S between vowels: why it becomes a Z sound

What you’ll learn Understand why ‘s’ often sounds like ‘z’ between vowels (maison, chose) and how to control it. Key ideas (keep these in your head) • Single ‘s’ between vowels is often voiced: /z/ (maison). • Double ‘ss’ stays unvoiced: /s/ (passe). • This voicing change is common and affects comprehension and spelling intuition. Real examples (French → what you often hear → English) • Une maison → une mai zon → A house • Je passe → je passe → I pass / I’m passing • C’est une chose → c’est une choze → It’s a thing Drills z_sound maison, raison, chose, visage s_sound passe, classe, dessus, possible Common mistakes (and quick fixes) • Keeping /s/ in maison (sounds foreign). Fix: voice it to /z/ between vowels. • Voicing ‘ss’. Fix: keep double ‘ss’ crisp /s/. Quick self-check Record: maison / passe / raison / classe. Can you keep the /z/ vs /s/ contrast consistent?