Les accents

The 5 French accents

 L’accent aigu
 L’accent grave
 L’accent circonflexe
 cédille
 tréma
1. L’accent aigu:

 Sur é
it changes the letter’s pronunciation to ay
Example
médecin – doctor
marché -market
Été- summer
2.L’accent grave:

 Sur à, è, ù
It alters pronunciation when over the letter e. grave
accents are always pronounced ehh, like the e in the
English word set.
On the A and U, it usually serves to distinguish between the
meaning e.g., ou (or) vs où (where).

Examples:
a- has à-- to/at Ou- or où- where
très –very Deuxième- second
3. Le circonflexe:

 Sur: â, ê, î, ô, û
The circonflexe looks like a little pointed hat over vowels.
It doesn’t change pronunciation, but it must be included in
written French.
forêt –forest
hôtel -hotel
août - august
4. La cédille:

 Sous: Ç ...
 In French, the cedilla is a little tail under the letter c:
ç. It’s used to give the c an s sound instead of a hard k
sound—for example:
 is found only on the letter C. It changes a hard C sound
(like K) into a soft C sound (like S), e.g., garçon. The
cedilla is never placed in front of E or I, because C
always sounds like an S in front of these vowels
 garçon - boy
 français - French language
5. Le tréma:

 Sur ë, ï, ü
The tréma looks like two dots above a letter. It’s usually
placed above the second of two consecutive vowels when
both vowels are to be pronounced separately.
Noël - Christmas
naïve, Jamaïque Saül.
 Les Accents (recap)

1.Accent Aigu [ é]
The Accent Aigu points to the right and upward.It appears only above the
letter e and it changes the letter’s pronounciation to –ay ,
Ex : café ,désolé , Bon Appétit

2.Accent Grave [è]

The Accent Grave points to the left and upward.It can appear above any
vowel,but it only alters the pronounciation when its placed above letter e.E’s
with an accent grave are always pronounced ehh.
Ex : après-midi , à demain , à plus tard , à demain
3.Accent Circonflexe [ê]
The circonflexe looks like a little pointed hat which can occur over
anyvowel.This indicates the omission of s .

Ex :forêt , bientôt , hôpital

4.Cédille [ç]
The cédille is a coma placed under c before a , o , or u which
gives it the sound of s instead of a hard k .

Ex :français , ça va , leçon
5. Le Tréma : [ ä , ë , ï , ö , ü ]
The Tréma looks like two dots above a letter.It is placed over a
vowel which helps us to pronounce it seperately from the vowel
just before it.
Ex: Noël , coïncidence
6.L’apostrophe [ ’ ]
7.Le trait d’union [ - ]
Source

 http://hermanayhermano.blogspot.com/2015/09/les-
accents-francais-french-accents.html