1. FRENCH ACCENTS There are four French accents for vowels and one accent for a consonant. For specific information on what the accents do to change the pronunciation of the letters they modify, please see the appropriate letter pages. The accent aigu ´ (acute accent) can only be on an E. At the beginning of a word, it often indicates that an S used to follow that vowel, e.g., étudiant (student).The accent grave ` (grave accent) can be found on an A, E, or U. On the A and U, it usually serves to distinguish between words that would otherwise be homographs; e.g., ou (or) vs où (where).The accent circonflexe ˆ (circumflex) can be on an A, E, I, O, or U. The circumflex usually indicates that an S used to follow that vowel, e.g., forêt (forest). It also serves to distinguish between homographs; e.g., du (contraction11 of de + le) vs dû (past participle12 of devoir).The accent tréma ¨ (dieresis or umlaut) 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.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. The cedilla is never placed in front of E or I, because C always sounds like an S in front of these vowels.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. You may not realize it, but French accents have a purpose. While some accents just signify that an S used to follow that vowel in Old French (e.g., étudiant used to be spelled estudiant), most French accents indicate the correct pronunciation of the letter they modify. In addition, there are dozens of French word pairs which are spelled (though not always pronounced) the same other than accents. To avoid confusion, you should always distinguish between these words by using the correct accents.*a - third person singular of avoir1 (to have)à2 - (preposition3) to, at, inacre - acreâcre - (adjective4) acrid, pungentâge - ageâgé - (adjective) oldaie - first person singular subjunctive5 and second person singular imperative6 of avoiraïe - (interjection) oucharriéré - (adjective) overdue, backward; (noun7) backlog, arrearsarrière - back, stern, rear, aftbronze - bronze objectbronzé - past participle8 of bronzer (to tan, bronze)ça - (indefinite demonstrative pronoun9) that, itçà et là - here and therecolle - gluecollé - past participle of coller (to glue)congres - eelscongrès - conference, congresscote - quotation, quoted value, ratingcoté - highly thought of / rated (past participle of côter)côte - rib, slope, coastline côté - sidecure - cure, treatmentcuré - priest; past participle of curer (to clean out)crêpe - crepe (thin pancake), crepe papercrêpé - past participle of crêper (to backcomb, crimp)de10 - (preposition) of, fromdé - thimble, diedes - (indefinite article11, partitive article12) some; contraction13 of de + lesdès - (preposition) fromdifférent - differentdiffèrent - third person plural conjugation of différer (to differ)du - contraction of de + ledû - past participle of devoir (to have to)-e vs éAt the end of -er verbs14, the accent is the difference between the first and third person singular present tense15 and the past participle16-e - étudie, parle, visite-é - étudié, parlé, visitéentre17 - (preposition) betweenentré - past participle of entrer (to enter)es - second person singular of être18 (to be)ès - contraction of en + lesêtes - second person plural of êtreétés - summerseut - third person singular passé simple19 of avoireût - third person singular imperfect subjunctive20 of avoirferme - farmfermé - past participle of fermer (to close)fut - third person singular passé simple of êtrefût - third person singular imperfect subjunctive of êtregène - genegêne - trouble, bother, embarrassment gêné - (adjective) short of, embarrassed; past participle of gêner (to bother)grade - rank, degreegradé - officer haler - to haul inhâler - to tanillustre - illustrious, renownedillustré - illustratedinfecte - (fem adjective) revolting, filthy, obnoxiousinfecté - infected, contaminatedinterne (adj) internal, inner; (noun) boarder, interninterné - inmate (of a mental hospital), internee (politics)jeune - (adjective) youngjeûne - fastingjuge - judgejugé - past participle of juger (to judge)*It is grammatically acceptable to leave accents off capital letters23. However, since missing accents may cause confusion in pronunciation and meaning and are technically spelling mistakes, I feel that one should always write with accents. la - (definite article1) the; (direct object pronoun2) her, itlà - (adverb3) therelevé - survey; past participle of lever (to lift, raise)lève - first and third person singular of lever (applies to many stem-changing verbs4)liquide - liquidliquidé - past participle of liquider (to settle, pay; to liquidate, sell off; [inf] to finish off)mais - (conjunction5) butmaïs - cornmarche - walking, step, stairmarché - market; past participle of marcher (to walk, march; to work)masse - massmassé - past participle of masser (to assemble, mass, group) mat - checkmate; (adjective) matte, dullmât - mast, polemater - to subdue; (familiar) to ogle; to caulk; (familiar noun) mom, mummâter - to mast mémé - (baby talk6) grannymême7 - (adverb) samemeuble - piece of furnituremeublé - (adjective) furnished modelé - contours, relief; past participle of modeler (to model, shape, style, mold)modèle - model, designmur - wallmûr - (adjective) ripenotre - (possessive adjective8) ournôtre - (possessive pronoun9) ours nuance - shade, hue, slight difference, nuancenuancé - (adjective) qualified, balanced, nuanced; past participle of nuancer (to shade, qualify, nuance)ou - (conjunction) oroù - (adverb) wherepâte - pastry, paste; pâtes - pastapâté - pâté péché - past participle of pécherpêche - peach, fishingpécher - to sinpêcher - to fishpécheur - sinnerpêcheur - fishermanprête - (feminine adjective) readyprêté - past participle of prêter (to lend)rate - spleenraté - past participle of rater (to fail, miss) relâche - rest, respiterelâché - loose, laxreste - rest, leftoverresté - past participle of rester (to stay)retraite - retreat, retirementretraité - retired person; past participle of retraiter (to reprocess)rot - belch, burprôt - (archaic) roastroue - wheelroué - (adj) cunning, sly; un roué - cunning/sly person; past participle of rouer (to beat/thrash)roule - first and third person singular of rouler (to wheel/roll along)roulé - curved, rolledsale - dirtysalé - saltysinistre (adj) gloomy, sinister; (m noun) accident, disaster, damagesinistré (adj) stricken, devastated; (m noun) disaster victim sublime - sublimesublimé - sublimated suicide - act of suicidesuicidé - victim of suicide sur10 - (preposition) onsûr - (adjective) suretache - mark, spot, staintâche - taskvalide - able-bodied, fit, validvalidé - validatedvide - emptyvidé - worn out; past participle of vider (to empty; to wear out)votre - (possessive adjective) yourvôtre - (possessive pronoun) yours
![FRENCH ACCENTS There are four French accents for vowels and one accent for a consonant. For specific information on what the accents do to change the pronunciation of the letters they modify, please see the appropriate letter pages. The accent aigu ´ (acute accent) can only be on an E. At the beginning of a word, it often indicates that an S used to follow that vowel, e.g., étudiant (student).The accent grave ` (grave accent) can be found on an A, E, or U. On the A and U, it usually serves to distinguish between words that would otherwise be homographs; e.g., ou (or) vs où (where).The accent circonflexe ˆ (circumflex) can be on an A, E, I, O, or U. The circumflex usually indicates that an S used to follow that vowel, e.g., forêt (forest). It also serves to distinguish between homographs; e.g., du (contraction11 of de + le) vs dû (past participle12 of devoir).The accent tréma ¨ (dieresis or umlaut) 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.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. The cedilla is never placed in front of E or I, because C always sounds like an S in front of these vowels.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. You may not realize it, but French accents have a purpose. While some accents just signify that an S used to follow that vowel in Old French (e.g., étudiant used to be spelled estudiant), most French accents indicate the correct pronunciation of the letter they modify. In addition, there are dozens of French word pairs which are spelled (though not always pronounced) the same other than accents. To avoid confusion, you should always distinguish between these words by using the correct accents.*a - third person singular of avoir1 (to have)à2 - (preposition3) to, at, inacre - acreâcre - (adjective4) acrid, pungentâge - ageâgé - (adjective) oldaie - first person singular subjunctive5 and second person singular imperative6 of avoiraïe - (interjection) oucharriéré - (adjective) overdue, backward; (noun7) backlog, arrearsarrière - back, stern, rear, aftbronze - bronze objectbronzé - past participle8 of bronzer (to tan, bronze)ça - (indefinite demonstrative pronoun9) that, itçà et là - here and therecolle - gluecollé - past participle of coller (to glue)congres - eelscongrès - conference, congresscote - quotation, quoted value, ratingcoté - highly thought of / rated (past participle of côter)côte - rib, slope, coastline côté - sidecure - cure, treatmentcuré - priest; past participle of curer (to clean out)crêpe - crepe (thin pancake), crepe papercrêpé - past participle of crêper (to backcomb, crimp)de10 - (preposition) of, fromdé - thimble, diedes - (indefinite article11, partitive article12) some; contraction13 of de + lesdès - (preposition) fromdifférent - differentdiffèrent - third person plural conjugation of différer (to differ)du - contraction of de + ledû - past participle of devoir (to have to)-e vs éAt the end of -er verbs14, the accent is the difference between the first and third person singular present tense15 and the past participle16-e - étudie, parle, visite-é - étudié, parlé, visitéentre17 - (preposition) betweenentré - past participle of entrer (to enter)es - second person singular of être18 (to be)ès - contraction of en + lesêtes - second person plural of êtreétés - summerseut - third person singular passé simple19 of avoireût - third person singular imperfect subjunctive20 of avoirferme - farmfermé - past participle of fermer (to close)fut - third person singular passé simple of êtrefût - third person singular imperfect subjunctive of êtregène - genegêne - trouble, bother, embarrassment gêné - (adjective) short of, embarrassed; past participle of gêner (to bother)grade - rank, degreegradé - officer haler - to haul inhâler - to tanillustre - illustrious, renownedillustré - illustratedinfecte - (fem adjective) revolting, filthy, obnoxiousinfecté - infected, contaminatedinterne (adj) internal, inner; (noun) boarder, interninterné - inmate (of a mental hospital), internee (politics)jeune - (adjective) youngjeûne - fastingjuge - judgejugé - past participle of juger (to judge)*It is grammatically acceptable to leave accents off capital letters23. However, since missing accents may cause confusion in pronunciation and meaning and are technically spelling mistakes, I feel that one should always write with accents. la - (definite article1) the; (direct object pronoun2) her, itlà - (adverb3) therelevé - survey; past participle of lever (to lift, raise)lève - first and third person singular of lever (applies to many stem-changing verbs4)liquide - liquidliquidé - past participle of liquider (to settle, pay; to liquidate, sell off; [inf] to finish off)mais - (conjunction5) butmaïs - cornmarche - walking, step, stairmarché - market; past participle of marcher (to walk, march; to work)masse - massmassé - past participle of masser (to assemble, mass, group) mat - checkmate; (adjective) matte, dullmât - mast, polemater - to subdue; (familiar) to ogle; to caulk; (familiar noun) mom, mummâter - to mast mémé - (baby talk6) grannymême7 - (adverb) samemeuble - piece of furnituremeublé - (adjective) furnished modelé - contours, relief; past participle of modeler (to model, shape, style, mold)modèle - model, designmur - wallmûr - (adjective) ripenotre - (possessive adjective8) ournôtre - (possessive pronoun9) ours nuance - shade, hue, slight difference, nuancenuancé - (adjective) qualified, balanced, nuanced; past participle of nuancer (to shade, qualify, nuance)ou - (conjunction) oroù - (adverb) wherepâte - pastry, paste; pâtes - pastapâté - pâté péché - past participle of pécherpêche - peach, fishingpécher - to sinpêcher - to fishpécheur - sinnerpêcheur - fishermanprête - (feminine adjective) readyprêté - past participle of prêter (to lend)rate - spleenraté - past participle of rater (to fail, miss) relâche - rest, respiterelâché - loose, laxreste - rest, leftoverresté - past participle of rester (to stay)retraite - retreat, retirementretraité - retired person; past participle of retraiter (to reprocess)rot - belch, burprôt - (archaic) roastroue - wheelroué - (adj) cunning, sly; un roué - cunning/sly person; past participle of rouer (to beat/thrash)roule - first and third person singular of rouler (to wheel/roll along)roulé - curved, rolledsale - dirtysalé - saltysinistre (adj) gloomy, sinister; (m noun) accident, disaster, damagesinistré (adj) stricken, devastated; (m noun) disaster victim sublime - sublimesublimé - sublimated suicide - act of suicidesuicidé - victim of suicide sur10 - (preposition) onsûr - (adjective) suretache - mark, spot, staintâche - taskvalide - able-bodied, fit, validvalidé - validatedvide - emptyvidé - worn out; past participle of vider (to empty; to wear out)votre - (possessive adjective) yourvôtre - (possessive pronoun) yours](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/frenchaccents-091007120122-phpapp02/85/French-Accents-1-320.jpg)
