Nantes - pronounce the 's' or no?

Old Apr 5th, 2005, 09:21 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Nantes - pronounce the 's' or no?

Hey - just a simple question. I speak French and I know that there are several words like this where some people pronounce the 's' and some don't - is this one of those? How do the people from Nantes pronounce it? I don't need any commentary on the rest of the word - just 's' or no 's'.
Thank you!
abbynicole27 is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 09:26 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 970
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
No s.
LVSue is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 09:38 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 22,939
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
no 's'
Michael is online now  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 10:25 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,330
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
A few years ago I was taking the TGV from Paris to Anger.

A small child near me was intently listening to the conductor announce the two upcoming stops. When he said, "Anger, Nantes" the child giggled.

Does that sound like something funny in French?

No big deal, just curious.
indytravel is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 10:55 AM
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
thanks - I had been told that the 's' was pronounced by someone who I wasn't quite sure knew what they were talking about, so I wanted a second opinion. Thanks again!
abbynicole27 is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 02:18 PM
  #6  
TC
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,859
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I was in Nantes last year and the locals pronounced it with the S .... N, A (like knot), N (no T) S.
TC is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 03:19 PM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We were in Nantes last summer, but I can't remember a single person in town saying the name to us...it never came up in conversation. However, in Angers, which is not that far away, everyone we talked to when planning our trip there (the hotel staff, the woman at the SNCF boutique who sold us our TGV tickets, etc.) pronounced without the s.
BTilke is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 03:26 PM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 22,939
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
TC-- that is simply not credible. The final T is not pronounced in content but would be in contente. In other words, normal French pronunciation would pronounce the T in Nantes. If the S is pronounced, it usually after a vowel sound such as in Sens, but Nantes ends with the T sound. Finally, the N used to designate a nasal vowel such as AN is not pronounced.
Michael is online now  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 03:39 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 703
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
"Anger - Nantes" contains the sounds of the word 'genante' which means 'embarrassing', or, referring to a female child, means 'a nuisance'.

Was the child who giggled a girl?

Harzer
harzer is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 03:44 PM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,508
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
An acquaintance from Nantes -- who spoke of it so often and so glowingly that I resolved never to travel there -- did not pronounce the final S.
tedgale is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 04:58 PM
  #11  
TC
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,859
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I stand corrected and will have my hearing checked immediately.
TC is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 05:04 PM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,260
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
A general rule of French pronunciation is that a final s is never enunciated just as an s between two vowels is pronounced like a "z"
Intrepid1 is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 10:24 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,330
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

Thanks harzer. The child was a girl. So that sounds reasonable.

indytravel is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 10:30 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Is it a rule?

If the local football team are doing well, does absolutely every French person keep the Nantes "s" silent in the headline "Nantes en premiere place"?

In spite of 200 years of centralising monomania and the country's bizarre delusion that governments can tell people how to speak their own language, French still has dialects, and arcane special-case pronunciation conventions.
flanneruk is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 10:36 PM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,330
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Here in the US my 68 year old dad still pronounces the "s" at the end of "Illinois" the state.
indytravel is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2005, 11:51 PM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 300
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Being originally from Nantes, now based in Paris... I can tell that you don't pronounce the S at the end....
Joelle is offline  
Old Apr 6th, 2005, 02:56 AM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 199
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
As Joelle and the other forumites said, we don't pronounce the "s" at the end of "Nantes", "Tours", etc., thus, no "liaison" can be made between "Nantes" and a word starting with a vowel (in the sentence "Nantes est une belle ville", the "s" in Nantes is not heard).

BTW, my in-laws live in Nantes and I lived there for almost 2 years after getting married, it's a very pleasant and lively city, much more lively than my native town, Rouen Marie
Marie007 is offline  
Old Apr 6th, 2005, 03:22 AM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,390
Likes: 0
Received 11 Likes on 4 Posts
Marie, Rouen sounds good to me. It sounds like even in France, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Nikki is offline  
Old Apr 6th, 2005, 03:24 AM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,508
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Marie007: Any city where you live would be lively.

But I commiserate about your natal city, Rouen.
tedgale is offline  
Old Apr 6th, 2005, 03:33 AM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,282
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Ooh, what a can of worms !

Michael : "If the S is pronounced, it usually after a vowel sound such as in Sens, but Nantes ends with the T sound."
It could be argued that the 'n' in Sens just as much a consonant as the 't' in Nantes, innit ?

Intrepid1 : "A general rule of French pronunciation is that a final s is never enunciated" What about Reims ?

Marie007 : "we don't pronounce the "s" at the end of "Nantes", "Tours", etc., thus, no "liaison" can be made between "Nantes" and a word starting with a vowel (in the sentence "Nantes est une belle ville", the "s" in Nantes is not heard)." But what about Les Arcs ?

I can see where TC is coming from - since there is a 't' and an 's' at the end, I can imagine either one being pronounced - but not both.
caroline_edinburgh is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -