Talk:Les Halles

Les Halles

The issue No. 024-B. 2005 of the journal Le Courrier australien contains an interesting article (in French) on the remodelling project, recently awarded to the French architect David Mangin (Seura).China town — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.229.172.28 (talk) 06:27, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Pronunciation

Is it really pronounced /le al/ or is there elision, so that it's more like /les al/ ? Since the H is not pronounced, it seems to me that this would be the correct pronunciation, but I have never heard "Les Halles" spoken by a native French speaker, so I can't be sure... Starrynight06 (talk) 15:30, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

--- Yes, that is the proper pronunciation. Native French speakers will correct you if you add an elision. The H in Les Halles is aspirated, meaning that neither elision nor contraction is done. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.17.148.73 (talk) 00:25, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Firstly, the pronunciation of an otherwise silent consonant before vowels or aspirate h is known as 'liaison', not elision. Elision is the suppression of a final vowel - in both spelling and pronunciation - before the vowel which begins the following word, to be replaced by an apostrophe, as in: ce + est = c'est). Otherwise, it is true to say that 'halle' begins with an aspirate h and therefore 'les halles' is pronounced /le al/. Parisians will tell you that it is a common mistake committed by non-native speakers to liaise Les Halles. I lived in France for a year, and I studied at the Sorbonne. Can people who don't know what they're talking about please refrain from changing it back to /lay zal/? Iantnm (talk) 16:21, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

In fact, you can listen to the pronunciation here: http://forvo.com/word/les_halles/. Mateat (talk) 02:48, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

What exactly is [lay alle] supposed to be? There is no y or j sound in Les Halles. It is pronounced /le al/ as mentioned by others above, short and dry. The reason why it has no liaison is that it originally derives from a non-French word (market halls). ♆ CUSH ♆ 19:37, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

It's been incorrectly "corrected" to [lez al], I am going to put it back. 82.28.107.46 (talk) 19:53, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

Whilst in the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables it has been shockingly mispronounced with the liaison ‘Lez-al’. I would have expected a better attention to detail from this institution. Or were they Anglifying for the hell of it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.96.8.230 (talk) 12:28, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

Image of old Halles?

Bird's-eye view of the central market of Paris in 1863, designed by Victor Baltard

Can we use the image that is used in the French article? ♆ CUSH ♆ 18:13, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Big, gaping hole in the posterior: The new Halles

Many Parisians would say that Les Halles contributed to slumming down this central area of the city, and for that and many other reasons it is currently being demolished to be replaced by another French grand design: La Canopée. Someone with an understanding of the problems related to Les Halles and knowledge of the new plans now being realised could do much to improve the value of this article. 178.32.114.131 (talk) 17:27, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

Actually, construction has already begun (I had started to describe it in the article but i got reverted).

I doubt that changes in the architecture will keep away the riff-raff (and the sparrows that stay in the vicinity of the Quick restaurant). What the place needs is a daily cleaning-service. ♆ CUSH ♆ 18:54, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Copy

ovA_165443 (talk) 16:17, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

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• La Canopée du Forum des Halles.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:06, 21 October 2025 (UTC)