Visit http://www.englishpronunciationcourse.com to sign up for the FREE, 8-part Pronunciation Short Course.<br /><br />Hi, I'm Heather Hansen, Clear Speech Specialist at English Pronunciation Lab, and I'm here today with a very special Valentine's Day Pronunciation Quick Fix.<br /><br />So what is our very special Valentine's Day word? Well, it's none other than "rendezvous".<br /><br />Rendezvous, rendezvous. <br />3 syllables, word stress on the first syllable: ren (ron).<br /><br />This is a great Valentine's Day word because in English it can be used as either a verb or a noun. The verb means to meet with someone special, and it has an element of secrecy to it. So you might rendezvous with a very close friend or a lover. As a noun, the word means an actual place where you like to meet people.<br /><br />Looking more closely at the pronunciation, this word comes from French so the pronunciation does not follow the spelling and is probably different than you'd expect. There should not be a Z sound or an S sound. So no, 'rendezz-vousss'. That's not nice! Pretend the Z and the S don't even exist: RON-day-voo, RON-day-voo.<br /><br />Used in a sentence:<br />Do you and your beau have plans to rendezvous tonight?<br />That cafe is our favorite rendezvous.<br />Let's rendezvous tonight. (wink!)<br /><br />So there you have it! Rendezvous - in under 60 seconds.
