Les Accents et L'Alphabet
In French it is important to know how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet when you see them in a word as well as to know how accent marks will change the pronunciation of that letter. The videos below will help with both of these skills to help you to be able to pronounce French correctly!
L'alphabet français
The video below includes how to say each French letter along with an example of how they are pronounced at the beginning of a word.
Video courtesy of OhlalaLingua.
Video courtesy of OhlalaLingua.
Les accents français
This second video will explain the French accent marks and how they affect the spelling of French letters.
There are five different accent marks that are used in the French language. Some will greatly affect pronunciation, while others have a mild or non-existent effect. See below how each of these accents affects pronunciation by clicking on the blue link to hear examples.
- l'accent aigu: é
The accent aigu is exclusively seen over the letter "e," > é. This accent changes the pronunciation of an e to have an "ay" sound, rather than the normal silent e (it is normally not pronounced at all), as is heard in the following audio clips:
é > l'école, le lycée, l'université, l'étudiant
e muet > Un jean est un vêtement. / *J'achète un jean. / Maintenant, il est trop serré. / Je ne mange pas de viande. Je ne bois pas de thé. Je ne prends pas de frites, mais un hamburger seul, oui.
In the e muet examples, you can even hear the difference between the unaccented and accented e in the word "serré" (seh-ray). - l'accent grave: à, è, ù
The accent grave can be found on any vowel, but it will only change the pronunciation of the letter e. For the letter e, the pronunciation will always have an "ehh" sound, like in the English word "set." Listen to the following clips to compare the è to the é and e muet.
è > une mère, un père, un frère, une nièce, une pièce d'un euro - l'accent circonflexe: â, ê, î, ô, û
The accent circonflexe is another accent that can be found over any vowel, but it does not change the pronunciation of any letter. The accent circonflexe must be included in written French and will most often indicate where there used to be an "s" in old French.
ê > une fête, une tête, un homme bête, la crême, une crêpe - l'accent cédille: ç
L'accent cédille will only be seen under the letter c and makes it sound like an "s." This will most often happen with the "c" is located in front of a, o, or u, which would normally result in a k sound.
ç > ça, un garçon, commençons - l'accent tréma: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü
The accent tréma can be found above any vowel and will most often appear if there are two vowels next to each other that should be pronounced separately. This often seems like there is no pronunciation difference, but is instead stressing the sound of the vowel.
ë > Noël, Haïti
À la Pratique
- Go to Vocaroo and record yourself saying the following words and phrases. Make sure to pay attention to how the accent is affecting the pronunciation of the vowel.
l'école
le lycée
une mère
un père
une fête
un château
le dîner
à côté
serré
un garçon
Noël