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A detailed review
Consonants
French Letter/s
IPA Sound
French
Words
English Sound/Word (approx)
Notes
b
/b/
bon
ball
/c/
corps, crème
kite
Hard ‘c’ before a, o, u, (vowels made at the back) or consonant
Also at end of words and cueillir 1)
/s/
ce
sit
Soft ‘c’ before e, i, y (vowels made at front) see 2)
/s/
ça
sit
When the soft ‘c’ is before a , o, u (vowels made at the back)
/d/
dans
dig
/f/
flic
fat
/g/
gare, grand
god
Hard ‘g’ before a, o, u, (vowels made at the back) or consonant
/ʒ/
génial
measure
Soft ‘g’ before e, i, y (vowels made at front)
haricots
Not sounded. Sometimes ‘aspirate’ – although not sounded, restricts liaison – les haricots, pronounced as in English ‘lay arico’
/ʒ/
je
measure
/k/
kiosk
kite
Very uncommon in French – mainly loan words (from other languages)
/l/
le
lip
/l/
elle
lip
After a, e, o, u, y No exceptions
/j/
fille
yet
Many exceptions when sounded as l
e.g. ville, tranquille, mille, Lille
/j/
fille
feuille
/m/
mon
mine
/m/
gomme
mine
parfum
bum
The m is assimilated into the vowels /ɑ̃/ (jambe), /ɛ̃/ (impermeable), /ɔ̃/ (tomber), / œ̃ / (parfum)
/n/
nous
not
/n/
sonné
not
/ni/
ornière
neat
/ɲ/
gagner
canyon
/ɛ̃/
vin
man
The n is assimilated into the vowels /ɑ̃/ (sans), /ɛ̃/ (vin), /ɔ̃/ (son), /œ̃/ (un)
/p/
porte
pin
compter
Silent
pharmacie
fat
cinq
kite
quelle
kite
rapide
The sound has no direct english equivalent - roughly like loch (Scottish English) but voiced
terrible
sans
sit
ramasser
sit
tu
tent
thé
tent
The h is silent
cette
tent
attention
see
s+t+vowel retains the /t/ sound e.g. bestial, when verbs end in -tions and –tiez e.g. sortions, in ordinal adjectives ending in –tième, e.g, septième,
in feminine past participles of verbs ending in –tir e.g. partie, and adjectives ending in -tiers or –tière, e.g. matière
attention
velvet
week-end
want
Rare - mainly loan words (from other languages) – e.g. english
wagon
velvet
Rare - mainly loan words (from other languages) – e.g. german
texte
tax
exemple
example
dix, soixante
sit
deuxième
buzz
douze
buzz
1) Cueillir (pronounced k/uh-yeer in English) has a hard ‘c’, but this is then (unusually) immediately followed by a vowel sound which is at the front of the mouth – the eu sound /œ/ as in jeune. The written u which immediately follows the c is silent, but is added to signal that the c is hard (see also alternative explanation below - I prefer this briefer one).
2) The soft ‘c’ sound has apparently evolved from the hard form, when in front of vowels made at the front. This means that the mouth and tongue have to make less transitional changes and the overall sound is more flowing.
Vowels
French Letter/s
IPA Sound
French
Words
English Sound/Word (approx)
Notes
/a/
Paris
at
/a/
à
at
/ɑ/
extase
bra
Before s and z sounds
/ɑ/
pâte
bra
/ɛ/
Mais, maître
red
Typical form-sound
/e/
gai
eight
Final
/ə/
faisons
again
Some forms of faire before /z/
/aj/
travail, taille
eye
/ɑ̃/
quand, camp
song
Final, or before consonant
/a/
vanne, famille
at
Followed by vowel, or another m, or n
/ɛ̃/
train, faim
bun
Final, or before consonant, except m, n, or h
/ɛ/
plaine, aime
red
Followed by a vowel
/o/
chaud
author
/ɔ/
restaurant
your
Before r
/ɛj/
payer
ley
/ə/
cheval
again
Before single consonant and vowel
parle
Final e silent
/ɛ/
elle
red
+ 2 consonants
/ɛ/
fer
red
+ final pronounced consonant
/e/
pied
eight
before final silent consonant
/ə/
je
again
final in monosyllable
/e/
blé
eight
/ɛ/
mère, rêve, Noël
red
/e/
parler
eight
Final, verbs
/ɛ/ + /r/
hiver
red
Final, non verbs
/ə/
parles
again
final
/e/
les
red
Monosyllable before closed vowel
/ɛ/
des
red
Monosyllable before open vowel
/ɛ/
filet
red
Monosyllable before open vowel
/e/
et
eight
Monosyllable before open vowel
/o/
beau
author
/ø/
peu
bird
Final
/œ/
heure
bird
/ø/
beau
bird
Before z
/ɛ/
treize
red
/ɛ̃/
Plein, Reims
man
Final or before consonant
/ɑ̃/
ensemble
on
Final or before a consonant
/ə/
tenir,
again
Before a vowel
/ɛ̃/
viens
man
/ɑ̃/
tournament
on
/ə/
parlent
again
Verb third person plural
/i/
tenir
bee
/i/
île
bee
/i/
haïr
bee
/j/
bien
yet
Before stressed vowel
/j/
gentil, aille
yet
Final
/j/
papillon
yet
Medial
/ij/
fille
see-yet
With no other vowel
/ɛ̃/
brin, timbre
man
Final, or before consonant
/ɔ/
doter
your
/o/
trop
go
Final sound
/o/
ôter
go
/o/
rose
go
Before z
/œ/
soeur
bird
/wa/
voix
whah
/waj/
loyal
way
Final or before a consonant
/w/
oui
want
Before stressed vowel
/u/
vous
to
/ɔ̃/
nom, ton
song
/ɔ̃/
pigeon
song
guide, question
Silent after g and q
/ɥ/
huit
we
Before stressed vowel
/y/
tu, sûr
ewe
/œ/
orgueil
bird
Followed by il, ill, or ille
/œ/
vainqueur
bird
After g and q
/y/
unanime
ewe
Followed by vowel
/œ̃/
un, parfum
bun, tum
When final, or before a consonant
/œ/
que
bird
/i/
cyclisme
bee
/j/
yeux
yet
/j/
voyage
yet
Between 2 vowels
/i/
synapse
bee
Before a vowel
/ɛ̃/
thym
man
Final or before a consonant
Sources
Use this to look up a word, where it comes from, and how it sounds, including the IPA and often an actual recording.
Wikipedia
Gives you all of the IPA sounds, along with examples in French, and approximate sounds in English.
Pronunciation Charts
French pronunciation chart in pdf form – quite extensive.
Pronunciation in brief
Concise French pronunciation.
French Phonology
In-depth guide to French sounds
IPA
all IPAs, including /r/ varieties
Another take on Cueillir
There is another, more complex explanation for the spelling of this word:
'Remark: Sometimes ei preceded by u, are followed by ll in the middle of words, and by single l at the end, in which cases the u is silent, and causes only the preceding consonant to be articulatred hard, the e is to be sounded like the compound vowel eu, or like u in fur in English, the i not changing the sound of the preceding e, but only showing that the following l, or ll, must be articulated liquid.
Ex. Cueillir, recueil, recueillir, cercueil, orgueil, must be pronounced as if they were spelling keu-illir, re-keu-il, re-keu-illir, cer-keu-il, or-gueu-il, the consonant which precedes u being hard, the e sounding like the compound vowel eu, the u which precedes the e being silent, and the i not altering the sound of the preceding e, but being confounded with the articulation of the following l, or ll, which must be liquid.'
from: A New Treatise on French Pronunciation p.25
I can just about understand this process, but I am certainly unable to use it!
To be fair, this comes from quite an old book, but it was still an attempt to set up a system of invariable and all-encompassing rules to cover French pronunciation.