[Originally posted on 11/11/13 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by Remy]
The sound “an” in “mange” belongs to the French “nasal vowels”, which are sounds made by expelling air through the mouth and nose with no obstruction of the lips, tongue, or throat.
Usually, vowels followed by “M” or “N” are nasal. When the nasal consonant is followed by another vowel, the vowel and consonant are both voiced. For example:
- “un” (nasal): http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/un
- “une” (voiced): http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/une
(click on the speaker button to hear the audio)
You can practice your pronunciation skills with this link for the sound “an”:
French has 4 nasal vowels:
“en” and “an”:
- “en”: e.g., in “vendre” (to sell). “en” becomes “em” before a “M” and a “P”: e.g., in “emporter” (to bring)
- “an” becomes “am” before a “B” and a “P”: e.g., in “jambe” (leg) and in “camp” (camp)
“oin”, “ein”, “ain”, and “in”:
- “oin”: e.g., in “moins” (less)
- “ein”: e.g., in “peindre” (to paint)
- “ain”: e.g., in “pain” (bread)
- “in”: e.g., in “fin” (fine). “in” becomes “im” before a “M” and a “P”: e.g., in “imprimer” (to print)
“on”:
- “on”: e.g., in “garçon” (boy). “on” becomes “om” before a “M” and a “P”: e.g., in “pompe” (pump)
“un”:
- “un”: e.g., in “un” (one) or “brun” (brown)
Selected comments on original post
Is there a phonetic difference between “in” ,”an” and “un”?? Because they sound the same to me most of the times 😦 (the words themselves are easy to tell apart though)
“ain” in “pain” sounds a lot like “in” in “vin”, or “an” “mange” (w/o the n). Is there an actual difference? When I started learning french I though the “ain” in “pain” should sound more like “ai” in “j’ai” or “mais”, but now I realize that is not true. Is it because of the “n”?
Remy [contributor]
Most of the times, “in” sounds almost the same as “un”. (ex: the adjective “fin” (fine, or thin) and the article “un” (a)). “an” never sounds like “in” or “un”.
“ain” in “pain” sounds a lot like “in” in “vin”, but NOT like “an” in “mange”, and NOT lile “ai” in “J’ai” or “mais”.
I can see you’re making old informative posts as stickies. This is a great idea Remy, but I think It would be more fruitful to create a new thread that links to all the interesting and important threads that offer informative information about learning French. Like the Dutch contributors have done in their thread.
Currently they are all in the Forum graveyard, never to be seen.
Remy [contributor]
Thanks for your comment Dessamator, here you go! Overview of French grammar and vocabulary explanations [work in progress :)]
Remy [contributor]
You can practice with “brun” (brown) and “brin” (blade):
- http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/brun/11356
- http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/brin/11045
(Click on the speaker icon).
Duolinguists 