Many words in French end in ‘e’. And while the final ‘e’ can make us pronounce other letters (think ‘petit‘ vs. ‘petite‘ or ‘français‘ vs. ‘française‘), it is, in itself, usually silent. Usually, but not always!

In poetry, and often in songs (which are, after all, just poems set to music), a final silent ‘e’ often gets pronounced. This is one of the rules of “versification” – the rules that govern poetry in French.

Formal rules of poetry require that un vers (a verse) have a specific number of syllables. In order to properly count those syllables, you need to know the rules for counting. When it comes to terminal ‘e’s, you count (and pronounce) those syllables that end in an ‘e’ if they are followed by a consonant. If they’re followed by another vowel, then you don’t count (or pronounce) them. In songs, the rules are generally less formal, and whether a final (unaccented) ‘e’ is pronounced or not will often demand more on the rhythm which the singer or songwriter wishes to achieve than on the formal rules of versification.

In the song which follows, listen to how the singer pronounces the words âme (soul) (and in particular notice how sometimes the ‘e’ is pronounced, while others it is not), fête (party, celebration), rende (from the verb ‘rendre‘, ‘to return, to give back to’), méprise (‘think poorly of‘, ‘despise‘), demandes (from the verb ‘demander’, ‘to ask for/of), libre (‘free’), ivre (‘drunk’), blesse (from the verb ‘blesser’, ‘to harm, hurt’).

In the south of France, where the language is generally more musical, you’ll encounter this phenomena in spoken French as well.