French accents are sneaky creatures.
They wait in the dark, looking for an innocent letter to jump onto and transform.
But what do they want exactly?
I mean, sure, they look stylish with their cute little shapes, but are they really necessary? Can’t you just, you know, forget about them?
That’s what you’re about to discover.
You’ll also learn ways to type French accents on Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad, even without a physical French keyboard.
The guide to understanding and pronouncing French accents
French accents and accented letters go by several names. You might hear “French accents” or “French diacritical marks” for the linguists out there. Or when talking about a letter and accent combination, you’ll probably come across terms like “French characters” or “French symbols”.
Whatever you call them, they play a big role in the French language.
Written French uses five main diacritical marks to indicate pronunciation or distinguish between words:
- Accent aigu
- Accent grave
- Accent circonflexe
- Cédille
- Tréma
Let’s look at the differences between these French accents.
L’accent aigu
L’accent aigu (the acute accent) appears on “e”: é normally represents the vowel /e/. Here are some words you may recognise:
- La santé
- Le café
- Le rosé
In standard French spelling, the acute accent appears only on “e”. You can also encounter è, ê and ë, but these four spellings do not correspond to four distinct vowel sounds. See our guide to é, è, ê, and ë.
L’accent grave
L’accent grave (grave accent) is used on the letter “e” to indicate a change of pronunciation and on the letters “a” and “u” to differentiate words that sound identical.
Look at these two sentences:
Il a faim (he is hungry)
Il va à Paris (He is going to Paris)
In the first sentence, the lack of an accent grave indicates that “a” is the conjugated form of the verb avoir (to have) while the accent in the second sentence indicates that à is a preposition.
In the following sentences, the accent helps you know how to pronounce the words.
- Le père
- La mère
- Le problème
The difference of pronunciation between words containing a “e” with accent can be subtle, so don’t worry if you struggle to hear it at first. You most likely need to train your ears first.
The contrast can vary by speaker and region, and a mistaken vowel may not always create confusion. It is still worth learning the spelling and listening closely to the French you hear.
L’accent circonflexe
L’accent circonflexe (circumflex) can appear on a, e, i, o and u. It may affect pronunciation or reflect an older spelling, often with an “s”.
Words that have a letter with an accent circonflexe are often similar in French and in English.
In fact, often, the only difference (besides pronunciation) is that the French word has an accent circonflexe while the English word has an “s”. For instance:
- La forêt (forest)
- L’hôpital (hospital)
- Intérêt (interest)
In informal writing, you may sometimes see the accent circonflexe omitted. That does not make the accent generally optional: learn the standard spelling, including the accepted 1990 variants explained below.
Under the 1990 spelling rectifications, the accent circonflexe is generally optional on i and u, but it remains in verb endings and where it distinguishes words, such as du and dû. Traditional and rectified spellings are both accepted, so learners may encounter both.
Le tréma
Le tréma (diaeresis) generally shows that adjacent vowel letters are pronounced separately, as in naïve. In the official spellings aiguë and ambiguë, it shows that the u is pronounced; the 1990 rectified spellings place it on that pronounced vowel: aigüe and ambigüe. For example:
- Égoïste
- Noël
In these words, the tréma indicates that the “i” and “e” must be pronounced separately from the letter that comes just before them.
La cédille
La cédille (cedilla) indicates that the letter “c” should be pronounced /s/ and not /k/
- Leçon
- Français
- Ça
The word leçon is the proof that French accents matter.
Forget the cedilla and you’re not saying leçon (lesson) anymore but le con (the idiot/asshole). Oups.
In standard French spelling, a cédille is used before a, o or u. Before e, i and y, “c” normally already represents /s/.
How to type French accents on Windows
There are many ways to type French accents in Windows and in Microsoft Word, and the right one for you depends on your preferences and on how often you write in French.
You could use ALT codes and type a number every time you want to write an accent, but this is pretty slow and annoying, in my opinion.
Instead, I recommend changing your keyboard’s layout. You can use the US International or UK Extended keyboards, for example. These two keyboards allow you to use a combination of keys to type French accents while keeping your normal keyboard layout.
Still, everyone is different, so you may prefer ALT codes. Let’s have a look at both ways to type French accents in Windows and Microsoft Word.
How to use French accent codes (ALT codes) to type French accents on a PC
As I’ve said, ALT codes can be slow and annoying, but some people get used to them and even prefer them to other methods of typing French accents.
To use an ALT code to type a French accent:
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Hold down the “Alt” key to the left of the space bar, and at the same time, type the number code that corresponds to a specific character. Note that this will only work if you type the numbers from the keypad, not the ones above the letters on the keyboard.
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When you’ve finished typing the code, release the “Alt” button. The French character should appear.
Here are Windows decimal ALT codes. Microsoft explains numeric-keypad entry. Turn Num Lock on, hold Alt, and type the four-digit code on the numeric keypad:
- À: Alt+0192; à: Alt+0224
- Â: Alt+0194; â: Alt+0226
- Ä: Alt+0196; ä: Alt+0228
- È: Alt+0200; è: Alt+0232
- É: Alt+0201; é: Alt+0233
- Ê: Alt+0202; ê: Alt+0234
- Ë: Alt+0203; ë: Alt+0235
- Î: Alt+0206; î: Alt+0238
- Ï: Alt+0207; ï: Alt+0239
- Ô: Alt+0212; ô: Alt+0244
- Ù: Alt+0217; ù: Alt+0249
- Ü: Alt+0220; ü: Alt+0252
- Û: Alt+0219; û: Alt+0251
- Æ: Alt+0198; æ: Alt+0230
- Œ: Alt+0140; œ: Alt+0156
- Ç: Alt+0199; ç: Alt+0231
How to Change your keyboard layout to type French accents on Windows
When I mentioned changing your keyboard to type French accents, the good news is that this is completely free and doesn’t involve buying a physical keyboard. Instead, using your computer’s settings, you can change how the keys are read.
In current versions of Windows, open Settings, go to Time & language and then Language & region. Open the language’s options, choose Add a keyboard, and select the layout you want. You can then switch among installed layouts from the input-language icon on the taskbar or with Windows key+Space. Menu labels can vary slightly by Windows version.
How to type French accents with the US international keyboard layout
With Microsoft’s United States-International layout, use these combinations. For a capital accented letter, capitalize the letter in the final step.
- à, è, ù: `, then the letter
- é: ', then e
- ç: ', then c
- â, ê, î, ô, û: Shift+6, then the letter
- ë, ï, ü: Shift+', then the letter
- « and »: AltGr+[ and AltGr+]
The grave accent, apostrophe, circumflex, and quotation-mark keys act as dead keys in these combinations. To type one of those marks by itself, press the mark and then Space.
How to type French accents with the UK extended keyboard layout
With Microsoft’s United Kingdom Extended layout, use these combinations. For a capital accented letter, hold Shift for the letter in the final step.
- à, è, ù: `, then the letter
- é: AltGr+e
- ç: AltGr+c
- â, ê, î, ô, û: AltGr+6, then the letter
- ë, ï, ü: AltGr+2, then the letter
How to type French accents on Mac
On a Mac, accent shortcuts depend on your active keyboard layout. Apple calls these sequences “dead keys”: enter the accent, release the keys, then type the letter. Open Keyboard Viewer from Apple’s instructions and hold Option or Shift to see the available combinations. The accent menu described below is another simple option.
On a Mac, press and hold a letter to open its accent menu, then select the character you want; Apple notes that the menu is not available in every app. On an iPhone or iPad, touch and hold the relevant letter on the onscreen keyboard, then slide to the accented character. You can also add a French keyboard in the device’s keyboard settings.
Other ways to type French characters
If none of these solutions speak to you, there are a few other ways to type French accents. These include:
• Use “Insert” in Word. In supported Windows versions of Word, choose Insert → Symbol → More Symbols and select the accented character. Microsoft’s instructions explain how to choose a font that contains the character.
• Change to a French keyboard layout. You can install a French layout in your operating system. The key assignments may differ from the labels on your physical keyboard, so check the onscreen keyboard or Keyboard Viewer before typing.
• Change your keyboard to a Canadian French layout. This can be convenient for bilingual typing, but key positions and shortcuts depend on the exact layout you select, such as Canadian French or Canadian Multilingual Standard. Open Windows’ onscreen keyboard or macOS Keyboard Viewer to confirm the keys for your installed layout rather than assuming that apostrophe followed by “a” will produce à.
• Autocorrect – In some cases, as with a very common French word or if your computer or mobile device is set up to have French as one of its language/keyboard options, you may be able to type a word without an accent and have it corrected automatically or when you run spellcheck. This isn’t completely infallible, though, especially for complex sentences. For example, your computer might not realize that an -er verb should be in the past tense. So this is probably the least effective strategy on the list.
• Copy/paste – If all else fails, type a French word into your internet search engine and copy the accented letter(s) you get in the results.
For example, if you need an “e” with an accent circonflexe, type a word like “la bete” (no need to add the accent, since that’s what you don’t have!) into your search engine. Then, copy the ê from one of the listed results.
When it comes to writing in French, accents are a necessary evil. Luckily, as you can see, there are lots of solutions for typing them. Now it’s up to you to find the one that you like best.
Which method fits the keyboard and device you use most?