French Accent Marks

Whether you’re writing an essay for class or an email to a colleague, knowing and using the appropriate French accent marks is essential for proper spelling in French. Accent marks in French change the pronunciation and meaning of the word. To avoid mistakes or confusion, be sure to choose the appropriate marks.

There are five French accent marks. Four are used with vowels, and only one is used with a consonant. The easiest way to know when to use an accent mark is by memorizing the correct spelling of each word. It’s tedious, but necessary when learning another language.

The chart below describes each mark and provides an example.

There are four accent marks used with vowels. These are the accent aigu, accent grave, accent circonflexe, and accent tréma. Accents may change how a word is pronounced or distinguish between two words that are spelled the same but have different meanings.

The accent aigu may be the easiest for students to remember. It is marked as a line over the letter E that points up and to the right. It can only be used with the letter E. The accent changes the pronunciation of the vowel from an ‘ah’ sound to an ‘ay’ sound.

Some common words that use an accent aigu include:

• l’école (school)
• étudier (to study)
• méchant (mean)

Accent grave looks like accent aigu, but the line points up and to the left. An accent grave may be used only with vowels A, E, and U. When the accent grave is used with the letters A and U, it’s usually used to distinguish among two words that are spelled the same but mean different things.

Some examples of words using the accent grave include:

• Austère (austere or stern)
• L’élève (student or pupil) – used both accent aigu over the first E and accent grave over the second E
• Confrère (colleague)

An example of an accent grave used to distinguish between two words includes:

• Ou, a conjuctnion that means ‘or’ or ‘either’
• Où, meaning ‘where’

The accent circonflexe is one of the easiest to remember. Think of it like a little hat sitting over a vowel. The accent circonflexe may appear over any vowel.

Use the accent circonflexe in such words as:

• Hôpital (hospital)
• Forêt (forest)
• Embûche (pitfall)

Note that many words in French that use an accent circonflexe once included the letter S after the vowel. Words like hospital and forest transformed over time into the shortened form above using the circonflexe instead of the letter S.

If the accent tréma looks familiar, it may be because you’ve seen it used in German. It is also called an umlaut and appears only over the vowels E, I and U. This accent indicates a pronunciation change. Whenever you see accent tréma, you must pronounce each vowel separately.

Words using the accent trema include:

• Naïve (naïve, or innocent)
• Aïeul (male ancestor)

There is only one French accent mark used with a consonant. This is another mark that may look familiar if you’ve studied other Romance languages. The accent cedille, also called a cedilla, is also found in Spanish words.

Accent cedille, or the cedilla, is also easy for most students to remember since it’s only found under the letter C. The cedilla changes the pronunciation of the letter C from a hard sound to a soft sound.

Look for accent cedille under such words as:

• Garçon (boy)
• Soupçon (French meaning – misgivings. American meaning – mix)

Whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, there are several simple keyboard shortcuts to typing proper French accent marks. There are also programs you can download that will place the proper symbols into your word processing program.

McKinnon Secondary College provides a chart of keyboard shortcuts on their website along with instructions for both Mac and PC users on how to call up and use the right accent marks. There is also a link to a program called PopChar that you can purchase to load French symbols into a word processing program. When using Microsoft Word, the accent marks may be found by using the Insert Symbol function and choosing the correct accent mark from the chart that appears on screen.

Since French accent marks sometimes change the pronunciation of French words, students may wish to consult a French pronunciation guide or take a free French Course to understand, use and pronounce French accent marks correctly.

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