Introduction
There are five different kinds of accent marks used in written French. They are:
accent |
letters
used |
examples |
acute accent
(accent aigu) |
� only |
�l�phant: elephant |
grave accent
(accent grave) |
�, �, � |
fi�vre: fever, l�, there
o�: where |
circumflex
(accent circonflexe) |
�, �, �,
�, � |
g�teau: cake,�tre: to be, �le: island,
ch�mage: unemployment,
d�: past participle of devoir |
diaeresis
(tr�ma) |
�, �, �, �** |
No�l: Christmas, ma�s: corn, aig�e: acute(fem)* |
cedilla
(c�dille) |
� only |
fran�ais: French |
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Note : As of the spelling reform of 1990, the diaresis indicating gu is not a digraph on words finishing in gu� is now placed on the u in standard (AKA "acad�mie fran�aise" French) : aig�e and not aigu�, cig�e and not cigu�, ambig�e and not ambigu� (acute(fem), conium, ambiguous). Since this reform is relatively recent and not known in vulgar surrounding, both spellings can be used interchangeably (you might even get a point knocked off if you write "aig�e" in a text, it happened to me!)
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Note : The letter � is only used in very rare words, most old town names : L'Ha�-Les-Roses (Paris surburb). Pronounced like �.
Acute Accent - Accent aigu
The acute accent(French, acce.......
t aigu) is the most common accent used in written French. It is only used with the letter e and is always pronounced /ay/.
One use of the accent aigu is to form the past participle of regular -er verbs.
infinitive |
past participle |
aimer, to love
NT> |
aim�, loved |
regarder, to watch |
regard�, watched |
Another thing to note is if you are unsure of how to translate certain words into English from French, and the word begins with �, replace that with the letter s and you will occasionally get the English word, or an approximation thereof:
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Ex.:
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�table --> stable (for horses)
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�cole --> scole --> school
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il �tudie --> il studie --> he studies
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And to combine what you already know about the accent aigu, here is one last example:
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�trangl� (from �trangler) --> strangl� --> strangled
NB: This will not work with every word that begins with �.
Grave Accent - Accent grave
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� and �
In the case of the letters � and �, the grave accent(Fr. accent grave), is used to graphically distinguish one word from another.
without accent grave |
with accent grave |
a (3rd pers. sing of avoir, to have) |
� (preposition, to, at, et al.) |
la (definite article for feminine nouns) |
l� (there) |
ou (conjunction, or) |
o� (where) |
Unlike � and �, � is not used to distinguish words from one another. The � used for pronunciation. In careful speech, an unaccented e is pronounced /euh/, and in rapid speech is sometimes not pronounced at all. The � is pronounced like the letter e in pet.
Tonic Accent - L?accent tonique
In English, you stress certain syllables more than others. However in French, you pronounce each syllable evenly | |
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