French pronunciation
In French, ll has two possible pronunciations:
While there are patterns that can help you determine the pronunciation of most words, there are a few dozen words that you just need to memorize.
LL as [ j ]
In all letter combinations with vowel + ill, the double l is pronounced [ j ]:
Letters | Examples | |
aill | la paille | straw |
eill | la veille | night before |
euill | la feuille | leaf |
œill | une œillade | wink |
ouill | bouillir | to boil |
ueill | cueillir | to gather |
uill | la cuillère | spoon |
Double l is also pronounced [ j ] in most words with consonant + ill, including
la Bastille | Bastille |
le cédille | cedilla (ç) |
le chantilly | whipped cream |
la famille | family |
la fille | girl |
Millau | Millau (town in Aveyron) |
la vanille | vanilla |
LL as [ l ]
After any other vowel, the double l is pronounced [ l ]:
la salle | room |
belle | beautiful |
folle | crazy |
le pull | sweater |
une syllabe | syllable |
And it’s also pronounced [ l ] after i in about two dozen words (and their derivatives). This is the complete list – anything not listed here is pronounced [ j ].
Achille | Achilles | |||
un bacille | germ, bacillus | |||
billevesées | nonsense | |||
un billion | trillion | |||
capillaire | capillary | |||
un codicille | codicil | |||
distiller | to distill | |||
une fibrille | small fiber | (fibrillaire, fibrillation)* | ||
Gilles | boy’s name | |||
-illaire | -ilary (suffix) | |||
un krill | krill | |||
Lille | Lille (town in Nord) | |||
lilliputien | Liliputian | |||
mille | thousand | (un millénium, millier, etc.) | ||
un mille | mile | (le millage) | ||
milli- | milli- (prefix) | (millimètre, milligramme, etc) | ||
un milliard | billion | (un milliardaire, le milliardième, etc.) | ||
un million | million | (un millionaire, le millionième, etc.) | ||
osciller | to oscillate, swing | |||
la pénicilline | ||||
un/e pupille* | ward of the state | |||
une pupille* | pupil | |||
une scille | scilla | |||
une spongille | spongilla | |||
tranquille | calm, tranquil | |||
un verticille | verticil | |||
un vexille | vexillum | |||
une ville | town | (une villa, un village, etc.) | ||
une zorille | zorilla |
*The ll in these words may be pronounced either way.
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