Pronunciation: im/in prefix

ByFast French

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

PrefixExample PhoneticsAudio
“im” + consonantimportantɛ̃pɔʀtɑ̃important
“in” + consonantincroyableɛ̃kʀwajablincroyable

Oral (not nasal)

PrefixExamplePhoneticsAudio
“im” + vowelimitateurimitatœʀimitateur
“in” + vowelinoubliableinublijablinoubliable
“imm”immobilierimɔbiljeimmobilier
“inn”innovateurinɔvatœʀinnovateur

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