Bonjour à tous, hello everyone and welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast!

This is episode number 211, numéro deux-cent-onze.

In today’s episode, we’re continuing our Listen & Repeat pronunciation series.

We’ve already practiced the nasal sounds /ɑ̃/  and /ɔ̃/, in episodes 198 and 204.

And now, it’s time for the third nasal vowel: /ɛ̃/. That’s the sound you hear in words like pain or vin. 🎧✨

So here’s how it works: I’ll say some French sentences where the /ɛ̃/ sound appears, and your job is simple… just listen carefully and repeat after me.

This listen & repeat technique helps you train your ear and build muscle memory, so you can eventually feel more confident when speaking French.

To help you follow along, make sure to download your free cheat sheet. It includes all the sentences and English translations. You’ll find the link in the episode notes!

Let’s start with a few French words that contain the /ɛ̃/ sound:

• le pain (bread) 🥖
• le vin (wine) 🍷
• le lapin (rabbit) 🐰
• le train (train) 🚆
• le médecin (doctor) 🩺

Alright, now that we’ve got our words, let’s practice the sound /ɛ̃/ with full sentences! 🎙️

Repeat after me

• Benjamin mange du pain tous les matins. (Benjamin eats bread every morning.)
• Il tient un verre de vin dans sa main. (He holds a glass of wine in his hand.)
• J’ai vu plein de lapins sur le chemin. (I saw lots of rabbits on the path.)
• Mon cousin vient demain matin en train. (My cousin is coming tomorrow morning by train.)
• Julien va chez le médecin parce qu’il ne se sent pas bien. (Julien is going to the doctor because he doesn’t feel well.)

Excellent! That’s it for our sentences with the sound /ɛ̃/. If any of those sentences felt tricky… feel free to go back and replay them. Repetition really is the key to improving your pronunciation. And that’s it for today’s episode! Don’t forget to download your free cheat sheet, it includes all the French sentences and their English translations to help you follow along more easily.

Merci beaucoup for practicing with me today! I’ll see you in the next episode.

À bientôt, bye!