French -- how do you pronounce "el" at the end of word?

It's pronounced exactly the same as "elle" at the end of a word. Phonetically, /ɛl/.

Proof: Wiktionary

I make a difference between the two when I pronounce them. Same when I say "grammaire". But then, I like my French to be as accurate as possible.

I'm fairly sure there's no difference. I'm assuming you're a native speaker, but it's fairly common to imagine differences in word pronunciations... I managed to convince my friend that the "like" in "I like cheese" is pronounced subtly differently to the "like" in "it looks like a cow".

Some Southern French dialects might add a vowel onto the end of "essentielle", but it's by no means standard. I've just checked my French dictionary and a quick scurry around the internet has confirmed that "-el" and "-elle" are pronounced exactly the same as standard... one isn't longer than the other.

Your post about the "elle" being pronounced longer like in "hello"... what? The L in hello isn't longer than the L in halo, for example; they're exactly the same consonant.

When my french teacher says the words that end in 'el' and 'elle', the only real difference I notice is that 'el' is a bit more abrupt. Not really a different sound. Ever been on this site:

http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php

I don't know how accurate it is or if some characters will be different to others, but our teacher (who is a native french speaker) has stronly urged us to practice from this Worth a try??

Well, I make a difference and most of my friends do, except when we speak too fast. But I would definitely say there is a difference between the two, despite what Wikipedia says. It's very light, and not very noticeable, but it exists.

I'm not from the south of France and I'm probably deaf or my friends can't speak English, as the "ll" in "hello" in considerably longer than in a single l-ed word .

There is definitely no difference... in English halo/hello or French essentiel/essentielle. I can almost guarantee that the "subtle differences" are imagined, or only put there in speech when actually consciously considering the spelling. I challenge you to try and find a linguist's account of a phonemic difference between the two (because if there is one, a lot of books on French phonology will have to be rewritten).

Oh sorry, I wasn't aware of my inability to speak my mother tongue. I'll listen to you from now on, dear God of French Language.

It's not about being able to speak your mother tongue, it's about being able to analyse pronunciation... yargh you know what, I give up.

There is definitely no difference... in English halo/hello or French essentiel/essentielle. I can almost guarantee that the "subtle differences" are imagined, or only put there in speech when actually consciously considering the spelling. I challenge you to try and find a linguist's account of a phonemic difference between the two (because if there is one, a lot of books on French phonology will have to be rewritten).

To further back my case, the suffix -el/-elle is derived from the Latin suffixes -ālis/-āle neither of which had long consonants in Latin, and so don't in French (since French is a direct derivative of Latin). The difference is (now) purely orthographical, so any phonemic differences have either (a) arisen over the last few hundred years as a result of the orthography (unlikely, since French orthography didn't used to be standardised), or (b) don't actually exist.

Halo isn't really a very good example of comparing it, as it doesn't have the 'el' sound, it's 'hay' and 'low'. But if you compare 'celery', for example, to 'yellow' (both with the 'el' sound in them) then I think there could be a subtle difference. However, I agree that it could be a lot due to the spelling that this occurs and probably isn't actually 'meant' to be there.

You think that because you're looking for the differences. If you're looking for differences in pronunciations between words, and then you say the words, your subsequent pronunciation is automatically biased because you're looking for the differences. If you said the two in a normal conversation, took a recording and looked at the sound waves for the two L sounds, they'd be almost identical (with perhaps a slight discrepancy in that the vowel after the L in both words is different). It's not a case of it being "meant" to be there or not -- it's just not there! It's exactly the same thing with this whole argument that seems to have spurted out of nowhere about the French words.

I don't know why I actually care so much

You think that because you're looking for the differences. If you're looking for differences in pronunciations between words, and then you say the words, your subsequent pronunciation is automatically biased because you're looking for the differences. If you said the two in a normal conversation, took a recording and looked at the sound waves for the two L sounds, they'd be almost identical (with perhaps a slight discrepancy in that the vowel after the L in both words is different). It's not a case of it being "meant" to be there or not -- it's just not there! It's exactly the same thing with this whole argument that seems to have spurted out of nowhere about the French words.

I don't know why I actually care so much

I am not quoting because of you post. I am just amazed at how many posts youve made?! how did you manage that?!! xx