Bonjour Peter! In real life, it's better to forget the "e" in "livre" as we don't pronounce it. We say /livʁ/. Technically, it should be pronounced in two syllables: /li/ and /vʁə/. But it's not the way it is when we speak :) As for the "e" in "jeu" and in "je, le" etc, they are completely different. "eu" is usually rounded, and you have the possibility of making it more open or more closed. For example, in "jeu", it's closed: /ʒø/ (This /ø/ is a closed rounded shape) But in "jeune", it will be an open rounded shape: /ʒœn/ So, to conclude, there are three sounds here: - the schwa /ə/ (NOT rounded), which is usually not pronounced anyway at the end of words/syllables - the /ø/ (closed and rounded) - the /œ (more open and rounded) Hope that helps :)

Think of the "th" in fourth. You could say the "th" is half way to being pronounced. It is more a breath than a proper syllable. Likewise, the "vre" at the end of livre is closer to a breath. I hope this helps.

Theoretically, it's a schwa, which is an entirely different phoneme. It never occurs in accented syllables, so when a native speaker attempts to demonstrate it, it will always be fake. Parisians tend to cite it as the closed eû in jeûne, although the open sound in jeune is theoretically closer. In real life, you can usually drop the sound completely, as long as that doesn't result in too many consonants coming together.