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A comment on French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’. Parent comment

Re:French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’ by tsimionescu on Wednesday June 09, 2021 @06:33PM (#27454162)
Those are some good examples, you're right. It is quite a bit less regular than I remembered from my high-school days.

For 'er' though, isn't the rule essentially that it is pronounced 'a' at the end of verbs, and 'ar' otherwise? I realize that is not a phonetic rule, though.

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Re:French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’ by dwohnitmok on Wednesday June 09, 2021 @06:39PM (#27454227)
Unfortunately no. See e.g. boulanger, cahier, etc. (Although I do believe you're correct about verbs, I wasn't able to think of any verbs that pronounce "er" irregularly).

I don't know of any regular, even semantic, rule off the top of my head that covers when it should be pronounced which way for non-verbs. I wonder if someone more versed in French etymology could find one.

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