Marseilles pronunciation

Miss Woo

Please excuse my ignorance... Do you say Mar-SAY or Mar-SY? And when does it have an s on the end, ie. Marseille or Marseilles and why?

'Cause you know how there is a Ver-SY (Versailles)? I'm confused!
 

PathWalker

Well, you can say it how you like :)
If you mean how is it pronounced in French, then I would sound Mar Say.
Any natural French speakers here?

Marseille is how the name is written in French With the 's' on the end is just another way to write it, ( often by English speaking folks) but not how you would see it on a French map.


Versailles is pronounced differently becuase of the 'ai' after the s instead of an 'ei'
 

Miss Woo

Well, you can say it how you like :)
If you mean how is it pronounced in French, then I would sound Mar Say.
Any natural French speakers here?

Marseille is how the name is written in French With the 's' on the end is just another way to write it, ( often by English speaking folks) but not how you would see it on a French map.


Versailles is pronounced differently becuase of the 'ai' after the s instead of an 'ei'

Oh thanks, this has been driving me crazy! :)

Oh, of course... I forgot about the difference between the 'ei' and 'ai' :thumbsup:
 

Richard

Please excuse my ignorance... Do you say Mar-SAY or Mar-SY? And when does it have an s on the end, ie. Marseille or Marseilles and why?

'Cause you know how there is a Ver-SY (Versailles)? I'm confused!
It is pronounced mar-say. The r in mar is pronounced in the throat when a Frenchman says it, not at all like the English r, but don't worry about it.
 

Miss Woo

It is pronounced mar-say. The r in mar is pronounced in the throat when a Frenchman says it, not at all like the English r, but don't worry about it.

Okay cool, thanks :)
 

Yuri

Correct pronunciation of Marseille:)

If you really want to pronounce the ending correctly, then it should be "sey" (with a "short" e, as in the words "bet", or "send", for example), not a "long a" as in the word "say".

(I master both French and English, and I also teach pronunciation.)

Cheers :)

Yuri
 

Miss Woo

If you really want to pronounce the ending correctly, then it should be "sey" (with a "short" e, as in the words "bet", or "send", for example), not a "long a" as in the word "say".

(I master both French and English, and I also teach pronunciation.)

Cheers :)

Yuri

I get you, thanks ! :)
 

Elendil

Marseilles is the way the English identify the city
The French spelling has no final 's' as Pathwalker pointed out

'say' is a good equivalent and approximates the French sound well from an English speaker from the UK.

I speak French fluently and teach it in a High School in the north of England.