FlexiLingoIn one line
Take a vowel you already say and send it through your nose — and the moment another vowel follows, the nasal switches off.
The table
| Written | Roughly | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
an am en em | "on" without the n | /ɑ̃/ | enfant temps |
in im ain aim ein | "an" without the n | /ɛ̃/ | matin pain plein |
on om | "own" without the n | /ɔ̃/ | bon nom |
un um | close to /ɛ̃/ today | /œ̃/ | un parfum |
ien | "yan" | /jɛ̃/ | bien italien |
oin | "wan" | /wɛ̃/ | loin besoin |
The switch-off rule — the only rule in this section
A nasal is only nasal when no vowel follows the
n/m.
| Word | Nasal? | Why |
|---|---|---|
matin | ✅ | that in is at the end of the word |
matinée | ❌ | an é follows the n → /ma.ti.ne/ |
bon | ✅ | nothing follows |
bonne | ❌ | the n is doubled → /bɔn/ |
cinéma | ❌ | an é follows the n → /si.ne.ma/ |
italien | ✅ | end of the word |
italienne | ❌ | the n is doubled → /i.ta.ljɛn/ |
And this is why making an adjective feminine changes its sound: bon /bɔ̃/ → bonne /bɔn/.
Exceptions
| Exception | What happens |
|---|---|
un and in have merged in modern French | most speakers say /ɛ̃/ for both. In Quebec they are still distinct |
em/am before b/p | still /ɑ̃/: emporter ambulance |
| Loanwords | week-end /wi.kɛnd/ parking — not nasalised |
enn and emm follow no rule | ennemi /ɛn.mi/ is oral but ennui /ɑ̃.nɥi/ stays nasal; and femme is /fam/. Learn all three separately |
monsieur | /mə.sjø/ — no rule survives contact with this word |
Examples
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
enfant | /ɑ̃.fɑ̃/ | child |
matin | /ma.tɛ̃/ | morning |
bon | /bɔ̃/ | good |
bonne | /bɔn/ | good (feminine) |
cinéma | /si.ne.ma/ | cinema |
italien | /i.ta.ljɛ̃/ | Italian |
italienne | /i.ta.ljɛn/ | Italian (feminine) |
besoin | /bə.zwɛ̃/ | need |
Common mistakes
| ❌ | ✅ | Why |
|---|---|---|
reading cinéma with a nasal | /si.ne.ma/ | A vowel follows the n → no nasal |
reading bonne as a nasal | /bɔn/ | The n is doubled → oral |
italienne as a nasal | /i.ta.ljɛn/ | The same rule |
pronouncing the n separately | /ɑ̃/ | In a nasal vowel the n has no sound of its own |
How to produce it
three steps, and the English-speaker's trap
1. Say the vowel normally — "ah" for /ɑ̃/. 2. Without closing your mouth, send the air out through your nose. 3. Your tongue must not touch the roof of your mouth.
The trap for an English speaker: you finish with an "n". "On-fon" instead of /ɑ̃.fɑ̃/. In French no "n" is heard at all — the letter is there to tell you the vowel is nasal, not to be pronounced.
But you already make nasal vowels in English, without noticing. Say "can't" and "cat" one after the other: in "can't" the vowel itself is nasalised before your tongue ever reaches the n. French keeps that nasalised vowel and simply never lets the tongue arrive. So the instruction is: say "can't" and stop before the n.
The physical test: pinch your nose and say enfant. If you are doing it right, the sound is strangled. If nothing changes, you are saying "an-fan" with oral vowels and two consonants.
And a minimal-pair drill:
| Oral | Nasal |
|---|---|
bonne /bɔn/ | bon /bɔ̃/ |
italienne /i.ta.ljɛn/ | italien /i.ta.ljɛ̃/ |
plaine /plɛn/ | plein /plɛ̃/ |
Say these pairs back to back until your ear separates them.