An Introduction to French Pronunciation

Liaison 141
19.6.2 The following, then (19.6.3–19.6.6), are some of the
most important contexts in which the use of a liaison form is
‘generally acceptable’. One can go even further and advise the
foreign learner to use the liaison form in such contexts unless
and until his or her own observation of the conversational
practice of native-speakers of French suggests that it would
be more usual not to do so – and, while we do not wish to
complicate the issue unduly here by commenting on every
one of the following subcategories, it will be noticed that,
in some but not all contexts, it is more usual not to use the
liaison form.
19.6.3 Between parts of être or avoir and a past participle
(see also 19.5.4 (iv)) and between parts of aller or devoir and
an infinitive, e.g. je suis allé /ʒc sdiz ale/, nous sommes arrivés
/nu sbmz arive/, tu étais allé /ty etεz ale/, nous avons écrit
/nuz avfz ekri/, vous avez eu /vuz avez y/, j’avais été /ʒavεz
ete/, ils avaient entendu /ilz avεt etedy/, nous allons arriver
/nuz alfz arive/, je dois avouer /ʒc dwaz avwe/. (According
to Fouché, 1969: 474, there is, however, no liaison after tu
seras, tu as and tu auras.)
19.6.4 Between parts of être and a following adjective or
noun, e.g. je suis heureux /ʒc sdiz œrø/, tu es impardonnable
/ty εz hpardbnabl/, vous étiez avocat /vuz etjez avbka/.
19.6.5 Between pas, jamais or assez and a following word
or phrase with which it is closely associated in meaning, e.g.
( je ne suis) pas heureux /paz œrø/, (il n’est) pas ici /paz isi/,
pas encore /paz ekb:r/, (ils n’iront) pas à Paris /paz a pari/,
(il n’y a) jamais été /ʒamεz ete/, (il n’en a) jamais assez /ʒamεz
ase/, assez important /asez hpbrte/.
19.6.6 After the bisyllabic prepositions après, depuis, devant,
pendant, e.g. après un mois /aprεz j mwa/, après avoir fini
/aprεz avwar fini/, depuis octobre /dcpdiz bktbbr/, devant une
fenêtre /dcvet yn fcnεtr/, pendant une heure /pedet yn œ:r/;