Minimal pair · French (France)
French /s/ vs /z//s/ / /z/
Learn to hear the difference between s and z in French words.
Practice these sounds/s/
An unvoiced hiss
Listen for the narrow, hissing sound in the target consonant.
As inpoisson
/z/
A voiced buzz
Compare the voiced buzzing sound with the hiss in the other category.
As inpoison
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
A small change.
A different word.
Poisson/poison and coussin/cousin put the contrast between vowels. Basse/base puts it at the end of a shorter word.
Listen for the target sound in each word.
A common trap
Spelling can explain these examples afterward. In audio-only practice, compare the target consonant across A, B and a different word X before revealing the words.
Sound examples
Tap to hear each wordpoisson
/pwasɔ̃/fishcoussin
/kusɛ̃/cushionbasse
/bas/low, femininemasse
/mas/mass; quantity of mattermesse
/mɛs/Mass; Catholic liturgical servicetasse
/tas/cupsauce
/sos/saucepoison
/pwazɔ̃/poisoncousin
/kuzɛ̃/male cousinbase
/baz/baserose
/ʁoz/rose; flowerchaise
/ʃɛz/chairvase
/vaz/vase; masculine nouncreuse
/kʁøz/hollow; feminine adjective14 words. Words stay hidden during practice unless you choose to reveal them.