FlexiLingoIn one line
Three accents change the sound when they sit on an
e. On any other letter they only change the meaning.
The forms on this page
| Form | Means | Sound |
|---|---|---|
é | a closed “ay” — the mouth stays narrow | /e/ |
è | an open “eh” — the mouth opens wider than é | /ɛ/ |
ê | the same sound as è — the difference is historical, not audible | /ɛ/ |
ë | diaeresis — read this vowel separately from the one before it. The sound depends on the word: Noël /nɔ.ɛl/ canoë /ka.nɔ.e/ | /ɛ/ or /e/ |
ç | always “s” — even before a o u | /s/ |
The table
| Mark | Its name | What it does on e | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
´ | accent aigu | é = closed "e", as in "may" /e/ | café étudiant |
| a left-leaning accent | accent grave | è = open "e", as in "bed" /ɛ/ | père très |
^ | accent circonflexe | ê = open "e" /ɛ/ | être fenêtre |
¨ | tréma | the two vowels are read separately | Noël /nɔ.ɛl/ |
¸ | cédille | ç = /s/ before a o u | français ça |
They are not decoration, and they are not optional. English borrows accented words and drops the accents freely — cafe, resume, naive — because in English they carry nothing. In French an accent is part of the spelling of the word.
ouandoùare different words;aandàare different words;pêcherandpécherare "to fish" and "to sin". Leaving an accent off is a spelling mistake, not an informality.
On other letters the sound does not change
à /a/ ù /y/ | they only separate a word from its look-alike — a /a//à /a/ ou /u//où /u/ |
â /ɑ/ î /i/ ô /o/ û /y/ | they open the vowel slightly, and usually mark a deleted s /ɛs/ — forêt /fɔ.ʁɛ/ ← forest /fo.ʁɛst/ |
The circumflex is a gift if you speak English. It almost always marks an
sthat French deleted and English kept — so putting thesback often produces the English word:
forêt→ forest ·hôpital→ hospital ·île→ isle ·pâte→ paste ·bête→ beast ·côte→ coast ·maître→ master ·hôte→ host ·fête→ feastWhen you meet an unfamiliar word with a circumflex, try inserting an
safter the vowel before you reach for a dictionary.
é vs è — the syllable rule
If the syllable ends in a consonant, it takes
è. If it is open,é.
| Syllables | Why | |
|---|---|---|
é·tu·diant | the first syllable is open | é |
pè·re | the syllable is closed | è |
ache·ter → j'a·chè·te | the syllable closed during conjugation | è |
And that is why an accent appears in the conjugation of certain verbs: acheter → j'achète · préférer → je préfère.
Exceptions
| Exception | What happens |
|---|---|
ç only before a o u | it is not needed before e or i — c is already /s/ there: ceci ici |
| Capital letters keep their accents | École À bientôt /a bjɛ̃.to/ — dropping them is an error in formal writing |
ê often stands for an old s | forêt /fɔ.ʁɛ/ ← forest /fo.ʁɛst/ hôpital ← hospital |
An e with no accent at the end of a word | is not pronounced: livre /livʁ/ |
| The 1990 spelling reform | made î and û optional in some words, but the older spelling remains correct |
Examples
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
café | /ka.fe/ | coffee |
père | /pɛʁ/ | father |
être | /ɛtʁ/ | to be |
français | /fʁɑ̃.sɛ/ | French |
ça | /sa/ | that |
Noël | /nɔ.ɛl/ | Christmas |
j'achète | /ʒa.ʃɛt/ | I buy |
forêt | /fɔ.ʁɛ/ | forest |
Common mistakes
| ❌ | ✅ | Why |
|---|---|---|
francais | français | Before a it needs ç or it reads as /k/ |
çi | ci | No cedilla is needed before i |
pere | père | Without the accent the syllable is read wrong |
Ecole | École | Capitals take accents too |
j'achete | j'achète | The syllable closed in the conjugation |
And typing them
how to write them on a keyboard
On a Mac with the ABC — Extended English layout:
| Mark | Keys |
|---|---|
é /e/ | ⌥ + e then e /ə/ |
è /ɛ/ | the grave-accent key then e /ə/ |
ê /ɛ/ | ⌥ + i then e /ə/ |
ë /ə.tʁe.ma/ | ⌥ + u then e /ə/ |
ç /se.se.dij/ | ⌥ + c |
The simplest route: add the French keyboard — then the accents have their own keys.
This is not a problem in a paper exam, but it is in a computer-based one — so practise it before the exam.