Minimal pair · French (France)
French /ɑ̃/ vs /ɛ̃//ɑ̃/ / /ɛ̃/
Learn to hear the difference between ɑ̃ and ɛ̃ in French words.
Practice these soundsA nasal vowel
Nasal quality belongs to the vowel itself. There is no separate final n in these isolated words.
A nasal-vowel quality
The whole vowel is nasal. Compare its quality across the different word beginnings.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
A small change.
A different word.
Banc/bain, pan/pain and temps/teint all finish with nasal vowels. The target is the vowel quality, not whether the word is nasal at all.
Listen for the target sound in each word.
A common trap
Temps has several final letters that are silent in this isolated form. Audio-only practice prevents those spellings from becoming answer cues.
Sound examples
Tap to hear each word16 words. Words stay hidden during practice unless you choose to reveal them.
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