Why do French Adore to Use ‘-Ng’

Stereotypes of new French learners.

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People say that learning French is difficult. Maybe that’s true. Why? Maybe because there are certain conditions under which its use in French is excluded.

I also encountered this when I decided to dare to start learning French. In the process, I discovered that learning French was ‘difficult and easy’ (a bit difficult).

The easy part is, learning French is not much different from learning English. The similarity is found in the use of prepositions, which are exactly the same as in English. For example:

Je suis Thomas. (pronounced: ze sui Thoma’) in French.
I’m Thomas. In English.

Je: in English I or Saya in Indonesian. Suis: is English is or adalah in Indonesian.

Here, I haven’t had any difficulties in learning French because it just uses exactly the same grammatical structures as in English. Then my ‘homework’ was just to juxtapose I and am with Je and Suis in my head with the same meaning.

NEW VOCABULARY

The first lesson I had to master when I was just learning French was getting used to adding new vocabulary.

I always compare the word Tu with the word You in English. At first, it was a bit strange because it changed the memory of the initial letter Y from you (in English) to the letter T from tu (in French).

MASCULINE AND FEMININE

The use of masculine and feminine does not exist in English. At first I was a little doubtful about my ability to use or differentiate these categories in French. This category is usually used by the Germanic languages.

Un. (a). masculine.
Une. (un). feminine.

un homme. (a nom). masculine. (a Man in English).
une femme. (un fam). feminine. (a Woman in English).

Un means ‘a’ if the speaker is a man.
Une, which has the same meaning, is used if the speaker is a woman.

The indicator that differentiates sentences that are feminine from masculine is the use of adding the suffix e at the end of the word (as in the example above).

SAME SENTENCE, DIFFERENT USE

There is something unique and something new for me when learning French. Namely the use of the same sentence but can also be used in different situations. Those sentences are:

ça va. (sa va). How’s it going in English; or Apa kabar in Indonesian.

ça va can be used in two functions, namely questions and statements. For example:

ça va?. (sa va). How’s it going? questions in English.
ça va. (sa va). Fine. It’s okay. Alright. statement in English.

Salut! (salu’). Hai or Hi in English.
Salut! (salu’). Bye or Bye in English.

Second Salut! The above is a statement, but both can be used in greeting situations at the beginning or end of a meeting.

SPEECH MANUFACTURING

In French, there is also a term for using sentences according to the situation of the speaker. When faced with formal situations, such as in an academic environment, speakers also change their sentence structure to be more polite. Like:

Tu (You) as an informal form is changed to Vous (You) to become formal.

Comment vas-tu. (kumong va tu). How are you in English has been changed to be more polite. This situation is used both in formal settings, to strangers, and to older people, as Comment Allez-vous. (kumong tale vu).

Also the use of Et toi? (e twa) in non-formal is changed to more formal, to Et vous? (e vu). Meaning of both: And you? in English.

PASSIVE ENDING

This section should be of concern to French speakers. (Also note that not all vowels at the end of a sentence are pronounced). For example:

Chat. (s’ya). In English Cat or Kucing in Indonesian. The letter T at the end of the word Chat is not pronounced.

Paris. read Pari’. (the letter S seems to just go. Not Pariss — use the letter S).

THE LETTER ‘H’ is DEAD

In French, it is also known as the omission of the consonant letter H in sentences. The letter H, whether at the beginning or in the insert, is not pronounced. For example:

Homme. (om). Men in Indonesian
L’homme. (lom). The Man in English. (why not pronounce it Le hom?)

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SENTENCE REDUCTION

Sentence slurring often occurs under certain conditions in French, especially in its use when spoken.

Changes in the use of the words ‘Je’ or ‘I’ can occur when they meet other words with the aim of simplifying sentences or speech. Like:

Je ne sais pas. (ze ne se pa) which means I don’t know (in English).

When sentence be reducted:

J’sais pas. (z’se pa) which means the same. Here, the word Ne (meaning not in English) disappears somewhere.

Then another example sentence (which expresses feelings):

Je suis content. (ze sui kungtong) which means ‘I am happy; or ‘Saya bahagia’ in Indonesian.

When reducted:

J’suis content. (z’ui kungtong) which means the same.

The occurrence of this slurring was caused by the native French speakers themselves. Maybe in their opinion, instead of saying the sentence Je ne sais pas (which has to say four syllables at once) it would be better to use J’sais pas (which only uses two syllables).

And maybe that’s efficient enough for them? Possible. That’s the beauty of learning a language. Language also follows cultural aspects and practices.

CONSONANTS MEET VOWELS

Consonant endings (consonant letters) when they meet a vowel (such as a) can be pronounced or read or connected in French, such as:

Comment allez-vous. Read kumong tale vu (not kumong ale vu.)

The letter T at the end of the word Comment (which is usually ignored) combines with the letter A in the word Allez to make something like Tallez-vous (tale vu).

PRONUNCIATION OF ‘NG’

I realized and started asking: ‘why do French people like to use ‘Ng’ when they speak? For example, try what comes into your head when you read the words Chien, Garçon, Content, Saint, Jean, Croissant, and Mon.

Yes, me too.

Chien I read: sien.
Garçon I read: garson.
Content I read: conten.
Saint I read: sains.
Jean I read: jean.
Croissant I read: croissan.
Mon I read: mon.

It turns out that in French the term ending in the letter N or NT is not pronounced N, but rather Ng.

Chien is pronounced: shiang. (Dog)
Garçon is pronounced: garsong.(Boy)
Content is: kungtong(t). (Like)
Saint is read: sang. (Saint)
Jean is pronounced: z(y)ong. (John)
Croissant is pronounced: k(rh)uasong.
Mon is pronounced: mong. (my)

Only if the word ending in the letter N contains the letter NE. Adding the letter E to the ending changes the pronunciation of Ng to N. For example:
Bonne journée. (bon jurne). It means Have a nice day or Have a good day in English.

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CONCLUSION

Of course, this article is only a view for person who are just learning French, OK? And of course French people don’t always speak with the ending ‘Ng’. There are many more unique things about the French language, such as the pronunciation of ‘R’ in French and so on.

For those who are learning French, hopefully you will be even more enthusiastic. Or anyone reading this article who is currently mastering a foreign language, continue to study harder.

Thank you for those who have read this article from start to finish. This article is only an outpouring of the author’s heart regarding his anxiety in the learning process. Au revoir!*