In this video you will learn all about the three nasal sounds in English. All three are consonant sounds and all three are voiced sounds. That means we use our vocal cords to form them. They also have something else in common: all three are formed by releasing the air through the nose instead of the mouth. So, if you pinch your nose, the sound stops because the air cannot escape anymore.

First up, we have /m/ – an easy-peasy nasal sound which exists in all languages! It’s also called a voiced bilabial nasal sound. Next up, we have /n/, a voiced alveolar nasal, formed on the alveolar ridge (the place just behind your teeth). And last but not least, /ŋ/ the sound symbol with the little tail. This one is a bit more ‘complex’ to form – so make sure you watch the video to learn how to form this voiced velar nasal correctly and so you can hear and feel the difference between /n/ and /ŋ/.

We will also have a look at words containing the three nasal and common spelling patterns, as well as minimal pairs for /n/ & /ŋ/.

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