Aigüe is the feminine form of aigu ( sharp, shrill). Likewise, a dieresis can avoid confusion. Otherwise you might pronounce the two vowels as a single sound. The English equivalent has often kept the missing s: pâte ( paste), forêt ( forest), île ( isle), côte ( coast), août ( August), coût ( cost).Ī circumflex is also used with û to differentiate short words:ĭieresis Two dots (called Umlaut in German) over a vowel tell you to pronounce it separately from the vowel next to it: Noël ( Christmas), Citroën, Gaëlle (a girl’s name). It tells you to give the c a soft sound when it would normally be pronounced because it is followed by a, o or u which are ‘hardening’ vowels: français, garçon, reçuĬircumflex The ‘hat’ or circumflex over a vowel generally indicates a letter has disappeared over time (usually s). Many masculine adjectives ending in e plus a consonant gain a grave accent in the feminine form:Ĭedilla The hook beneath the letter ç is known as a cedilla. ce, -ge, -me, -re, -te): piè ce ( room), siè ge ( seat), crè me( creme), pè re ( father), diabè te ( diabetic). It’s found in words that end in a consonant and silent e (e.g. A grave accent on e tells you to pronounce it as in père. One instance is in dès, as in the phrase dès que possible ( as soon as possible), where it is spelt with an accent so as not to confuse it with des ( some). It is rarely used with the letter e for distinguishing purposes. It does not tell you how to pronounce the letters. It is used on à and ù to differentiate words with the same spelling but different meanings. Grave The grave accent slopes down from the left. It means a more closed kind of e (as in your tongue is closer to the roof of your mouth), more like may than met: été, bébé, thé. Unlike English, French uses accents to give information on pronunciation and differentiate confusable words.Īcute The acute accent is used only on é.
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