Number of Nasal Vowels in French

French has many nasal vowels. In Belgium and Canada, the number of nasal vowels is four. In Paris and many other parts of France, it is only three.

The words an (year), cinq (five) and bon (good) have nasal vowels. In Belgium and Canada, the word un has another nasal vowel. In France, however, many speakers use the same nasal vowel in cinq and un.

For speakers who have four nasal vowels, the phrase un bon vin blanc (a good white wine) include all four. For those who only have three nasal vowels, the phrase has three because un and vin have the same nasal vowel.

The words brin (stalk) and brun (brown) sound the same for speakers who only have three nasal vowels. For speakers who have four nasal vowels, they sound different. Belgium and Canada have four nasal vowels and thus retain the earlier pronunciation in words such as un.

The numbers of French nasal vowels depends on the dialect. In Belgium and Canada, speakers have four nasal vowels. In France, however, many speakers use the same vowels in words such as brin and brun. The result is that many French speakers from France only use three nasal vowels.