French Accents
There are four French accents for vowels and one accent for a consonant.
Short video
1. The accent aigu ´ (acute accent) can only be on an E. e.g. année (year) Répétez! (Repeat) Agréable (nice)
2. The accent grave ` (grave accent) can be found on an A, E, or U. e.g. très (a lot), après (later), mère (mother), père (father), déjà (already), où (where)
3. The accent circonflexe ˆ (circumflex) or chapeau hat) can be on an A, E, I, O, or U. e.g. être (to be), forêt (jungle), s’il te plaît (please) hôtel (hotel), âne (donkey)
4. The accent tréma ¨ (dieresis) can be on an E, I, or U. It is used when two vowels are next to each other and both must be pronounced, e.g., naïve, Saül.
5. The cédille ¸ (cedilla) 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, français. The cedilla is never placed in front of E or I, because C always sounds like an S in front of those vowels (merci, parce que).
It is essential to put accents in their proper places – an incorrect or missing accent is a spelling mistake just as an incorrect or missing letter would be. The only exception to this is capital letters, which are often left unaccented.
| Accent aigu | Accent grave | Accent circonflexe | Accent Tréma | The cédille |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ´ | ` | ˆ | ¨ | ¸ |
| Éé | Èè, Àà, ù | Êê, Ââ, Ôô, Îî, Ûû | Ëë, Ïï, Üü | Çç |
| à | âne | façade | ||
| Répétez | très | fête | Noël | |
| traîneau | naïve | |||
| symptôme | garçon | |||
| où | mûre | Capharnaüm | déçu |
Basic Grammar for level 1 – List
1. The alphabet: L’alphabet
2. French Silent Letters: Lettres muettes françaises
3. French Letter Combinations: Combinaisons de lettres (Practice)
4. Articles: Articles
5. Masculine or feminine nouns: Noms masculins ou féminins
6. The interrogative form: la forme interrogative
a) Question words : Les mots interrogatifs
7. Prepositions(go, come – present) (Practice)
a) The preposition “à”
b) The preposition “de”
c) “Pour” Explained: For vs. To
8. French expressions:
a) Two words
b) Three words
9. Accents: Accents
10. Liaison: Liaison
11. Possessive adjectives: Adjectifs possessifs (Practice)
12. The negative form: La forme négative
a) Negative words in French: Les mots négatifs en français
13. C’est – Il est – elle est: It is – He is – she is
14. Quiz Game Level 1: Quiz
Basic Conjugation for L1
1. Personal Pronouns: Personal Pronouns
a) Subject pronouns: Pronoms sujets
b) You or you: Tu or vous
c) (Practice)
2.Infinitive and conjugated verbs
3. The verb to be: Le verbe être
4. The verb to have: Le verbe avoir
5. The verb to go: Le verbe aller
6. The verb to do: Le verbe faire
7. To be, To have, To go, To do
8. ER Verbs : (Phonetic pronunciation)
9. IR Verbs: (Phonetic pronunciation)
10. RE Verbs: (Phonetic pronunciation)
11. Sentences with ER verbs
12. Sentences with IR verbs
13. Sentences with RE verbs
14. Most Common French Verbs
15. REGULAR Verbs:
a) (Verbes)
b) (Sentences)
c) (Practice)
More French grammar? Practice here:
Explore More French Grammar Levels: Click on Your Level of Interest:
Grammar Level 1
Grammar Level 2
Grammar Level 3
Grammar Level 4
Grammar Level 5
Grammar Level 6
Grammar Level 7
Grammar Level 8
French Resources for Level 1:
Do you want to practice another Resource? Click on the image of your interest:
