1. To be able to understand accents:
ACCENTS IN FRENCH
Learning objective:
To be able to understand accents:
Why we use them
How we use them

2. WHAT ARE ACCENTS?
* In French, accents are used with the vowels:
a, e, i, o, u
which makes the pronunciation different.
There are 3 types of accents:
1. The acute accent (L’accent aigu)
2. The grave accent (L’accent grave)
3. The circonflex accent (L’accent circonflexe)

4. L’accent aigu The acute accent is only used with the letter E. é
It is pronounced ai, like in j’ai.
E.g : école (school); écrire (to write)
écouter (to listen),été (summer or been)

5. L’accent grave The grave accent is used with A, E, U.
When used with E → è , it is pronounced eh
e. g : près,
When used with A and U, the words mean different things.
e. g: a (has): Il a les cheveux noirs
à (to): je vais à la piscine

6. L’accent circonflexe
This is used with A, U, E and make the pronunciation of the vowel HARD.
e.g: pâtes (pasta)
tête (head)
août (august)

7. LA CEDILLE
The cedilla is only used with the letter C, when followed by A, O and U.
The ç is pronounced like an S.
e,g : leçon (lesson); garçon (boy); ça (this);
reçu (received);

8. L’apostrophe (’ )
The apostrophy is used to replace a vowel of a word which is followed by another word starting with a vowel or an H mute.
e.g : la école → l’ école
je ai → j’ ai
de habitude → d’ habitude
je ne ai pas → je n’ai pas

9. The trema (..)
The trema (..) is used to indicate that 2 vowels needs to be pronounced separately.
e.g : noël (Christmas), but sœur (sister)
maїs (corn) , but mais (but)
Mme Mostefaї