1. It's pronounced more or less like this: /swayei/ 2. It's because it doesn't sound good to have two vowels together. French likes to run sounds together, and you can't run together an 'a' followed by an 'e'. That's why the singular possessive pronoun for feminine words that begin with a vowel are the same as the masculine ones. For example : mon ami (masculine) mon amie (feminine)

1. Soyez --> [swa.je] (or also [swɑ.je]) 2. When the word begins with a vowel, the masculine form is used in this case (or to be more politically correct, you would use the form that is similar to the masculine form). Une école --> son école (*sa école). Let me give you some other examples, too: Une église --> mon église / ton église / son église Une amie --> mon amie / ton amie / son amie Une invitation --> mon invitation / ton invitation / son invitation Une université --> mon université / ton .... etc. Une heure --> mon heure (because the "h" is not pronounced)