Accents only appear above vowels in French. Most of the time accents do not change the pronunciation of the vowel. When the accent doesn’t change the pronunciation of the vowel, it has different uses. For example, it can replace a letter, or help us distinguish between two words with the same spelling. The accents will change the pronunciation of the vowel “e” only.
For example:
Un hôpital → Un hospital.
Où (where) → Ou (or).
À (to/at) → A (is).
French has 4 accents and not every vowel can have every type of accent. The “y” can’t take any accents
| Letter | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| À | “ah”” | À |
| Â | “ah” | Âge |
| Ë | “ey” | Noël “no-el” |
| É | “ey” | Élevé |
| È | “ey” | Après |
| Ê | “ey” | Même |
| Ï | “ee” | Maïs “ma-ee-ss” |
| Î | “ee” | Île |
| Ô | “oh” | Côté |
| Ù | “ooh” | Où |
| Ü | “ooh” | Müller |
| Û | “ooh” | Août |
The diaeresis (¨) prevents us from combining letters to form new sounds. You can imagine that the word is cut in two just before the letter with the diaeresis.
For example:
Mais → But → “mey” → “ai” = “ey.”
Maïs → Corn → “ma-eess” → “aï” = “ah-ee.”
Soeur → sister → “sir” → “oe” = “uh.”
Noël → Christmas → “no-el” → “oë” = “oh-ey.”
More in the books
Werther you are learning by yourself, with Anais and Co or if you are a FLE teacher find this lesson and many more in a beautiful book.
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