French uses accents, which are pronunciation marks that appear with some letters. There are four accents commonly used with vowels: the accent aigu, the accent grave, the accent circonflexe, and the tréma. One mark, the cédille, appears under the consonant “c,” making it “ç.”

The Accent Aigu (Acute Accent)

The accent aigu is spelled é. It only appears over the letter “e,” and is an integral part of a word. The accent aigu also provides important clues about where the word fits in a sentence.

TRACK 2

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Accent Aigu

The Accent Grave

The accent grave is spelled è. The accent grave appears mostly on “e” but can appear over the letters “a,” “i,” “o,” or “u”; however, it changes the pronunciation only when it appears above “e.”

TRACK 3

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Accent Grave

The Accent Circonflexe

The accent circonflexe can appear over any vowel, and it looks like a little hat over the letter, as in ô.

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Accent Circonflexe

The Tréma

The tréma is spelled with 2 dots above a vowel: ë. In English, it is known as an umlaut. The accent tells you that the second vowel is to be pronounced on its own, distinct from the vowel preceding it.

TRACK 4

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Le Tréma

The Cédille

The cédille appears underneath the letter “c” and looks like a tail: ç. It indicates a soft “s” sound instead of the hard “k” sound the letter “c” would normally have if it appeared before the letter “a” or “o.” For example, the French language is referred to as le français.

TRACK 5

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La Cédille