Nasal vowels

Summary

Nasal vowels are pronounced with air flowing through the nose; they are written as a vowel plus m or n that is not itself sounded.

Explanation

French has a set of nasal vowels — vowels produced by letting air escape through the nose at the same time as the mouth. Traditionally there are four: /ɑ̃/ as in dans, temps, an (a low back nasal), /ɔ̃/ as in bon, on, nom (a rounded back nasal), /ɛ̃/ as in vin, pain, plein, main (a front nasal), and /œ̃/ as in un, brun, parfum (a rounded front nasal). Each is a single vowel sound, not a vowel followed by a consonant.

The key point is that the m or n in the spelling is a nasalisation marker, not a pronounced consonant. In bon /bɔ̃/ you do not hear any /n/; the nasal quality is carried by the vowel itself. The spellings are systematic: an/am and en/em give /ɑ̃/ (m before p/b: champ, emporter); on/om gives /ɔ̃/ (nom, tomber); in/im, ain/aim, ein, yn/ym give /ɛ̃/ (vin, faim, plein, sympa); un/um gives /œ̃/ (lundi, parfum).

A vowel only nasalises when the n or m closes the syllable. If a vowel follows the n/m, or the consonant is doubled, the sound becomes oral and the n/m is pronounced normally: compare bon /bɔ̃/ with bonne /bɔn/, an /ɑ̃/ with année /ane/, plein /plɛ̃/ with pleine /plɛn/, and un /œ̃/ with une /yn/. This alternation is extremely useful, because it is exactly how many masculine/feminine and singular/plural pairs differ in sound.

Two further notes. First, in much of contemporary France the /œ̃/ of un is merging with the /ɛ̃/ of vin, so many speakers pronounce brun and brin almost identically; both are nonetheless understood, and the four-way system is still the reference for learners and for many regional accents (including Québec, where the contrast is robust). Second, nasalisation interacts with liaison: a nasal vowel often partly reopens and adds /n/ before a vowel, so bon ami is /bɔn‿ami/ even though bon alone is /bɔ̃/.

For production, aim the airflow partly through the nose without letting the tongue touch for an /n/. A practical drill is the minimal pairs beau /bo/ – bon /bɔ̃/, lait /lɛ/ – lin /lɛ̃/, and the masculine/feminine pairs above. Getting the nasal vowels right is one of the most audible markers of a good French accent, and confusing them (saying /bɔn/ for bon, or merging /ɑ̃/ and /ɔ̃/) is a frequent and noticeable learner error.

Examples

un bon vin blanc — a good white wine (Four nasal vowels in a row: /œ̃ bɔ̃ vɛ̃ blɑ̃/; no n or m is sounded.)

bon / bonne — good (m.) / good (f.) (Nasal /bɔ̃/, but doubled n in bonne makes it oral: /bɔn/.)

Il a un an. — He is one year old. (an is nasal /ɑ̃/; the feminine-like année reopens to oral /ane/.)

le pain et le vin — the bread and the wine (ain and in both spell /ɛ̃/: pain /pɛ̃/, vin /vɛ̃/.)

C'est un bon ami. — He is a good friend. (Liaison reopens the nasal: bon‿ami /bɔn‿ami/, though bon alone is /bɔ̃/.)

Common mistakes

Related rules

• Accents (é è ê ç)
• Silent letters
• Liaison
• Québec pronunciation: vowel oppositions, laxing, and diphthongization