Accents
French: KS3, topic 1.1.2
Accents in French
It is important to understand how the use of accents changes the sound of words.
French accents
- There are five different accents in French:
- ç - the cedilla (la cédille)
- é - the acute accent (l'accent aigu)
- â, ê, î, ô, û - the circumflex (l'accent circonflexe)
- à, è, ì, ò, ù - the grave accent (l'accent grave)
- ë, ï, ü - the trema (l'accent tréma)
- It is important to pronounce accents correctly as it is the only way to tell the difference in meaning between some words.
Use of the acute and grave accents
- The acute accent is used to stress an 'e' in French.
- It can only ever be found on an e and is pronounced 'eh'.
- Eg. 'ferme', means a totally different thing to 'fermé'.
- 'Ferme' means 'farm', and 'fermé' means 'closed'.
- The grave accent is used on an 'a', 'e', or 'u'.
- e.g. 'ou' (or) and 'où' (where)
Use of the cedilla
- The cedilla is only found under 'c' and changes the pronunciation to an 's'.
- Cs with a cedilla are only ever found before 'a', 'o' or 'u'. e.g. 'français' or 'garçon'.
- Cs found before an 'e' or 'i' are pronounced like an 's' anyway.
Use of the circumflex and trema
- The circumflex can be found above every vowel and generally doesn't change the pronunciation.
- A circumflex is used to differentiate between words that are spelt the same but have different meanings. e.g. sur (on) and sûr (sour).
- The trema can be found above 'e', 'i' or 'u'.