The nasal vowels [ã], [õ], [ɛ̃] and [œ̃] - French pronunciation in context

👉 Learn how to pronounce the nasal vowels [ã], [õ], [ɛ̃] and [œ̃] in French!
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🎬 In this VIDEO
- Minimal pair exercises
- Guidance about tongue position/mouth aperture/lips position
- Practice of the sounds in context
Please accept my apologies should you come across any mistake in the text :/
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[@pilot3605]

I swear the second and third are identical, this is gonna be brutal....

[@orangegab06]

True BUT actually in modern times, the big majority of French people don't distinguish anymore, we tend to pronounce both as "in". The distinction as stated in the video is mostly a characteristic of the French language from 50 years ago (yet still present in some regions of France), but if I were you I'd only learn the "in" pronunciation

[@invock]

1:38 As a french native, I would advise learners not to formalize too much about the difference between [ɛ̃] and [œ̃]. The difference is most of the time imperceptible or downright inexistent, even for native speakers. Just learn [ã], [ɛ̃] and [õ], master the difference between those three, that's the hardest part for most foreigners. [œ̃] is a bit overkill and will not make an enormous difference in the long run.

[@arieleduardo2492]

C'est très gentil, merci beaucoup!

[@ClownZeste]

As a french native too, I don't agree. There is a big difference between this two sounds. Only people from Paris, or from the north of France don't do the difference. It's not "most people". In Belgium and in Québec they do the difference too.

[@Explore_french]

That's true, those sounds are not really distinguished... especially in northern France. In the south, where I'm from, we do distinguish them very clearly, but it's definitely not shocking to hear [ɛ̃] instead of [œ̃]. People in Southern France may just call you "a Parisian" :D Joke apart, I personally make a clear difference between "un" [œ̃] and "hein?" [ɛ̃] for instance. It's all about the lips :)

[@xolang]

@@ClownZeste in Switzerland too. besides, even in northern France you hear a difference in "UN INstant". it's not like you suddenly say it like "in instant" or "un unstant".

[@devinaayona3785]

merci pour le conseil!

[@willhenry8293]

This is the gold standard of pronunciation videos. I wish others followed this format

[@polyky]

as a native speaker from Paris, the nasal vowels in lin and l'un and geindre and jungle and brin and brun sound identical

[@VentraleStar]

Yes, this is so problematic for me. Parisians have eliminated the distinction which makes it so hard for me to understand them sometimes.

[@polyky]

@Real Aiglon I mean it's a bit of an exaggeration to respond in such a way but I will say that it's quite strange for someone who speaks a dialect of French to have trouble understanding a Parisien

[@HoangNguyen-yg5mq]

I just wanna write to you since I watched all your 7 videos. It's SUPER informative for beginners like me. I hope that you make more videos but no one really noticed it and you may have quitt youtube. I figure but I just wanna know that I highly appreciate your efforts and I also hope people notice your work more. Hope this makes your day. Good luck my friend and thank you for your videos. Merci!

[@nehankaranch2149]

Good

[@thetongueofangels1882]

Same here

[@HaGiaHan1989]

you are a very good teacher. Merci !

[@RochuBlack]

Oh god this was SUPER helpful, thank you so much!! my lil spanish speaking ass can only make five vowel sounds and that's it.

[@josephpopewiny2641]

Great video, thank you!

[@lynnsu3924]

Merci beaucoup!

[@tarungaur5961]

Grear pictures for learning

[@blxckcxt66]

Im brazilian and im so happy knowing that people struggles with nasal songs the same way we struggle with the "th" sound in english. I just learned that nasal sounds only exists in few languages, i really didnt knew

[@nelsonacosta007]

Hey bro. You Brazilians also have nasal sounds, don't you?

[@maurosanchez1322]

@@nelsonacosta007 Pretty sure he meant nasal vowels, I believe nasal sounds aren't that uncommon but nasal vowels are.

[@naoi8087]

I like your vedio👍👍👍👍👍

[@Bee-zk8ci]

2:10 Reminds me of Minecraft's Villagers

[@david_contente]

I speak Portuguese so these nasal sounds are sooooooooooooooo easy for me _lol_

[@xibokamania]

I speak portuguese and can't tell the diference between "un" and "fin"

[@-wil2013]

Olá Xibokamania. In France, Parisian people pronounce "in" and "un" as the same sound, but in the South of France and Quebec, they pronounce them differently.

[@LiborSupcik]

@@xibokamania these palavras use the same vowel

[@alexquintero1314]

I'm Mexican and I'm struggling 😣

[@xolang]

@@-wil2013 in Switzerland and Belgium they generally sound different too.

[@mrsoready]

I think I always hear the beginning of the -n- sound in -on, -en,-an etc.

[@jerandycraft3683]

This was a actually a good video on the double vowels! I am going to share it! I'm going to watch this repeatedly until I get them right!

[@darkseed2k9]

ɛ is the E pronunciation in "bet" in English and in "mel" in Portuguese. When I pronounce this phonem with nasal air flow, it does not sound like the "in" in "matin". The latter sound closer to Portuguese ã to me. Am I the only one having problems with that? I do not know if that matters, but I am Brazilian.

[@-wil2013]

Olá Alan. I'm glad to help you ! You don't have problem, because Parisian people pronounce the "in" sound in "matin" as the Portuguese "ã", but Southern French people and Canadian people pronounce it as the Portuguese "en" in "entrar". If you want, you can listen accents there: fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/cinq#Prononciation

[@xolang]

actually I'd say that IN and UN among many speakers in France end up sounding like UN, instead of IN as the way it's shown at 1:45.

[@broccoli9308]

I've found the mapping between French and Portuguese nasals difficult because they don't quite align. The "in" in matin doesn't sound like ã though, but more like -em as in Belem, porém, tem, viagens, etc.

[@broccoli9308]

They say Parisian accent have lost [œ̃] and only has [ɛ̃] but it's actually the other way around. If you listen to southern French or Québec French you will hear the [ɛ̃] as a much more opened sound from what pronounced here.

[@JaNeZoKu]

French sounds so sensual :)

[@Azulblueone]

thanks!

[@elireishere]

In Québec l'un is pronounced pretty differently from the way you say it, closer to the English word Urn

[@user-zv5qi3mz9u]

Strangely [ɑ̃]is like [ɔ], and [ɛ̃]is like [a] to me.

[@patriciag.3321]

Same for me

[@CarmenLC]

and [ɔ̃] is like [o] nasals really make a difference huh

[@wallp1191]

The three first ones sound the same to me

[@cdemr]

The second and the third are pretty the same even for french speakers

[@andradamaria5876]

Est-ce que quelqu'un peut me dire la différence entre õ et o ouvert avec tilde? Svpppp🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@Explore_french]

En phonétique, le tilde signifie que c'est une "nasale". Exemple : > mot [o] > mont [õ]

[@mrmofopink]

@@Explore_french Ce n’était pas la question

[@broccoli9308]

Je ne crois pas qu'il y ait de différence notable entre [õ] et [ɔ̃] au sein d'une langue. En fr-FR en tout cas ces sons ne sont pas différents. Dans le "Handbook of the IPA" ils utilisent [ɔ̃] pour le Français. Ils mentionnent au passage que l'usage de ɔ̃ a été l'objet de débats car cette voyelle n'est pas vraiment un ɔ nasalisé. Dans le chapitre sur le Portugais ils utilisent [õ], dans par exemple "som". Edit: le son [ɔ̃] est utilisé au Québec alors qu'en France on utilise [õ]. À mes oreilles le [ɔ̃] se rapproche du [ã].

[@Decloren]

0:25 bruh bruh

[@gwho]

it would help if you gave a word in english that didn't nasalize, and then give a french word that sounds similar to it that is nasalized. then people can get a baseline of the sound. otherwise it's a random sound that is hard to tell what you're actually even saying.

[@Explore_french]

Thanks for your feedback. [ã], [ɛ̃], [œ̃], [õ] are the nasal version of [a], [ɛ], [œ], [o] for which I made separate videos in the same playlist. It's possible to refer to them for further explanations - they don"t all exist in English.

[@jerandycraft3683]

However, they all sound the same to my English ears. I'll have to do more listening. How is eu pronounced by the way?

[@Explore_french]

Thanks for your feedback! Actually this video is part of a playlist of 7 videos - to get the basics I would suggest to watch them all starting with the very first about the sound [i]. There are videos about both "eu" sounds ([ø] and [œ]) as well as the "é/è" ([e] and [ɛ]). Those sounds may sound very similar at first but the difference between each of them will become increasingly clear as you are exposed to the language (usually after a few months). Listening 15 min to the radio everyday just to develop the ear, even if you don't understand anything, is very good practice for instance :)

[@jerandycraft3683]

I have been learning French since 2006 but it's only now I'm getting back in the groove of learning again after stopping for several years. I'll check other videos. Merci beaucoup!

[@jerandycraft3683]

Could you send a link to those 7 videos please?

[@Explore_french]

Here is the link: kzbin.info/aero/PLeovWjgOlHuQ4-j1SqRH50vgQl9tLbTpw

[@uyenvtt]

I'm a beginner and I find this so confusing and hard to distinguish :'(

[@Explore_french]

No worries, it is better to get back to French phonetics at A2 (elementary) level, once you have enough exposure to the French language. You will find it easier to distinguish those sounds soon, especially if you do passive learning to get familiar with the sounds of the French language (for example by listening to the radio daily, even if you can't understand what you hear).

[@LiborSupcik]

google translate pronounces well and does not discriminate between brun brin

[@xolang]

What's up with this anti-distinction attitude? 🤔 In southern France, in neighboring Switzerland and Belgium and in Canada there's still a clear difference between UN and IN. Besides, are you sure that the UN and IN in the phrase "UN INstant" sound exactly the same even among those who generally merge the two sounds (like Parisians)?

[@Explore_french]

In northern France those sounds can be merged into one. In southern France, the difference is very clear. Not distinguishing them is a characteristic of what we call the "Parisian accent" in the south :D

[@lll8112]

This is actually quite easily to learn if your language is very neutral.

[@nelsonacosta007]

Really! What's your native language? 😢

[@lll8112]

@@nelsonacosta007 I think it also helps that we have a nasal sound (dipthong) in my native language.

[@nelsonacosta007]

@@lll8112 Ohh, and what's that language?

[@lll8112]

@@nelsonacosta007 Dutch

[@sridevimohan9732]

2:58🙄🙄...i cant even open my mouth to read..its so fast..😭😭 im just a beginner..please show mercy 😂..

[@diegos.loayza3706]

Egal

[@Explore_french]

It is better to get back to French phonetics at A2 (elementary) level, once you have enough exposure to the French language. You will find it easier to distinguish those sounds soon, especially if you do passive learning to get familiar with the sounds of the French language (for example by listening to the radio daily, even if you can't understand what you hear).

[@lagartarosa3337]

it's almost the same in Portuguese

[@broccoli9308]

Portuguese has ĩ, and ũ which can be hard to pronounce for French speakers. Also I feel in general the Portuguese nasals are more nasalized.

[@Buchavka]

I hear Romp Rupm. Why your ã sounds like O and your õ sounds like U?

[@tungrotsr8766]

it's called French nasal vowel shift, search on google

[@-wil2013]

Hello everyone. Fortunately, Southern French people keep the [ã] sound, they pronounce it without lips rounded.

[@ThePassingVoid]

[ã] is like the aw in the word dawn and [õ] is like the o in the word bone, /in/ has the a in ban, a in bane, or e in ben, and /un/ has the u in bun. /in/ can also be pronounced like /un/ in Parisian French, the video is Parisian French

[@xolang]

@@tungrotsr8766 true. through which AN/EN and ON end up sounding very similar. in a conversation with a normal speech tempo the two sounds often end up rendered indistinguishable.

[@notgray88]

im still confused. 3 of these sound like the same noise

[@Explore_french]

Hello! If the sounds sound the same to you, you may need more exposure to the French language first. At A2 level, after about 60 teaching hours, it’s a good time to start learning phonetics, but it shouldn’t be a priority at A1 level. Once you can hear the difference between the sounds, it will be easier to learn how to make them.

[@jorgebanos1120]

Sadly, I find both nasal a and e identical. 😔

[@Explore_french]

There is a tiny difference with the lips - either stretched for [ɛ̃] or relaxed for [ã] :)

[@buccaschie]

The first two of em look like exactly the same tf?

[@angieroxy7550]

So that's what "ã" means

[@zacharyjacques9409]

that is a phonetical symbol for a certain sound it makes .. the ~ indicates the nasal, while the "a" indicates where this sound is made in mouth.

[@tillysaway]

why do they all sound the same???

[@imamsanji]

They all sound the same to me 😢

[@MarieAnne.]

You should find a video with Quebec pronunciation. The difference between the 4 sounds is a lot more obvious.

[@Explore_french]

This is probably because you need more exposure to the French language before starting to work on phonetics :)