French Accent Marks

The 5 French Accent Marks at a Glance

é l'accent aigu

à, è, ù l'accent grave

â, ê, î, ô, û le circonflexe

ë, ï, ü le tréma

ç la cédille

French accent marks are a big challenge for beginner French students, especially when it comes to reading them. The purpose of this guide is to demystify the French accents and explain the pronunciation so you can start to incorporate them into your reading and speaking.

1. Acute Accent

l'accent aigu

L'accent aigu is an upward slanting accent that appears only over the letter -e (é). Of all the French accents this one is by far the most important — it is used very widely throughout the language and has a big impact on pronunciation.

Many French teachers suggest the accent aigu sounds like the -e in the English word 'bed'. At Lingua Bud, we believe the é is more similar to the -ay in the English word 'play'.

Adjectives ending in -é

occupé — 'busy'

salé — 'salty'

fatigué — 'tired'

protégé — 'protected'

distingué — 'distinguished'

Nouns containing -é

été — 'summer'

café — 'coffee'

musée — 'museum'

désir — 'desire'

médecin — 'doctor'

Past participles of -er verbs

For regular -er verbs, the -er is removed and replaced with -é to form the past participle.

parlé — 'spoke'

donné — 'gave'

mangé — 'ate'

téléfoné — 'called'

cuisiné — 'cooked'

2. Grave Accent

l'accent grave

The accent grave is the downward sloping accent that appears over -à, -è and -ù. It has two primary uses: (1) to alter the pronunciation of the letter -e, and (2) to differentiate homonyms — two words spelled and pronounced the same way but with different meanings.

To pronounce -è, read it as the "eh" sound in American English 'get' or 'bed'.

Common words with -è

mère — 'mother'

frère — 'brother'

scène — 'stage'

très — 'very'

crème — 'cream'

Accent Grave vs. Aigu: words with both

Pronounce -é as "ay" (play) and -è as "eh" (get). Try these:

je préfère — 'I prefer'

je célèbre — 'I celebrate'

je révèle — 'I reveal'

Distinguishing homonyms

It's crucial to include these accents when writing — without them you only have a 50% chance of writing the word correctly!

là — 'there' vs. la 'the'

à — 'to/at' vs. a 'he/she has'

où — 'where' vs. ou 'or'

3. Circumflex

le circonflexe

The circumflex — the little hat (le petit chapeau) — appears over: -â, -ê, -î, -ô, -û. It has two main purposes: (1) replacing a historical -s, and (2) distinguishing homophones.

Replacing a historical -s

Where English words have an -s, their French equivalents often omit it and use a circonflexe over the preceding vowel.

l'île — 'the island'

la forêt — 'the forest'

l'hôpital — 'the hospital'

Distinguishing homophones

sûr — 'certain' vs. sur 'on'

tâche — 'task' vs. tache 'stain'

mûr — 'ripe' vs. mur 'wall'

💬 Debated topic: Whether the circonflexe affects pronunciation over -a, -e, and -o is heavily disputed among French speakers and academics. Discuss amongst yourselves!

4. Diaeresis

l'accent tréma

The tréma is probably the least common French accent and appears over -ï and -ë. When two vowels appear next to each other and one has a tréma, both vowels get pronounced separately. For example, Noël (Christmas) is pronounced "noh-el" — both the -o and -e are sounded out.

maïs — 'corn'

Caraïbes — 'Caribbean'

naïf / naïve — 'naive'

Noël — 'Christmas'

5. Cedilla

la cédille

The cedilla is the little squiggly mark under -c (ç). It makes the -c have a soft 's' sound, like the -s in 'Sam'. The ç appears before the letters -a, -o and -u.

With the cedilla, ça va sounds like "sa va". Without it, it would sound like "ka va". Note that before -e and -i, the -c automatically has a soft sound, so la cédille is not needed there (e.g. cerise — cherry, ciseaux — scissors).

Français — 'French'

déçu — 'disappointed'

reçu — 'receipt'

garçon — 'boy'

façon — 'way / manner'

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