understanding liaison with et
Bonjour,

I understand that the 't' in 'et' never liaises with the next word starting with a vowel e.g. et un apple (there is no liaison between 'et' and 'un' - Am I correct?

In this example:

"intelligent et ..." is there liaison between intelligent and et hence pronouncing the 't' in intelligent ?

Merci d'avance.

Question

understanding liaison with et
Bonjour,

I understand that the 't' in 'et' never liaises with the next word starting with a vowel e.g. et un apple (there is no liaison between 'et' and 'un' - Am I correct?

In this example:

"intelligent et ..."  is there liaison between intelligent and et hence pronouncing the 't' in intelligent ?

Merci d'avance.

Answer

You are right, there can never be a "liaison" with "et". The "t" is never pronounced.

Whether there is a liaison BEFORE "et" is completely unrelated. It depends on the word preceding it. Personally, I wouldn't, but I'm not sure if it's an optional liaison or a forbidden one. I would tend to say forbidden, because otherwise it would be confusing: with the liaison,  "intelligent et" would sound like "intelligente et". I'll be happy to hear from others! :)

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