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Well, "o" and "eaux" are not pronounced the same in French. The "au" in the middle signals a real difference in pronounciation.

Consider e.g. "deors" (outside) or "mouton" (sheep). Now try saying "de-eauxr-s" and "mout-eaux-n" (with a silent s and n). It's not the same sound.



'o' has two (or more) possible pronunciations: o and ɔ (open and closed), while "au" has only one: o

"Bordeaux" is pronounced the same as "Bordo" would be, and "eaux" is the same as "ô" or "au".

The rules for "o" are a bit complicated but it's mostly always open before two consonnants, like in "dehors" and the first occurence in Bordeaux.

It depends a lot on local accent, but "cosse/Causses" have different "o" sounds in the standard pronunciation, while pose/pause have the same closed sound.


Thanks for correcting my spelling :)

... and my accent <_<

I pronounce "Bordeaux" like in "eaux" but I guess I haven't heard it pronounced very often. I grew up in Greece and I speak French from an early age and haven't lived long in France so there's nuances I miss probably.


Bordeaux should be pronounced like eaux so that part is correct :) I just mean that Bordo would be the same, it's all closed o sounds.

In the north and the south east (Toulouse, not Bordeaux) people tend to only use the open o sound though (especially obvious since Toulouse's nickname is la ville rose which should be a closed o) but that's not standard.

Interesting that you're from Greece, I have met quite a few Greeks who speak rather good French and it's always fun to notice how much of French comes from Greek.




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