French Accents

Accent aigu (é)

Only used on the letter E; indicates the /e/ sound, as in école or éléphant.

Accent grave on E (è)

Changes the E sound to /ɛ/ (like in père, très), softer and more open.

Accent grave on A or U (à, ù)

Used to distinguish between homophones (e.g., là vs la, où vs ou), without affecting pronunciation.

Accent circonflexe (â, ê, î, ô, û)

Can appear on any vowel; may indicate a missing 's' from old French or a slight change in pronunciation, especially on ê.

La cédille (ç)

Used only under the letter C before A, O, or U to give it an /s/ sound instead of /k/ (e.g., garçon, leçon).

Le tréma (ë, ï, ü)

Indicates that two vowels must be pronounced separately, as in Noël or naïve.

Why accents matter in French

Accents can change both pronunciation and meaning (e.g., ou = or, où = where).