This introduction covers Les voyelles nasales — Sounds That Buzz Through Your Nose within Nasal vowels: an, en, on, in for GCSE French. Revise Nasal vowels: an, en, on, in in Phonics: French Sounds and Spellings for GCSE French with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 1 of 4 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
👃 Les voyelles nasales — Sounds That Buzz Through Your Nose
French has four sounds that simply do not exist in English. Nasal vowels are made by letting air flow through both your mouth and your nose at the same time — producing a resonant buzz. Once you hear the difference between «bon» [bɔ̃] and «bonne» [bɔn], you'll never confuse them again. Mastering nasals is also a quick win for the AQA Read-Aloud: every time you correctly nasalise a vowel instead of adding an English-style "n" after it, you show the examiner you understand French phonology.
Practice questions for Nasal vowels: an, en, on, in
What is the key feature of a nasal vowel in French?
Which statement about the spellings 'an' and 'en' in French is correct?
Quick recall flashcards
What is a nasal vowel in French?
A vowel sound produced partly through the nose. French has four main nasal vowels, written as: an/am/en/em, on/om, in/im/ain/ein, un/um. The 'n' or 'm' is NOT pronounced as a separate consonant — it just nasalises the vowel.
le matin — how is this pronounced?
'ma-TAN' — the 'in' is the tight nasal (same as ain, ein, un). Final -n is part of the nasal, not a separate consonant.