Les Accents

Aigu

The accent (é) goes down to the left. It tells you to pronounce an e similar to the a the English word date.

Grave

The accent ( è) goes down to the right. It tells you to pronounce an e like the e in the English word jet.

Examples: zèbre; poème

However, an accent over an a or u does not change the sound of these letters.

Examples: à; où

Circonflexe

The accent (â) can appear over any vowel, but it does not change the sound of the letter.

Examples: âge ; hôpital

Cédille

The (ç) under a c tells you to pronounce the c like an s.

Tréma

When two vowels appear next to each other, a (ë) over the second one tells you to pronounce each vowel separately.

Examples: Noël ; maïs

You usually will not see accents on capital letters.

Examples: île → Ile ; état → Etats-Unis

When you spell a word aloud, be sure to say the accents as well as the letters. Say the letter first, then the accents