how to pronounce bête

/bɛt/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of bête is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

bête is pronounced in one syllable

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1. example pitch curve for pronunciation of bête

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video examples of bête pronunciation

An example use of bête in a speech by a native speaker of standard french:

“… pour une raison toute bête c'est que ça …”

meanings of bête

adjective:

Not very bright and lacking in judgement; stupid; inept.
Having a bad character or in a bad mood; showing great displeasure in interacting with people; ill-tempered.
Which could have been easily averted; silly.

noun:

Beast, animal.

bête frequency in french - B1 level of CEFR

the word bête occurs in french on average 43.1 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for B1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.