Minimal pair · French (France)
French /a/ vs /ɑ̃//a/ / /ɑ̃/
Learn to hear the difference between a and ɑ̃ in French words.
Practice these sounds/a/
The a category
Listen for the target sound in each word.
As inchat
/ɑ̃/
A nasal vowel
Nasal quality belongs to the vowel itself. There is no separate final n in these isolated words.
As inchant
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
A small change.
A different word.
Learn to hear the difference between a and ɑ̃ in French words.
Listen for the target sound in each word.
Sound examples
Tap to hear each wordchat
/ʃa/cat; masculine formrat
/ʁa/ratplat
/pla/flat; masculine singularchoix
/ʃwa/choicesoie
/swa/silkça
/sa/that; informal demonstrative pronounchant
/ʃɑ̃/singing; songrang
/ʁɑ̃/row; rankplan
/plɑ̃/plan; drawing of a layoutbanc
/bɑ̃/benchpan
/pɑ̃/section; paneltant
/tɑ̃/so muchtemps
/tɑ̃/time; weathergens
/ʒɑ̃/people14 words. Words stay hidden during practice unless you choose to reveal them.