My #1 Tip to Understand Fast Spoken French

When speaking fast, the first letter to disappear is the French “e”. Mostly, when it’s on an unstressed syllable, it sounds like “e”, le “e” de “petit” /ə/, the sound that’s called “schwa” in English.
Je prends un petit café dans le jardin. = I’m having a small coffee in the garden. These “e” are all unstressed “schwa” sounds and disappear in fast-spoken French: J’prends un p’tit café dans l’jardin.

So when you hear a sentence in fast-spoken French, and you don’t recognize some words, try adding some unstressed “e” and see if it matches what you already know. You can also practice the most common words with eaten letters and add them directly to your vocabulary.

In everyday life, French people do a mix of both: when I hear someone speaking fast, I know that p’tit = petit, and “p’tit” means small. And when they cut a letter in a more uncommon word, like “G’nève”, I add a schwa in the middle to make it fit a word I know, like here, Genève, Geneva.

Cutting the “e” is already part of “correct” French, before a vowel.
(This “élision” in correct French doesn’t happen before a consonant!)
Je vois = I see, but J’entends = I hear.
Elle te dit = She tells you, but Elle t’appelle = She calls you.
Le poisson = The fish, but L’oiseau = The bird.

In everyday spoken French, we cut the unstressed “e” in more occasions:

• Cutting the “e” in small words before consonants:
  – Je finis tout de suite. → “J’finis tout d’suite.” = I’m finishing right away.
  – Elle va te montrer le jardin. → “Elle va t’montrer l’jardin.” = She’s going to show you the garden.
  – Ce que je veux, c’est le numéro de Martin. → “C’que j’veux, c’est l’numéro d’Martin.” = What I want is Martin’s phone number.

• Cutting the schwa sound inside longer words:
  – Il m’a amené un petit café. → “Il m’a am’né un p’tit café.” = He brought me a small cup of coffee.
  – C’est ce que le médecin a demandé. → “C’est c’que l’méd’cin a d’mandé.” = That’s what the doctor asked for.

There’s a limit of these “élisions”. We wouldn’t cut three “e”s in a row either:
C’est ce que le médecin a demandé. For example, it would become
“C’est c’qu’l’médecin a demandé.” much harder to pronounce.

Don’t overdo it if you’re uncomfortable with the pronunciation.

Examples: Here’s a list of French words where we commonly cut letters.

• Je = I (personal, subject pronoun)
  • Je vois. (formal) → J’vois (spoken French) = I see.
•  Te = You (personal, object pronoun)
  • Tu te trompes. (formal) → Tu t’trompes. (spoken French) = You’re mistaken.
• Se (personal, reflexive pronoun for 3rd person of singular)
  
  • On se voit demain. (formal) → On s’voit d’main. (spoken French) = See you tomorrow.
• Le (definite article “the” in masculine singular)
  
  • Le matin, je prends mon café au lait. (formal) → L’matin, j’prends mon café au lait. (spoken French) = In the morning, I take my coffee with milk.
• De (preposition and article, depending on the context)
  
  • Il est 4h de l’après-midi. (formal) → Il est 4h d’ l’aprèm. (spoken French) = It’s 4 PM.

It also happens in longer words, for instance:

• Debout = standing.
  On était debout pendant qu’il donnait son discours. (formal) → On était d’bout pendant qu’il donnait son discours. (spoken French) = We were standing while he was giving his speech.
• Venir = to come.
  Je ne peux pas venir ce soir. (formal) → J’peux pas v’enir ce soir. (spoken French) = I cannot come this evening.
• Doucement = gently, slowly, quietly.
  Je parle doucement. (formal) → J’parle douc’ment. (spoken French) = I speak quietly.
• Rapidement = quickly, fast, soon.
  Tu vas rapidement trouver un nouvel emploi. (formal) → Tu vas rapid’ment trouver un nouvel emploi. (spoken French) = You’ll quickly find a new job.