The Five Accent Marks In French

Do you know the 5 accents marks in French?

Learning French can be difficult because of the small symbols or accents that appear above certain letters in French words.

Even words that are spelled the same but one has an accent have different meanings, making pronunciation and usage difficult. To avoid any misunderstandings, it’s critical to become familiar with each of these French accents as you study the language.

If you’d like to learn more about accents in France, let’s look at each one in detail. In this guide, we’re going to cover all the different types of accents, how they’re pronounced, and what effect they have on grammar, meaning, and other aspects of language.

There are also examples of French words with accents that we’ll look at, which should make things clearer.

The Five Accent Marks In French

1. The Cedilla (la cédille) – ç

In French, the cedilla is represented by a small squiggle beneath the letter “c”: “ç.” You will only find this accent mark with the letter “c”—it does not appear with any other letter.

In terms of pronunciation, this is pretty a straightforward symbol: a ç (c with a cedilla) is pronounced like an “s.”

Usage

In French, the cédille is used to alter the pronunciation of the letter “c.” The cedilla transforms a hard “c” into a soft “c.”

In English, the letter “c” makes a soft “s” sound when positioned between the letters “e,” I and “y,” and a hard “k” sound when it is before the letters “a,” “o,” and “u.” In this case, it works the same way in French as it does in English.

Another use of the cedilla in French is to ensure proper pronunciation in their verb tenses. For example, “reçu” is the past participle of “recevoir.” Since it has a cedilla, the “c” in both words sounds the same.

Examples:

• français – French
• façade – frontage
• garçon – boy
• leçon – lesson

2. The Acute Accent (l’accent aigu) – é

Just like with the cedilla that’s unique with the letter “c”, the acute accent can only be found above “e”, making it “é”. This accent is used to alter the vowel’s pronunciation.

In French, the “e” vowel can be pronounced in a variety of ways, but when you see “é,” there’s only one way to say it. E (acute accent) always is pronounced as /ɛ/ or “eh”  regardless of how the word is spelled.

Usage

When the é is at the end of the word, it forms a syllable by itself.  It is often used in the past participle form of verbs, those that end with the -er. Examples of these include parlé, sauté and écouté.

In some words, the s that was traditionally used after an e can be replaced by the accent aigu. Estude and escriture, from the Renaissance word for “study,” and “writing,” respectively, show this rule in action. These words are now pronounced as étude and écriture.

More Examples:

• café – coffee
• chanté – sang
• été – summer
• musée – museum

3. The Circumflex (l’accent circonflexe) – â/ê/î/ô/û

The circumflex is a French accent that resembles a pointy hat. It appears above any of the five vowels in French: â, ê, î, ô, or û. You may see it above any of the five vowels in English as well. Its pronunciation and proper usage are a bit tricky to grasp at first.

• The “â” is pronounced like an English “ah”, such as in the words bath or pass.

• The pronunciation for “ê” meanwhile, is like an English “eh” such as the words bet or pet.

• The “ô” meanwhile, is pronounced like an English “oh” such as in the words “coat” or “pose”. This is the same sound you hear when pronouncing the French word “au” (like in au revoir).

• Lastly, when a circumflex appears above an “i” or “u”, there is no change in the pronunciation. 

Other Usage

The circumflex helps distinguish words –

The circumflex also aids to differentiate other homonyms, such as du (of the) and dû (had to do), sur (on) and sûr (certain), mur (wall), and mûr (ripe).

The circumflex indicates a missing letter – However, in many instances, the circumflex has no effect on pronunciation or distinguishability from other words. Instead, it’s like a relic from a bygone era.

Think of the word “forêt,” for example. It has a striking resemblance to the English word “forest.” Indeed, the French forêt means forest. Words like these are called”cognates” in linguistics.

Examples:

• le château – castle
• la côte – coast
• la forêt – forest
• l’hôtel – hotel

4. The Grave Accent (l’accent grave) – à/è/ì/ò/ù

The grave accent is found above an “a,” “e,” or “u” (à/è/ù). If a grave accent appears above an “a” or “u”, it does not affect pronunciation. Above an “e,” however, it indicates that the vowel is pronounced “eh,” similar to the “e” in “set.”

Usage

The grave accent can be used in a variety of contexts.

• When it appears above an “e,” like the acute accent, it tells you to pronounce it like the “e” in “shed.”

• Meanwhile, the grave accent is used to distinguish between two words with the same spelling, such as ou (or) and où (where) and a (has) and à (to) when the accent appears over an “a” or a “u.”

Examples:

• à – to, at in (preposition)
• là – there
• très – very
• où – where

5. The Trema (l’accent tréma) – ë/ï/ü

The trema is a French accent represented by two small dots above the letter. It is found above an “e,” I or “u”, as in ü.

Some examples of how a trema is used are the names Zoë and Chloë. The accent here indicates that the “o” and “e” are pronounced separately, resulting in a rhyme with “snowy” rather than “snow.”

Usage

The tréma, or diarsis, is used to indicate the division of two vowels into two syllables, as in the above-mentioned names or the plant maïs.

When u comes after a g but is pronounced as a separate syllable, the trema is not used to represent the hard g sound. In words like aiguë, we instead use a tréma, which is pronounced as /egy/ rather than /ɛg/.

Examples:

• canoë   – canoe
• caraïbe – Caribbean
• coïncidence – coincidence
• Noël – Christmas

Ways to Type the Five French Accents

French keyboards generally use the AZERTY layout, which differs significantly from the more familiar QWERTY layout. Compared to the QWERTY, the AZERTY layout includes some special keys for typing accents and other special characters.

Accents can be typed easily and quickly on a French AZERTY keyboard, and the French are accustomed to using the appropriate accent keys. These days, it is becoming increasingly simple to type French accents on English keyboards as well as in other languages.

Using different devices, you can type accents in the following ways:

Typing French Accents On iPhone & Android

• On your device’s QWERTY keyboard, press and hold the letter you want to accent for a few seconds until the list of accented letters pops up. You’ll be able to pick out the perfect French accent in no time.

For example, after pressing a and holding, you can type a letter like “à.” The selection of an accent is made from the pop-up menu. Your finger should slide over the accent you want, then release.

This keyboard feature appears in most iOS and most Android OS versions.

Typing French Accents On A PC – Mac & Windows

• When typing French accents in Macs and PCs, the procedure is almost similar to how you type accents on a mobile keyboard. A pop-up will appear in an instant if you click and hold the character you want to accent.
  
  Either click on the accented character you want with your mouse or type the number key under the accented character to see this pop-up.
  
  Want to learn more French phrases? Check out our language guides below:

• Une And Un in French: Tips and Guide
• French E With Accent (Rules And Tips)
• The Five Accent Marks In French
• La and Le in French: Tips and Guide