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FRENCH PRONUNCIATION

In, On, An: The 3 French Nasal Sounds

Explained With Audio Examples
By Camille Chevalier-Karfis Updated: Oct 10, 2022

How do you pronounce French nasal vowels? When do a in, on, an lock into a
nasal sound? Clear explanations with audio, many examples with English
translation.

French pronunciation is not that tricky, but the pronunciation and formation of
French nasals needs to be explained clearly. So first, let me explain what a
“nasal” sound means.

Table of Contents
What’s a French Nasal Sound?
Is There A Specific Sign For Nasal Pronunciation in French?
The 3 French Nasal Vowels Sounds
Plain French Vowels vs Nasal Vowels
When Do Vowels Followed By N or M Become Nasal ?
Exceptions
How Do You Pronounce A Nasal Vowel In French?
Now What?

What’s A French Nasal Sound?

A French nasal sound is a specific way to pronounce French vowels.

The various French nasal sounds are displayed in this fun example : 🎧 un bon
vin blanc (a good white wine).

This free French lesson – like many on French Today’s blog – features audio
recordings. Click on the link next to the headphones to hear the French
pronunciation.

Is There A Specific Sign For Nasal Pronunciation

In French?
Unfortunately, there are no specific signs to indicate whether a French vowel
should be pronounced normally or in a nasal way. If it were up to me, I would
have used some kind of accent over the vowel to indicate a nasal sound. Like
ã ĩ õ…
It would have made things so much simpler!

Instead, someone decided that the way to write a nasal sound in French was to
write a vowel followed by an N or an M. “An, on, im, un, etc…”

The tricky thing for students of French is understanding when a vowel + N or M

will “lock” into a nasal pronunciation… or just be the vowel sound and an N or
an M sound… as in:

“🎧 Cousin” (i nasal pronunciation)

versus “🎧 Cousine” (i, normal vowel pronunciation and then the sound of
the letter N).

I’ll answer this and more in this free French lesson with audio.

The 3 French Nasal Vowels Sounds

Let’s study the pronunciation and possible spellings for the French nasal
sounds:

Phonetic
Name Possible spellings
Symbol
 🎧 ɑ̃
nasal
a
an, am, aon, en, em,
🎧 blanc, 🎧 ambiance, 🎧 paon, 🎧 enfant, 🎧 temps
ain, aim, ein, eim, en, em, in, im, un, um, ym, yn
🎧 ɛ̃
nasal
🎧 pain, 🎧 faim, 🎧 chien, 🎧 Reims, 🎧 vin, 🎧 import,
i
🎧 un, 🎧 humble, 🎧 thym, 🎧 lynx
🎧 ɔ̃
nasal
o
on, om
🎧 bon, 🎧 ombre

I said three nasal sounds… but…

A Disappearing French Nasal Sound

Technically there is a fourth nasal sound… Former president Valéry Giscard
d’Estaing pronounced it perfectly.

🎧 œ̃ nasal u
un, um
🎧 un, 🎧 humble

To pronounce this nasal vowel, you need to really drop your chin: since people
tend to articulate and enunciate less and less, this sound, very closed to the
nasal i sound is disappearing.

French Nasal IN Vs French Nasal UN Pronunciation

I personally pronounce the nasal un and the nasal in exactly the same way. I
can hardly hear the difference actually… but I see the difference in the jaw
motion: some people drop their jaw to say “un”… I don’t: I open my lips to the
side like a smile.

Actually, now that I listen to the recordings I made, I really cannot hear any
difference between a nasal in 🎧 ɛ̃ and a nasal un 🎧 œ̃ : I did record with the
right jaw motion though… That’s to show how much this sound is indeed
disappearing if I can’t even mimic it correctly!

But understanding how to form the nasal u sound was what allowed me to
guide my students into a French nasal pronunciation. But more about this
later…

First, let’s see what makes vowels followed by N or M lock into a nasal
pronunciation…

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pronunciation drills in my audiobook Secrets of French Pronunciation.
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More Details & Audio Samples

Plain French Vowels Vs Nasal Vowels

When a vowel + N or M is followed by another vowel, then it always breaks the
nasal combo…

Let’s take some examples:

1. 🎧 Ami (i breaks the nasal) – 🎧 Ambulance (b after [🎧 am] combo and c

after [🎧 an] combo = nasal)

2. 🎧 Une (e breaks the nasal) – 🎧 Un (nothing to break the [🎧 un] combo =

nasal)

3. 🎧 Cousine (e breaks the nasal) – 🎧 Cousin (nothing to break the [🎧 in]

combo = nasal)

So, this is the general idea. But let’s see what kind of French words are
pronounced in a nasal way.
When Do Vowels Followed By N Or M Become
Nasal ?
Vowels lock into a nasal pronunciation with N or M when they are:

1 – Alone (I mean they are one single word)

Ex: 🎧 an, 🎧 on, 🎧 un, 🎧 en…
2 – When the vowel + N or M is at the end of a word
Ex: 🎧 son, 🎧 pain, 🎧 fin
3 – When the vowel + N or M Is “locked in” by a consonant.
Ex: 🎧 oncle, 🎧 ample, 🎧 ombre, 🎧 orange, 🎧 bonjour, 🎧 ambulance,
🎧 ont
Exceptions
Hey! This is the French language… You didn’t think there wasn’t going to be
exceptions, did you?

“Ent” at the end of a verb

The most important exception is the “ent” ending of a French verb which is
always silent (never pronounced [ 🎧 an])
Ex: 🎧 ils chantent, 🎧 elles chantaient
Another N or M
That’s quite weird but N and M don’t count to lock in nasal sounds.
Take for example the French first name “ 🎧 Anne” – if you follow the logic of
the nasal pronunciation [An] are followed by a consonant, so they should lock
into a nasal sound.
Except that this consonant is an N. So it doesn’t count.
Ex: 🎧 Anne, 🎧 bonne, 🎧 immortel, 🎧 vienne
Now, let me explain how exactly we would pronounce a nasal vowel in French.

How Do You Pronounce A Nasal Vowel In

French?
Many students are able to find the French nasal sound by simply mimicking the
audio. Because the sound N and M exist in their own language, their body is
able to find a way to produce a nasal sound.

If actually producing the nasal sound is difficult for you, here are some tips:

Forget the nose!

Everybody will tell you that the difference between a French nasal vowel and a
plain oral French vowel is the air flow.

In a French nasal vowel, the air escapes through the mouth (like for all vowels)
AND through the nose.

That’s great, but what does it mean? You are certainly not blowing air through
your nose… Some methods will tell you to put a finger under your nose and
you should feel some air.
Well… I tried it… I don’t feel any air myself…
I know for a fact that air goes through the nose when you say a nasal vowel,
but… I can’t really feel it.

So I don’t think this is going to be very helpful to you…

So let’s try another angle. We’re going to exaggerate the mouth position until
you unlock this weird French sound.

Focus on your chin

Go in front of a mirror.

Now really drop your chin down and in front: imagine you wanted to push a
button in front of you with your chin. Your tongue tends to go towards the back
of your mouth.

Doing this motion will force your soft palate and uvula down allowing some of
the air to go through your nose… That’s the base for any nasal sound.

Focus on your lips position

Now that your chin and tongue are in position, exaggerate your lip position to
modulate the nasal sound.

Phonetic
Name Lip postion
Symbol

🎧 ɑ̃ nasal a Lips open wide in a square shape

 🎧 ɛ̃ nasal i Lips on the side like a smile

🎧 ɔ̃ nasal o Lips push in front and almost closed like a kiss

French nasal pronunciation exercises

Try it out, repeat after me: exaggerate your chin, tongue, lips position and
repeat after playing the audio. Look for the sound.

1. 🎧 an, 🎧 blanc, 🎧 ambiance, 🎧 paon, 🎧 enfant, 🎧 temps

2. 🎧 in, 🎧 pain, 🎧 faim, 🎧 chien, 🎧 Reims, 🎧 vin, 🎧 import, 🎧 un,
🎧 humble, 🎧 thym, 🎧 lynx
3. 🎧 on, 🎧 bon, 🎧 ombre, 🎧 oncle, 🎧 bonjour, 🎧 sont

Still not enough? Here is another trick:

Last trick!
Keep doing the same thing with your chin, tongue, lips… but now pinch your
nose! It will create a stronger vibration of the air that’s in your nasal pathways
so you’re likely to “feel” it more.

You have to look for it still: I’m able to pinch my noise and still produce an oral
vowel sound… So you may have to look for the sound. Imagine you want to
sound like someone that has a very nasal accent, like maybe a midwestern
accent.
Concentrate on what’s happening just where your tongue meets your throat.
Something has changed. It’s actually your soft palate going down.

Play around and see if you can find the nasal sounds.

Let your body find a natural way

Once you’ve found the sound, there’s easier way to get there than over
exaggerating each motion… Let your body find its own way.

Chances are that soon, you’ll mostly need to focus on your lips position and
dropping your soft palate will become very natural: you won’t even have to
think about it!

Now What?
Now that you know the theory, only practice will truly help you master the
French nasal sound. I suggest you check out my French audio novels to train on
your French pronunciation in the context of a fun, level adapted French story.
Reading along the transcript as you hear me read the story will help you
develop a sense for when a word is nasal or not.

Please consider supporting my free French lesson creation: we’re a tiny

husband-and-wife company in France.
Support us on Patreon or by purchasing our unique audiobooks to learn
French. Instant download. Learn French offline, at home or on the go on any
device!
 CAMILLE CHEVALIER-KARFIS

Born and raised in Paris, I have been teaching today's French to adults for 25+
years in the US and France. Based on my students' goals and needs, I've
created unique downloadable French audiobooks focussing on French like it's
spoken today, for all levels. Come to Paimpol and enjoy an exclusive French
immersion homestay with me in Brittany.

More Articles from Camille Chevalier-Karfis

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 1 Share Best Newest Oldest

− ⚑
S
Sirazideen
7 months ago

I love too much your explanation thanks very much .

But immortel sound not even other
Example: Un-mor-tel but why im-mor-tel ?
my email: sirazideen@gmail.com

0 0 Reply ⥅

− ⚑
F
fjdkjf
2 years ago

Hello, in your recordings of pronouncing "ambiance," "import," "humble," "ombre," "orange" and "bonjour,"
for me, it really sounds as if you're pronouncing the silent 'm' and 'n,' which is confusing. Took me a
separate check to ensure they are not.

0 0 Reply ⥅

disqus_72GXGq6drQ − ⚑
2 years ago

Super!

0 0 Reply ⥅

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