How do you pronounce the letters “im” or “in” when they occur at the start of a word in French? Are they nasal or not?

As you can see in the two tables below, the rules are simple. “im” or “in” plus a consonant are nasal. But “imm,” “inn,” “im + vowel,” or “in + vowel” are all oral, which means not nasal.

Use the phonetics and the audio links in the tables below to understand the differences.

Nasal

Prefix	Example	Phonetics	Audio
“im” + consonant	important	ɛ̃pɔʀtɑ̃	important
“in” + consonant	incroyable	ɛ̃kʀwajabl	incroyable

Oral (not nasal)

Prefix	Example	Phonetics	Audio
“im” + vowel	imitateur	imitatœʀ	imitateur
“in” + vowel	inoubliable	inublijabl	inoubliable
“imm”	immobilier	imɔbilje	immobilier
“inn”	innovateur	inɔvatœʀ	innovateur

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