Pronunciation
French uses five diacritical marks (or accents). They are absolutely essential for proper pronunciation, and being able to pick them out in writing is crucial.
Les accents: French accents
Listen to Track 19
´ - accent aigu (occurs only above the letter e)……………répétez (repeat)
` - accent grave…………………………………………....très (very)
^ - accent circonflexe…………………………………......île (island)
ç - cedille (occurs only on the letter c)……………………ça va? (how are you?)
¨ - tréma ………………………………………………….haïr (to hate)
Note: Except for the cédille, or cedilla, on the capital letter c, accents are not typically used on capital letters.
L’accent aigu: Acute accent
The acute accent only appears above the letter e and is used to change the e sound to ay (as in bay). It often specifies that an s used to follow that vowel in the original Latin. It is the most common of the accents, so most learners of the language find this one to be the easiest to pick up.
Examples:
Listen to Track 20
marché (mar-shay, meaning market)
médecin (may-deh-sehn, meaning doctor)
école (ay-cole, meaning school)
méchant (may-shant, meaning mean, i.e., a mean person)
café (cah-fay, meaning coffee)
L’accent grave
It is placed over e to indicate that the next syllable is silent. It makes the e sound like ea (pear). It can also be found over a and u for a handful of words, and is usually used to distinguish between words that would be homographs otherwise, as in ou (or) and où (where).
Examples:
Listen to Track 21
deuxième (doozy-em, meaning second)
père (pare, meaning father)
secrète (say-kret, meaning secret)
frère (fruh-air, meaning brother)
suède (soo-ed, meaning Sweden)
L’accent circonflexe: Curcumflex Accent
The circumflex, also affectionately referred to as “the hat,” has absolutely no bearing on pronunciation. Many French people who support reform of the language have been petitioning to have the accent removed from the language entirely. Originally used in old French to indicate the lost “s” that existed in the Latin version of a word, it is one of those grammatical quirks that has carried on throughout the centuries. English, too, carries a similar quirk, as the same words that carry this Latin ancestry still carry that s.
Just like the l’accent grave, it also functions to distinguish between words that would be homographs, as in du (contraction for de + le) and dû (the past participle of devoir).
There are not many words that have the circumflex. That being said, they are still an important facet of the language, and it is important to know what to do with them when you see them.
Examples:
Listen to Track 22
honnête (on-ette, meaning honest)
hôpital (o-pee-tal, meaning hospital)
forêt (for-ay, meaning forest)
hôtel (owe-tel, meaning hotel)
âge (ah-zjuh, meaning age)
La Cédile: Cedilla
The cedilla is only found under the letter c. Its purpose is to transform a hard c (like the k sound in card) into a soft c (like the s sound in cereal). Because of this, the cedilla is never found in front of an e or i, as a c always carries the soft c sound in front of these vowels.
Examples:
Listen to Track 23
garçon (gahr-sohn, meaning “boy )
français (frahn-say, meaning French or the French language)
leçon (ley-sohn, meaning lesson)
ça (sah, meaning that)
reçu (reh-sue, meaning received)
Le Tréma: Dieresis
The dieresis, also called an umlaut, can only be found when two vowels are next to each other. This indicates that both vowels must be pronounced separately.
Examples:
Listen to Track 24
Noël (no-elle, meaning Christmas)
Héroïne (err-oh-een, meaning heroine)
naïve (nigh-eve, meaning naïve)
coïncidence (ko-ehn-see-dahns, meaning coincidence)
Jamaïque (jam-eh-eek, meaning Jamaica)
Remember, it is incredibly important to use accents properly when learning French. Not knowing what they mean can impede your pronunciation, and missing one in a word is the same thing as misspelling that word. Just like remembering whether to use le or la for each new vocabulary word you learn, treat accents like they are crucial accessories on the words you are learning. You would not forget your pants or shirt, so be kind to your French vocabulary and make sure they are dressed to impress. If you pay close attention to them, you will be pronouncing (and writing) like a pro.