Accents

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Accents français

While French has the same alphabet as English, some French letters have little decorations that can make them look and sound very different. English loves to borrows words from French and other languages, but the accents are optional: you can write "naïve" or "naive," it makes no difference.

 In French, however, accents are essential: they’re there for a reason, so you must include them when writing.*

1) Accent aigu | Acute accent ´

• Found only on the letter e
• Often at the beginning of words that started with "s" in Latin

Par exemple…

2) Accent grave | Grave accent `

• Found on a, e, u
• May indicate pronunciation
• Often distinguishes between two words

Par exemple…

3) Circonflexe | Circumflex ^

• Found on all vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• Often means "s" followed that letter in Latin
• May distinguish between two words or change pronunciation

Par exemple…

4) Tréma | Dieresis ¨

• Found on e and i (and very rarely u)
• Indicates that consecutive vowels must be pronounced separately

Par exemple…

5) Cédille | Cedilla ¸

• Found on c
• Can only precede a, o, u; changes hard c (k sound) into soft c (s sound)

Par exemple…

 There’s also a special character created by two vowels that join together: œ ligature.

Spelling with accents

When spelling out loud, there are two different ways to indicate accents: by naming them as you go or by mentioning them at the end.

Par exemple : très

1. t – r – e accent grave – s
2. t – r – e – s, avec accent grave sur le e

É is known as e accent aigu, but may also be called simply é – learn more.

* The only exception is on capital letters, where accents are optional, but even that is debatable.

 Yes, you can type accents! Check out these instructions for any computer / tablet / phone.

 Related features

• How to type French accents
• Accented capital letters
• Accents à fond
• Vowels
   

 En español

• Acentos
   

 In italiano

• Accenti scritti
   

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