If actually producing the nasal sound is difficult for you, here are some tips: Forget the nose!Įverybody will tell you that the difference between a French nasal vowel and a plain oral French vowel is the air flow. Because the sound N and M exist in their own language, their body is able to find a way to produce a nasal sound. Many students are able to find the French nasal sound by simply mimicking the audio. How Do You Pronounce A Nasal Vowel In French? Now, let me explain how exactly we would pronounce a nasal vowel in French. Take for example the French first name “ Anne” – if you follow the logic of the nasal pronunciation are followed by a consonant, so they should lock into a nasal sound.Įxcept that this consonant is an N. That’s quite weird but N and M don’t count to lock in nasal sounds. The most important exception is the “ent” ending of a French verb which is always silent (never pronounced )Įx: ils chantent, elles chantaient Another N or M 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 Vowels lock into a nasal pronunciation with N or M when they are:ġ – Alone (I mean they are one single word)Ģ – When the vowel + N or M is at the end of a wordģ – When the vowel + N or M Is “locked in” by a consonant.Įx: on cle, am ple, om bre, oran ge, bon jour, am bulan ce, on t Exceptions When Do Vowels Followed By N or M Become Nasal ? But let’s see what kind of French words are pronounced in a nasal way.
#NOSE GOES RULE HOW TO#
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.Īctually, 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!īut understanding how to form the nasal u sound was what allowed me to guide my students into a French nasal pronunciation.
I personally pronounce the nasal un and the nasal in exactly the same way. French Nasal IN Vs French Nasal UN Pronunciation 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. Technically there is a fourth nasal sound… Former president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing pronounced it perfectly. I said three nasal sounds… but… A Disappearing French Nasal Sound Pain, faim, chien, Reims, vin, import, un, humble, thym, lynx Let’s study the pronunciation and possible spellings for the French nasal sounds: PhoneticĪin, aim, ein, eim, en, em, in, im, un, um, ym, yn
#NOSE GOES RULE FREE#
I’ll answer this and more in this free French lesson with audio. versus “ Cousin e” (i, normal vowel pronunciation and then the sound of the letter N).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: 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. It would have made things so much simpler! If it were up to me, I would have used some kind of accent over the vowel to indicate a nasal sound. Unfortunately, there are no specific signs to indicate whether a French vowel should be pronounced normally or in a nasal way. Is There A Specific Sign For Nasal Pronunciation in French? Click on the link next to the headphones to hear the French pronunciation. This free French lesson – like many on French Today’s blog – features audio recordings. The various French nasal sounds are displayed in this fun example : un bon vin blanc (a good white wine). A French nasal sound is a specific way to pronounce French vowels.
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