There has been quite a bit of uncertainty and maybe even debate with friends and family over the last few years over the pronunciation of our favorite downtown restaurant. In his chat today, Tom Sietsema was asked to set the story straight:
Arlington, Va.: Please settle a debate. How, precisely, do you pronounce “Les Halles”?
Thank you!
Tom Sietsema: You say: Lay-AHL (there’s no “s” sound on the end)
Naturally, being a Sietsema chat, there was more discussion:
Les Halles: Wrong, wrong. It’s lay-zahl. H counts as a vowel, so you slur the s into the H. Also, this is how Tony Bourdain pronounces it in the audio version of his book (he reads it himself).
Tom Sietsema: Uh oh! I should know better than to trust the person who answers the phone – at Les Halles! I don’t trust my college French.
Read on, though …
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Washington, D.C. : Actually, some regions would pronounce Les Halles “lay zahl”. I have been corrected several times – it seems I never select the correct dialect for the person I’m with.
Tom Sietsema: Aha!
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Re: Les Halles: Uhh, Tom…it’s LAYS-Ahl. Since you have a vowel sound begining the second word you pronounce the s in “Les”
Tom Sietsema: Then there’s this!
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Les Halles: If anyone is questioning Tom’s pronunciation, he is indeed correct. My grandmother was a university-level French professor, and one morning, after hearing us call it “Lez Ahl” (with the liason between the two words) she erupted with the fact that it is, indeed “LAY AHL.” If I recall, the lack of liason has something to do with the name of the Paris neighborhood, which has its origins in Latin.
Tom Sietsema: Who knew that there was no right answer?
A linguist in LAY AHL: LAY AHL! No liaison.
It depends on the origin of the noun on question. Since you probably won’t be researching the origins of all the French words you’ll be using, you just have to memorize which nouns get liaison and which don’t. For instance, you say le hockey, not l’hockey.
Tom Sietsema: Am I redeemed or what?
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Washington, D.C.: I just googled “Les Halles pronunciation” and the top 5 hits agreed with you — for some reason in this instance you don’t pronounce the “z” sound.Tom Sietsema: This is getting murkier and murkier….
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No right answer….: How very French !
Tom Sietsema: Mais oui.
Well, that settles it…I guess.
By the way, another big thanks to Tom for treating Erica and me to Les Halles for my birthday.
Web site: Les Halles Washington D.C.