Written French
In written French, elision (both phonetic and orthographic) is obligatory for the following words:
- the definite articles le and la
- le garçon ("the boy"), la fille ("the girl")
- le + arbre → l'arbre ("the tree"), la + église → l'église ("the church")
- the subject pronouns je and ce (when they occur before the verb)
- Je dors. ("I sleep") Ce serait génial. ("That would be great.")
- J'ai dormi. ("I slept.") C'était génial. ("It was great.")
- but: Ai-je imaginé? ("Did I imagine?"), Est-ce utile? ("Is that useful?")
- the object pronouns me, te, se, le, and la (when they occur before the verb)
- Jean se rase, la voit, me téléphone. ("Jean shaves himself, sees her, phones me.")
- Jean s'est rasé, l'a vue, m'a téléphoné. ("Jean shaved himself, saw her, phoned me.")
- but: Regarde-le encore une fois. ("Look at him one more time.")
- the object pronouns le, la, moi, toi when they occur after an imperative verb and before the pronoun en or y:
- Mettez-le, donne-les-moi, casse-toi. ("Put it, give me them, scram.")
- Mettez-l'y, donne-m'en, va-t'en. ("Put it there, give me some, leave.")
- the negative marker ne
- Elle ne parle plus. ("She isn't talking anymore.")
- Elle n'arrête pas de parler. ("She won't stop talking.")
- the preposition de
- Le père de Jean vient de partir. ("Jean's father just left.")
- Le père d'Albert vient d'arriver. ("Albert's father just arrived.")
- que (which has many different functions)
- Que dis-tu ? Que Jean ne fait que manger. ("What are you saying? That Jean does nothing but eat.")
- Qu'as-tu dit ? Qu'il ne nous restait plus qu'une semaine. ("What did you say? That we only had one more week left.")
- The conjunction si plus the pronouns il and ils
- si elle aime les chats ("if she likes cats")
- s'il(s) aime(nt) les chats ("if he/they like cats")
Elision is indicated in the spelling of some compound words, such as presqu'île "peninsula", aujourd'hui "today", and quelqu'un "someone".
At the beginnings of words, the aspirated h denies elision. Example: Le Havre. The mute h, however, requires elision. Example: l'homme. Both types of 'aitch' are silent regardless.
Read more about this topic: Elision (French)
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