Two common words that contain cedillas are garçon (“boy”, or “waiter” in a restaurant) and français (French!). (Remember that “c” before an “e” or “i” is pronounced like an “s” anyway, so adding a cedilla wouldn't change anything.) You'll only ever see a “ç” before an “a”, “o”, or “u”. It's a simple symbol to understand: a ç (c with a cedilla) is pronounced like an “s”. This accent mark only goes with the letter “c” - it's not found under any other letter. The cedilla in French looks like a little squiggle beneath the letter “c”: “ç”. I’ll also explain the purpose of each of the accents. Let’s take a look at how to pronounce each of the five French accent marks. So how do you read, write, or pronounce these letters? What do the accent marks mean? French Accent Pronunciation Guide à/è/ì/ò/ù – the grave accent (l'accent grave).

â/ê/î/ô/û – the circumflex (l'accent circonflexe).We'll also look at plenty of examples of French words with accents which should help make things clear.įrench Accents List: The 5 French Accent Marksįrench uses five different types of diacritic. We'll cover all the different types of accent, how they're pronounced (if they're pronounced at all), and the effect they have on a word's grammar and/or meaning. So let's look at the different types of French accent and how they're used. Which one would you rather have on your résumé? Getting your accents right is the difference between being a pêcheur (fisherman) and a pécheur (sinner). Sometimes they can completely change the meaning of a word. Sometimes they affect pronunciation, sometimes they don't. They serve several different purposes in the language. In French, however, the accent marks are not optional.įrench has several different accent marks, also known as “diacritics”. The words café and résumé are originally French, and in English we often write those words without the accents. Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

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