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beau / bon: oral and nasal vowels

CEFR A1

beau

/bo/

beautiful

bon

/bɔ̃/

good

What tells the two sounds apart

  • /o/Oral vowel with rounded lips.
  • /ɔ̃/Nasal vowel: air passes through mouth and nose; do not add n here.

Why it is hard

English vowels can become nasal near n, but that does not mean the n disappears. In this isolated French bon model there is no separate final n; compare it with oral beau.

Le pont est beau et le pain est bon.

To practise

  1. mot/mo/word
  2. mon/mɔ̃/my, before a masculine noun
  3. peau/po/skin
  4. pont/pɔ̃/bridge