French nasal vowels: an, on, in and un sounds

French nasal vowels happen when a vowel is followed by n or m in the same syllable and that n/m is not followed by another vowel. The air partly goes through the nose, and you do not pronounce a full English n sound. The main patterns are an/en as in sans, on as in bon, in/ain/ein as in vin, and un as in un.

Spelling Rough sound Example
an, en open nasal “ah” sanswithout
on rounded nasal “oh” bongood
in, ain, ein nasal “eh” vin, pain, pleinwine, bread, full
un, um nasal “uh” in many accents un, parfumone, perfume

The n or m is not pronounced like English

In a nasal vowel, the written n or m changes the vowel; it is not a full consonant.

bon, sans, vin
good, without, wine

Try not to add an English ending like “bonn” or “vinn”. Hold the vowel and let it resonate through the nose.

Nasal stops before another vowel

If the n or m is followed by a vowel, it usually becomes a normal consonant again instead of nasalizing the previous vowel.

bon / bonne
good (masculine) / good (feminine)

In bon, on is nasal. In bonne, the n is pronounced and the vowel is not nasal in the same way.

Common spellings

The same nasal sound can be written several ways. For beginners, group them by sound rather than memorizing every spelling separately:

Sound group Common spellings Words
an/en an, am, en, em sans, chambre, enfant, temps
on on, om bon, nom
in/ain/ein in, im, ain, aim, ein vin, simple, pain, faim, plein

Common mistakes

Pronouncing the final n

Do not finish nasal words with a strong English n.

vin → nasal vowel, not “veen”
wine

Nasalizing before a vowel

When a vowel follows, pronounce the consonant.

un bon ami / une bonne amie
a good friend / a good female friend

Treating every nasal spelling as identical

an, on and in are different sounds. If you merge them, words like sans, son and sain become hard to tell apart.

Nasal vowels sit beside French silent letters: spelling tells you what to drop and what to color. Fluera pairs these words with audio, so you hear bon, bien, sans and vin as separate sounds before you need a full phonetics chart. Try it when you practice French.

Practice

Question 1 of 10

In “bon”, the final n is:

Frequently asked questions

What are French nasal vowels?
They are vowel sounds made with air partly passing through the nose, usually written with a vowel plus n or m: bon, sans, vin, un.
Do you pronounce the n in bon or vin?
Not as a full English n. The n nasalizes the vowel. Bon and vin end with a nasal vowel, not with a strong consonant.
Why is bon nasal but bonne is not?
In bon, the n is at the end of the syllable and nasalizes the vowel. In bonne, another vowel follows, so the n is pronounced as a consonant.
Are an and on the same sound?
No. An/en and on are different nasal vowels. Compare sans and son: both are nasal, but they are not pronounced the same.