A bit of background for this language that we love.
In French, E is the only letter that can be modified with l'accent aigu, the acute accent. With the accent, it may be called either e accent aigu or simply é, pronounced [e]. As indicated by the latter, the acute accent changes the vowel's pronunciation to [e]. 
B1 French Lessons and Practice - Intermediate French
B2 French Lessons and Practice - Upper-Intermediate French
The circumflex, aka "little hat," is the only French accent that may be found on each of the five vowels. In any given word, the circumflex may serve one or more purposes. 
French is a Romance language, but it has a number of characteristics that set it apart from the other members of its linguistic family. Here is an extremely simplified synopsis of its development. 
B1 French Lessons and Practice - Intermediate French
B1 French Lessons and Practice - Intermediate French
B2 French Lessons and Practice - Upper-Intermediate French
Though it's named for the roughly hexagonally shaped country in Western Europe, the French language extends far beyond the borders of France, in myriad and frankly confusing ways. 
The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is a set of characters used to standardize pronunciation explanations across languages. It uses a unique symbol for each sound, which makes discussions of different languages much easier. 
If you're just starting to learn French, you might find it interesting to learn some basics about French linguistics and grammar. A1 French Lessons and Practice - Beginning French
B1 French Lessons and Practice - Intermediate French
A1 French Lessons and Practice - Beginning French
The linguistic term "register" is used to categorize some aspect of language, such as a word, expression, or grammatical construction, by how formal or informal it is. Whether you realize it or not, you use a variety of registers every day, so knowing your registers is vital for communication. 
