An Introduction to French Pronunciation

38 The Rhythmic Group
7.3.2 No complete set of hard-and-fast rules for dividing a
sentence into rhythmic groups can be given, but the following
indications should provide adequate guidance:
(i) The rhythmic group may or may not be followed by a
pause.
(ii) Wherever there is any kind of normal pause between
breath groups and/or sense groups, there is a division between
rhythmic groups (pauses for hesitation, as in Je vous ai . . . euh
. . . sousestimé, are excluded from this definition).
(iii) The rhythmic group coincides with one or more sense
groups.
(iv) Constructions such as the following can never be split,
i.e. they must fall within the same rhythmic group:
(a) preposition + noun phrase, pronoun, infinitive, etc., e.g.
pendant quelques instants; avant de partir;
(b) adjective + following noun, e.g. cette agréable surprise,
une charmante petite fille (but adjectives following the
noun may – but not necessarily – form a different rhythmic
group, e.g. c’est un étudiant | très intelligent; il a des
problèmes | insurmontables);
(c) subject and object pronouns and their verb, e.g. je vous
les donne; envoyez-le-moi (but a noun subject or object may
– but not necessarily – form a separate rhythmic group,
e.g. mon fils aîné | arrive demain or ils écrivent | plusieurs
lettres);
(d) auxiliary verb + past participle, e.g. nous avons fini; (mon
frère) est parti; (mon frère) sera choqué.
7.3.3 The rhythmic groups are quite short – usually only
three or four syllables and rarely more than seven syllables.
So, for example, while mon frère arrive would normally be
treated as one group and mon frère arrive demain might or
might not be divided (with a division before or after arrive), it
is highly likely that the following only slightly longer utterances
would be divided as indicated: mon frère aîné | arrive
demain, mon frère arrive | demain matin; likewise, while il fait