French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "le matin" in French?

luh ma-TAN — the ending is a nasal vowel, so there is no "n" consonant at all.

le matin /lə ma.tɛ̃/

The phrase peaks on ma-TIN, weight on the last syllable. Compare "la matinée", the feminine form that emphasises the morning as a stretch of time — the same pairing as jour/journée and an/année.

Listen: le matin

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Sound it out

ma An "m" plus a short open "ah", unstressed.

tin An unaspirated "t" plus the nasal vowel /ɛ̃/ — an open "eh" routed through the nose, with the tongue never rising to make the "n".

Hear it in a sentence

Je travaille tous les matins.

I work every morning.

Listen: Je travaille tous les matins.

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"Je travaille tous les matins" uses the plural with "tous les" to mean "every morning" as a habit. The plural "s" is silent, so "matin" and "matins" sound identical — "tous les" carries the meaning. Note "tous" here is an adjective, so its "s" is silent: /tu le ma.tɛ̃/.

Where English speakers slip

The "-in" gets a real "n", producing "ma-TEEN" or "MA-tin" with English stress. It is a nasal vowel and the weight is at the end. Learners also confuse this nasal /ɛ̃/ with the /ɑ̃/ of "maintenant" — the first is made with a more open "eh" position, the second with a fully open "ah". Drilling "matin" against "demain" helps, since they share the same nasal.