Learning French is one thing. Learning to pronounce it correctly is another. On one hand, it seems as though you can just ignore half the letters because a lot of them aren’t pronounced. On the other hand, subtle differences — like the one between the French u and the French ou — seem to matter a lot.

French teacher Audrey admits that the French u sound is difficult to hear and pronounce for a lot of learners. Many of her students either use the English pronunciation of u or pronounce it the same way as ou, which can lead to misunderstandings.

To help her students, Audrey shows them where the difference between u and ou is physically in her mouth. Here is her quick guide to nailing the difference:

• u: Lips in whistling position, tongue touching your bottom teeth
• ou: Lips in whistling position, tongue at the bottom of your mouth