French Language > Pronunciation, Written French

Accents in French
Which Ones to Use Where, and with What Result

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I. The Acute Accent (´)

It gives to the letter the value of a “close e” [e].

It is not used to indicate a stressed syllable (stressed = pronounced louder than other syllables). It is not needed for that purpose, because in French you always accent the last syllable in a word or phrase.

II. The Grave Accent (`)

It is used most frequently with the letter e; only with the letter e does the grave accent give a specific value: “open e” [ɛ].

Everybody should know the spelling and pronunciation of these very commonly used words:

• près [prɛ] (near)
• après [aprɛ] (after)
• très [trɛ] (very)

è also appears very frequently in a final syllable, when the last sound is a consonant. The written form will be:

– where C = any consonant. The final e is the “mute e” (e caduc, e sourd, e muet).

Some examples:

• (j’)achète (tu achètes, elle achète, ils achètent), all pronounced
  • [aʃɛt]
• -ère, as in bergère, feminine noun, masculine berger, pronounced thus:
  • bergère [bɛrʒɛr], berger (bɛrʒe]
• -ète, as in concrète, feminine form of the adjective concret, pronounced:
  • concrète [kõkrɛt], concret [kõkrɛ]
    Same goes for complète, discrète, inquiète, etc.

The grave accent is also used occasionally with a and u, but only to differentiate two words that sound exactly alike and are otherwise spelled alike. Everyone needs to be able to distinguish:

a ≠ à

a = the third-person singular present of the verb avoir.

• Il a la bouche pleine. (He has his mouth full.)

à = a (very, very important) preposition: “to, at, in,” etc.

• Il parle à Monsieur Dupont. (He is speaking to Mr. Dupont.)

la ≠ là

la = a) the feminine singular definite article (“the”); b) the feminine singular direct object pronoun (“her”).

• La plume de ma tante. (The quill of my aunt.)
• Nous la connaissons. (We know her.)

là = an adverb, “there.”

• Pouvez-vous me passer Chantal? —Non, elle n’est pas là.
  (“Can Chantal come to the phone?” “No, she isn’t [t]here.”)

ou ≠ où

ou = the conjunction “or” (also: “either”).

• Elle viendra samedi ou dimanche. (She will come Saturday or Sunday.)
• Elle viendra ou samedi, ou dimanche. (She will come either Saturday or Sunday.)

où = a) the interrogative adverb “where”; b) the relative adverb “where, when.”

• Où as-tu mis les clefs? (Where did you put the keys?)
• Ce café est l’endroit où j’ai vu Roxane pour la première fois. (This café is the place where I saw Roxane for the first time.)
• Je n’oublierai jamais le jour où j’ai vu Roxane pour la première fois. (I will never forget the day when I saw Roxane for the first time.)

III. The Circumflex Accent (ˆ)

It usually shows where an s used to be:

• août = English “August”
• fête (“holiday, celebration”), from Latin festa; cf. English “feast”
• guèpe = English “wasp”
• goût, from Latin gustus; cf. English “gustatory”
• hâte = English “haste”
• hôpital = English “hospital”
• hôte (host, guest); cf. English “host”
• hôtel; cf. English “hostel”
• île = English “isle, island”
• pâtes = English “pasta”
• pâtisserie = English “pastry”

The circumflex accent affects pronunciation in two cases:

• ê = “open e” [ɛ]
• ô = “close o” [o]

Some speakers will pronounce â further back in the mouth than an ordinary a:

• â = [ɑ], as opposed to the usual a = [a]

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