accents

What’s the purpose of French accents and special characters, and how can I type them?

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Grammar Lessons

Accented Capitals

French capitals with accents
There's a bit of debate with regard to accents on capital letters. Most everyone agrees that accents are required on lower case letters, but some French speakers claim that they are unneccessary or even incorrect on capital letters. Is this true? The answer depends in part on who you ask.

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Mistakes and Difficulties

Accentonyms

French accentonyms
Some French accents offer pronunciation clues, others refer back to old spellings, and still others differentiate between otherwise identically spelled words. For all of these reasons, accents matter and must be included when writing (or typing) in French - especially in the case of words that have different meanings with and without accents.

   

Pronunciation Guides

Accents

French accentsWhile French has the same alphabet as English, some of the letters have little decorations that can make them look and sound very different. In French, accents are essential: they're there for a reason, so you must include them when writing.

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Linguistics

Acute Accent: é

French acute accentIn 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].

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Mistakes and Difficulties

Cedilla: ç

French cedilla çThe little hook added under the letter c in French is a diacritical mark known as a cedilla, une cédille: ç. The letter c with the hook is called c cédille.

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Linguistics

Circumflex: â, ê, î, ô, û

French circumflexThe circumflex, aka "little hat," is the only French accent that may be found on any of the five vowels. In any given word, the circumflex may serve one or more purposes.

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Pronunciation Guides

Dieresis: ë, ï, ü

French dieresisThe dieresis, le tréma, is a French accent found only on three vowels: ë, ï, and ü. The dieresis usually indicates that the accented vowel must be pronounced distinctly from the vowel that precedes it.

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Writing Resources

How to Type Accents in Any OS

Typing French accents
It's just as important to include accents when writing in French as it is to spell words correctly. It drives me kind of crazy when people say, sorry, I can't type accents on my computer / tablet / smartphone. Yes, you can type accents - yes! even on your old computer. Check out these instructions for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, and Android.

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Grammar Lessons

Inversion with je

French inversionInversion with the first person singular je is a little trickier than with other subject pronouns. It's also very formal and therefore rare, so one of those grammar concepts you need to recognize but not necessarily use.

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Pronunciation Guides

ΠLigature

French ligature œWhen the letters o and e are pronounced as a single sound, they combine into a symbol called a ligature: œ. The pronunciation of this symbol depends on the letter(s) that follow it.

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