It’s a question we often hear from Norwegians learning French: “Why do you write so many letters that you don’t pronounce?”

French contains indeed many words with letters that appear in writing but are silent when spoken.

Here are a few examples:

• Petit: The final t is usually silent.
• Beaucoup: The final p is not pronounced.
• Ils parlent: The verb ending -ent is silent.

But why are these letters there? And are they really unnecessary?

A matter of history, but not only history!

French has changed considerably since its Latin origins. Its pronunciation has evolved over the centuries, while spelling has gradually become more standardised, particularly following the development of printing.

However, not all silent letters are simply sounds that disappeared over time.

Some letters reflect a word’s origin. Others result from historical spelling choices made by scribes and printers. And some provide grammatical information.

French spelling is therefore the result of centuries of linguistic change and compromises between pronunciation, etymology and grammar.

The French have also tried to simplify it! In 1740, the Académie française changed the spelling of more than 6000 words in the third edition of its dictionary, removing certain letters and introducing a more systematic use of accents.

Silent letters can actually be useful!

A letter that isn’t pronounced isn’t necessarily useless.

Take petit and petite. In petit, the final t is silent. In petite, it is pronounced.

Or consider les voitures and les amis. The s in les is normally silent, but before amis, it is pronounced as a z sound. This is known as liaison.

Some silent letters also provide grammatical information. Il parle and ils parlent sound the same in spoken French, but the written ending -ent indicates the plural.

How can you improve your French pronunciation?

In this fourth episode of Entre nous / Mellom oss, we explore these features of French through practical examples and simple tips.

The main advice is straightforward: When learning a new French word, learn how it sounds, not just how it is written.

And instead of seeing every silent letter as an unnecessary complication, try asking what it might tell you about the language.

Listen to this episode of Entre nous / Mellom oss, the short-format series from the Fransk-norsk kafé podcast, on your favourite podcast platform.