The nasal vowels in French
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is followed by a nasal consonant “n” or “m”
There are four nasal vowels in French, which could be sum up in these two little sentences:
- un bon vin blanc (a nice white wine)
- un grand pain rond (a big round bread)
| nasal vowels | un | on | vin | an |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| phonetic | [œ̃] | [ɔ̃] | [ɛ̃] | [ã] |
| Examples | UN | BON | VIN | BLANC |
| nasal vowels | un | an | ain | on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| phonetic | [œ̃] | [ã] | [ɛ̃] | [ɔ̃] |
| Examples | UN | GRAND | PAIN | ROND |
Even though we could list four nasal vowels in the French language, we could actually shorten the list to three. In a lot of places, like in Paris for example, people do not really make the distinction between [œ̃] and [ɛ̃]. We just pronounce it as if both were the same.
Please watch our video below, you will see the different types of spelling for these three sounds:
