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

This is episode number 226, numéro deux-cent-vingt-six.

In today’s episode, we’re bringing together the three French nasal sounds that we’ve practised recently on the podcast:

The sound /ɑ̃/, as in France.

The sound /ɔ̃/, as in bonbon (a lolly).

And the sound /ɛ̃/, as in vin (wine).

We practised these sounds separately in episodes 198, 204 and 211. But today, we’re going to practise them together, so you can hear and pronounce the difference between them more easily.

One important thing to remember is that each of these sounds can be written in several different ways in French. But today, we’re focusing on hearing and pronouncing the sounds rather than learning all the different spelling patterns.

To help you follow along, make sure to download your free cheat sheet. It includes all the words and sentences, along with their English translations.  And after this episode, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practice what you’ve learned today. I’ve created a Listen & Repeat practice with to help you continue practising these three nasal sounds. You’ll find the link in the episode notes. It’s free!

Let’s begin by pronouncing the three sounds. Please repeat after me:

/ɑ̃/ — /ɔ̃/ — /ɛ̃/

Okay, now let’s put them into words. Please repeat after me:

• banc (a bench)
• bon (good)
• bain (a bath)

Banc contains the sound /ɑ̃/, bon contains the sound /ɔ̃/ and bain contains the sound /ɛ̃/.

Here’s another set:

• vent (the wind)
• vont (go or are going)
• vin (wine)

And another:

• sans (without)
• son (his or her)
• saint (saint)

And one final set to practise:

• le paon (the peacock)
• le pont (the bridge)
• le pain (the bread)

Now, let’s practise the three nasal sounds in full sentences.

• Jean vend du bon vin. 🍷 (Jean sells good wine.)
• Les enfants vont prendre le train demain. 🚆 (The children are going to take the train tomorrow.)
• Manon attend Vincent devant la maison. 🏠 (Manon is waiting for Vincent in front of the house.)
• Benjamin mange du jambon avec du pain. 🥖 (Benjamin eats ham with bread.)
• Constance commence son examen demain matin. 📝 (Constance starts her exam tomorrow morning.)

Excellent!

These three sounds can be difficult to distinguish at first, so don’t worry if you need to replay this episode a few times.

The more you hear and practise the sounds next to one another, the easier it will become to notice the difference.

And that’s it for today’s episode!

Don’t forget to download your free cheat sheet. It includes all the French words and sentences, along with their English translations, to help you follow along more easily.

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

À bientôt, bye!