How to recognize nasal vowels

If a vowel is followed by an N or an M at the end of the word (ex. pain, faim)…

or

If a vowel is followed by an N or an M and another consonant that is NOT an N or an M (ex. vingt, sont, ont)…

…then it is a nasal vowel.

Which of these are nasal vowels?

bain blâme rien madame bien femme

piano vont en quinze bonjour prenne


(hint: there are 7)

When pronouncing nasal vowels, the air should be forced through the nose, not the mouth, which causes the nasal sound, and the consonants after the nasal vowel are NOT pronounced.

Pronunciation Tips

We talked tonight about how "ill" is pronounced like a "y" sound in French. Fille, famille, brilliant, travailler, maquiller, réveiller and gentille are all "y" pronunciations. The three exceptions to this rule are "Mille villes tranquilles" or "A thousand tranquil cities" who all have an "l" sound instead.

We also talked about how final consonant sounds are released at the end of a word. In English we can say "train" or "tram" or "cat" or other words that end in a consonant and we can leave our mouth in exactly the same position; with final "m"s like "tram", we don't even have to open our mouth at the end of the word. In French, however, you have to release the consonant sound at the end. After making the final sound, return your mouth to normal; there is usually a slight "e" sound that you'll hear as a result. This can lead people to think that we're pronouncing final "e"s in words like aime or faites or mange but it's actually the consonant being pronounced à la française- that is, with a clear beginning and end.