Is there an app that checks my French pronunciation?

Yes. TonePerfect listens to you say a French word or sentence and scores the whole recording, each word and every sound inside each word from 0 to 100. Obligatory liaison is scored as part of the word, so a dropped liaison in les amis shows up as a wrong sound, and every vowel, the nasal vowels and the u of tu included, gets its own score.

You can try it free on this page, in the browser, with no signup. The TonePerfect app (iOS, Android and web) does the same for lessons, reviews of your weakest sounds and any text you type.

Updated 30 October 2026 · Written by TonePerfect, which makes the app described here.

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What it checks

French: obligatory liaison is scored as part of the word, so a dropped liaison shows up as a wrong sound.
TonePerfect aligns your recording with the text you were asked to say and scores the whole recording, each word and each individual sound inside each word, from 0 to 100.
You read a known text (a test prompt or anything you type), so the score describes how you said exactly those words.
Your weakest sounds are ranked, so you know what to practise first.

the French 'r' sound (rouge): The back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate — where you say 'g' — and air rubs gently past it, like a very soft gargle. The tongue tip stays down and never taps or curls as in an English 'r'.
the French 'u' sound (tu): Say 'ee' and keep your tongue exactly there while rounding your lips into a tight circle. If it sounds like 'ou' your tongue slid back — it must stay far forward.
the 'ou' sound (vous): Lips in a tight round circle, tongue pulled far back and high — deeper and tenser than the English 'oo' of 'food'.
the nasal 'an' sound (enfant): Open your mouth wide as for 'ah' and send the air through your nose. Written an, en, am, em — and no 'n' is ever pronounced after it.
the nasal 'on' sound (bon): Round your lips as for a deep 'o' and let the air flow through your nose at the same time. Your tongue must not touch anywhere — there is no 'n' consonant at the end of 'bon'.
the nasal 'in' sound (vin): Start from the open 'è' of 'mère', keep the mouth there, and let the air pass through your nose. Written in, ain, ein, and also un/um — keep it well apart from 'an' and 'on'. Words spelled with 'un' (un, brun, parfum) use this same sound.
the closed 'eu' sound (deux): Say 'é' and, without moving your tongue, round your lips as for 'o'. Tense and steady — the vowel of 'deux' and 'peu'.
the open 'œu' sound (sœur): Say the open 'è' and round your lips at the same time. More open than the 'eu' of 'deux' — the vowel of 'sœur', 'peur', 'heure'.
the 'ui' glide (nuit): Start from the tight rounded 'u' of 'tu' and glide instantly into the next vowel. Lips stay rounded but the tongue is far forward — 'nuit' is not 'noo-ee', it is one quick syllable.
the 'gn' sound (montagne): Press the middle of the tongue against the hard palate (tip stays down behind the lower teeth) and hum through the nose — like the 'ny' in 'canyon' said as one sound.
the closed 'é' sound (été): A crisp, tense 'ay' with no glide: tongue high-mid and forward, lips slightly spread, and hold the mouth frozen — English 'day' drifts, French 'é' does not.
the 'j' sound (jour): Make the 'ch' of 'chat' and switch your voice on — a soft buzzing 'zh' as in 'vision'. French 'j' is never the English 'dj' of 'jump'.

What it does not do

It does not return a transcript of what you said.
It does not tell you which sound it thought you said instead of the expected one. The exception is Mandarin tones, where it shows which tone it heard.
It does not give an exam grade, or a CEFR, HSK, JLPT or TOPIK level.
It does not score sentence intonation, sentence stress or Japanese pitch accent.

What makes any automatic check less reliable

Background noise, music or other voices.
A clipped start, when the recording begins after you have started speaking.
Whispering, which has no voiced pitch to measure.
Very fast connected speech, where words and syllables run into each other.

How to check any French pronunciation checker in two minutes

Go somewhere quiet, hold the microphone close and speak at normal volume.
Record dessus (on top) with a real French u: lips rounded, tongue forward.
Record dessus again, this time with the ou of dessous (underneath).
A checker that hears French vowels must score that vowel lower in the second take. If both takes score the same, it is not judging that sound.
For liaison, record les amis with the z sound linking the two words, then without it. The second take should lose points.
Repeat each take three times. One take can be off; the pattern over three takes is what counts.
To run it on TonePerfect, type the words into the recorder at the top of this page.

Other ways to get feedback on your French

A teacher or tutor. Hears everything, including rhythm and melody that no app scores, and can explain what to change. Only available during lessons, and paid by the hour (for example on italki or Preply).
Recording yourself next to native audio. Free and always available: Forvo has words recorded by native speakers and YouGlish plays a word inside real videos. You are the judge, which works once your ear can already hear the difference.
Your phone’s dictation. Switch the keyboard to the language and dictate. If the right text comes out, you were understood. It is free, but speech recognition guesses words from context, so it forgives many mistakes and never says which sound was off.
Human-feedback services such as Speechling. A coach listens to your recordings and sends corrections, after a delay.
Speaking exercises in course apps (Duolingo, Babbel, Rosetta Stone). Useful practice, but they usually mark a whole word or phrase right or wrong instead of scoring each sound.

Questions

Does it check liaison?+

Yes, obligatory liaison. It is scored as part of the word, so les amis said without the z link shows up as a wrong sound.

Does it check nasal vowels and the French u?+

Yes. Every phoneme gets its own score, including the nasal vowels (on, an, in) and the u of tu, which are the sounds English speakers most often replace.

Is TonePerfect free?+

Partly. The pronunciation tests on toneperfect.app are free and need no account, and the app has a free tier with daily limits; Premium is a paid subscription.

Which devices does TonePerfect work on?+

TonePerfect runs on iPhone and iPad (App Store), Android (Google Play) and the web at web.toneperfect.app, and the free tests on toneperfect.app work in a phone or desktop browser once you allow the microphone.

What happens to my recordings?+

It depends on where you record. On toneperfect.app, the free browser tests and tools use your recording to compute your score, and TonePerfect does not store it unless you are signed in, have confirmed you are an adult and have turned on “contribute recordings to research”. In the TonePerfect app, scored recordings are saved with your account until you delete the account.

How accurate is TonePerfect?+

TonePerfect has not published an accuracy figure. Its scores are a practice signal for comparing your own recordings over time and finding your weakest sounds, not a certification or an exam grade.

Free tools

The TonePerfect app turns the sounds you miss into a few minutes of daily practice. Free to start.

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