Do you find spoken French hard to understand? It’s normal! Most people who study French find it easier to read than listen to French. The reason for this is that the spoken language is very different from the written language. There are many things that are different between written and spoken French, including vocabulary and syntax, but I’ll focus here on one pronunciation peculiarity. This trick will help you understand better.

If you’ve been learning French for a while, you already know that the E is an unstable sound in French, and it has to be dropped in some places, as in “j’habite” and “c’est”. The apostrophe shows where an E disappeared. That “élision” happens both in written and spoken French.

In casual spoken French, many more E’s disappear… And that’s one reason French sounds so fast! You actually lose a syllable (a “beat”) every time you lose an E, and the other sounds get squished together. Look at these examples:

- lentement = lent’ment
- tout le monde = tout l’monde
- je sais = j’sais (“ché”)
- je suis = j’suis (“chui”)

Please note that these contractions are perfectly acceptable in everyday speech, but would be wrong in written French. You may see them in written dialogues or song lyrics, to show how people actually speak, but that’s it.

Now that you know about this phenomenon, you need to practice listening. Pay attention, and try to hear when it’s happening. Soon, you will get used to the most common contractions, and maybe you’ll even use them yourself! This will also make you sound more fluent in French, because that’s the way people speak in normal, casual conversation.

To get you started, I’ve identified the first few dropped E’s in two popular songs. Can you find more?

“Je veux” by Zaz:

(http://platea.pntic.mec.es/cvera/hotpot/zaz_je_veuxc.htm)
- ce n’est pas = c’n’est pas
- de l’amour = d’l’amour
- de la joie = d’la joie
- fera = f’ra
- je veux = j’veux

“Amoureux de Paname” by Renaud:

(http://platea.pntic.mec.es/cvera/hotpot/amoureux_de_panamec.htm)
- samedi soir = sam’di soir
- petits = p’tits
- petites = p’tites
- je suis = j’suis

Here are a few more common contractions that you need to be able to hear:
- Je te = j’te
- Pas de = pas d’
- Ce que = c’que
- Ce qui = c'qui

As you can see, spoken French *is* faster! I recommend listening to a lot of fun, interesting things in French to practice your ear. 

Please let me know if you find this information useful, or if anything is not clear! :)