How to pronounce Un Bon Ami in French?

Updated: March 13, 2021 by Mylene in How to Pronounce  ▪  

how to pronounce un bon ami in french

Un bon ami in French

Un bon ami means a good friend in French. The word ami is a masculine noun and therefore the adjective follows the gender of the noun, i.e. bon is used with a masculine noun.

Example:

  • Le directeur de l’école est un bon ami de mon père. The school director is a good friend of my dad.
  • La directrice de l’école est une bonne amie de ma mère. The school director is a good friend of my mum.

Ami à or ami de ?

The preposition “à” normally marks ownership after a verb:

  • Cette maison est/appartient à notre amiThis house is / belongs to our friend.

In the French language, before a personal pronoun “ami à” is the correct way to add at the end of un bon ami:

  • J’ai rencontré un ami à moi. I met a friend of mine.

However, the same expression becomes “ami de” whenever de is between two nouns.

  • J’ai rencontré un ami de mes amis. I met a friend of my friends.

How to pronounce “Un bon ami” in French?

Un bon ami is pronounced /ɛ̃bɔnami/. The word bon is normally pronounced /bɔ̃/.

There is a liaison between bon and ami, and we don’t pronounce the nasal vowel /ɔ/.

  • /b/: Your lips are closed and placed against one another. Vibrate your vocal cords, and push air out of your mouth against your closed lips. Release the air in one moment, as your vocal cords continue to vibrate.
  • /ɔ/: We call it an open /o/ because the mouth is literally a little bit more open when you say it. To make this sound the tongue is raised a little bit toward the back of the mouth and the lips are rounded. Your vocal cords vibrate.
  • /n/: Place the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, behind your teeth. The tip of your tongue should touch the roof of your mouth. Vibrate your vocal cords.
  • /a/: Your mouth is much more open and the tip of the tongue is forward. Your vocal cords vibrate.
  • /m/: Close the lips and push air through the nose. No air should leave your mouth. Vibrate your vocal cords. 
  • /i/: Your tongue should touch the front lower teeth. Your lips should be tensed, and the corners of your mouth slightly stretched apart. Your lips should only be slightly open. Your vocal cords vibrate.

This Instagram video will show you how to pronounce un bon ami in French. It’s part of our Effortless French Words Pronunciation series. 

Click the link to listen to this video or directly play the video shown below.

Related word

The feminine noun is amie. Notice the e at the end of the French word amie. This is the silent e. In addition to learning that ami is used for masculine and amie is for woman, the adjective bon becomes bonne when describing feminine words.

Example:

  • La directrice de l’école est une bonne amie de ma mère (The school director is a good friend of my mum)

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un bon ami
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