The Fluidity of French Stress Patterns

You've been stressing French words all wrong. In French, the accent isn't

fixed on a word; it moves! The stress always lands on the very last syllable of

a phrase or a group of words. Think about it: you say "un pan-ta-LON," stressing the end.

But if you say "un pan-ta-lon BLEU," the stress shifts to "bleu." The accent on "pantalon"

just vanishes. This is why French sounds so smooth and connected. You’re not saying

individual words; you’re speaking in rhythmic groups, making everything flow together like

one long, musical word. It’s all about the flow