IPA reference · consonant
ɲ — palatal nasal
A nasal made with the blade of the tongue against the hard palate — one sound, not two.
Also called: enye, gn sound
How to make the palatal nasal
Say "onion" and freeze on the middle consonant. The whole front of the tongue presses flat against the palate.
English reference points: canyon, onion (approximately). If you speak English natively you already produce this sound — the work is recognising it and placing it where the target language wants it.
Languages that use it
| Language | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | año | year |
| Italian | bagno | bath |
| French | montagne | mountain |
| Polish | koń | horse |
Sounds it gets confused with
Most pronunciation errors are not random — they are a substitution of the nearest sound the speaker already owns. These are the usual substitutions for ɲ, and each one is a minimal-pair drill waiting to happen.
Learners produce n followed by a y glide, which is two segments.
What this means for learners
The distinction matters most word-finally, where an English speaker has nothing to glide into: Polish *koń* versus *kon*.
Teaching this sound
Describing a sound in words gets a student roughly half the way there. The other half is hearing it produced correctly, immediately after producing it incorrectly, with both versions available to replay. That is the argument for recording during the lesson rather than after it: the student leaves with your model of ɲ attached to the actual words they got wrong, not to an abstract chart.
Frequently asked questions
What sound does the IPA symbol ɲ make?
ɲ is the palatal nasal. A nasal made with the blade of the tongue against the hard palate — one sound, not two. In English you can hear it in: canyon, onion (approximately).
How do you pronounce ɲ?
Say "onion" and freeze on the middle consonant. The whole front of the tongue presses flat against the palate.
Which languages have the palatal nasal?
Among the languages covered here: Spanish (año, “year”); Italian (bagno, “bath”); French (montagne, “mountain”); Polish (koń, “horse”).
What is the difference between ɲ and n?
Learners produce n followed by a y glide, which is two segments.