad example because "les" can be pronounced either as /lɛ/ or /le/.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/les#Pronunciation_7
A better distinction is between parlerai and parlerais. The first one ends in /e/ the second one in /ɛ/. It's important to distinguish them because one is the future tense (I will do something) and one is the conditional future (I would do something).
I learned French in Canada, but learned mostly from teachers speaking in a France-French accent, so I've heard both Quebec-style and French-style pronunciations.
To my ear, both French and English pronounce the month of May the same way: "may", "mai". But apparently some French speakers say /mɛ/. But, what about, "élève"? Surely you don't say the two "e" sounds in that one the same way, right?
Exactly, those are two very very different sounds to me. May is meh-ee. Mai is just meh.
Good trolling.
English speakers can absolutely hear and pronounce the difference between "é" and "è". It's the difference between "red" and "raid" or "let" and "late".
As for "ê", it doesn't have a pronunciation of its own. In "être" it's pronounced the same as "è". In "vêtu" it's pronounced the same as "é".
so è is a dipthong??
No, neither are diphthongs. I guess the two examples I chose can be pronounced as diphthongs.
"é" the "acute" accent is pronounced like day, fiancé / fiancée. English has a tendency to make those into diphthongs, especially if you're speaking slowly. But if you're speaking quickly and it's between consonants like say "mandate" you don't really hear the second vowel sound in that supposed diphthong. But, it's just the /e/ vowel sound in IPA. In any case, it's a sound that English speakers make and can hear.
"è" the "grave" accent is pronounced like pet, jet, etc. It's /ɛ/ in IPA.
You mean like British pronunciation i guess?
Nope.
Idk man im here in the midwest and day is always a dipthong (two vowels written after all) and if you do cut it off it's the same e sound as pet/jet
Two vowels written has very little to do with how something is pronounced in English:
Words with 2 adjacent vowels but no diphthong:
Words with only 1 vowel but a diphthong
If you say "day" in a very long way like in the beginning of the banana boat song you really think that it sounds like the "e" sound in "pet"? Do you really hear two different vowel sounds there? If so when does it transition to the second one?
Yes, yes, when it becomes the ee/i sound
So... never?
So apparently you pronounce may like "meh" which is some kind of UK thing but not in north america
No, I pronounce may with a "Close-mid front unrounded vowel", "meh" would be a "Open-mid front unrounded vowel"
It's a dipthong bro idk what else to tell you, like maybe a scottish accent pronounces it like that
I don't know why you keep inventing places where it doesn't happen, when in your own accent it's not a diphthong.
Okay well have a nice deh as you pronounce on your planet
Are you actually unable to hear the /e/ sound? You keep claiming it's the /ɛ/ sound. Are your ears really that broken that you can't distinguish the two?
Bro idk phonetics but let and may have the same e sound and may has a dipthong that ends in a i/y sound, and yes i understand in French there are three different e sounds that i as an American English speaker cannot discern.
Not according to any dictionary I've ever seen.
Let uses /ɛ/ and rhymes with pet, wet, sweat, duet, etc.
May uses /e/, and the California pronunciation is /me̞ː/ it's not a diphthong, just a long vowel sound
Sure you can. Unless you think that the two vowels in "entrain" or "explain" or "enchain" have the same sound, you're aware of both the /ɛ/ and /e/ sounds, and you know they're different. If you can hear the difference between the two vowels in "obtain" then you can hear the difference between /ə/ and /e/.
Yes schwa i can hear, entrain explain and enchain all rhyme perfectly and they all have ai as a dipthong
Neither of those is schwa. I can only assume you're trolling.