Accents in French

Accent Aigu (´): The accent aigu appears only on the letter "e" and changes its pronunciation to a
more open "ay" sound.

École (school)

Café (coffee)

Été (summer)

Accent Grave (`): The accent grave can appear on the letters "a," "e," and "u." It often indicates a
different pronunciation or marks a distinction between homophones.

à (to/at)

où (where)

mère (mother)

Accent Circonflexe (^): The accent circonflexe can appear on any vowel and usually indicates a
historical presence of an "s" or "e" that was dropped over time. It can also affect pronunciation.

hôtel (hotel)

Forêt (forest)

Fête (party)

Tréma (¨): The tréma appears over the letters "e," "i," "u," and sometimes "y." It indicates that the
vowel should be pronounced separately from the preceding one, avoiding a diphthong.

Noël (Christmas)

Naïve (naive)

Ambiguë (ambiguous)

Cédille (¸): The cédille appears only on the letter "c" before the vowels "a," "o," and "u." It changes
the "c" sound to a "s" sound.

ça (this/that)

français (French)

reçu (received)