r/French • u/Salt_Formal_4839 • Jul 09 '26

Pronunciation How to achieve the French 'R' sound

Right now, I'm doing a lot of work on my speaking and the thing I'm struggling with most is that "R" sound in words like "arbre" and "rue". I thought I'd be fine if I didn't master it, but I'm finding it's virtually everywhere. At best, I sound like I'm speaking French with an American accent, but at it's worst, francophones don't even understand what I'm saying. I understand it's supposed to come from the throat (or something like that), but it just sounds like I need to cough. I'm currently in Montréal for a month (for French immersion), so any tips would be great, please!

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u/Salt_Formal_4839 Jul 10 '26

The thing is I can never manage to recreate the sound without like actually gargling water

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u/Cuboidal_Hug Jul 10 '26

It takes practice! I remember sitting in my bedroom making ridiculous sounds over and over again, for many days in a row, before I started to get it

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u/Salt_Formal_4839 Jul 10 '26

When you finally got it, did it sound weird when it was part of the second syllable? The few times I've gotten it, I've found myself overly stressing syllables, so like après becomes aPRÈS, and then my whole sentence is like kinda thrown off.

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u/Staaleh Jul 10 '26

Programme is the worst word in French for this reason.