Accents

Question 1

accent circonflexe

Answer 1

Circumflex accent

Answer 2

Accent circonflexe. It’s usage is somewhat complicated

Question 3

‘

Answer 3

Accent aigu

Question 4

`

Answer 4

Accent grave

Question 5

Which letters do accent circonflexe go on

Answer 5

â ê î ô û

Question 6

Which letters do the accent aigu go over

Answer 6

é. there are many ways to pronounce an unaccented “e” in French. The grave accent makes it clear that you must say /ɛ/, when otherwise the “e” might be a different sound, or silent

Question 7

la cédille

Answer 7

the cedilla

Question 8

l’accent aigu

Answer 8

the acute accent

Question 9

l’accent circonflexe

Answer 9

the circumflex

Question 10

l’accent tréma

Answer 10

the trema

Question 11

l’accent grave

Answer 11

the grave accent

Question 12

Which letters do the cedilla go under

Answer 12

ç

Question 13

Which letters do the trema go over

Answer 13

ë ï ü

Question 14

Which letters do the accent grave go over

Answer 14

à è ì ò ù

Question 15

é pronunciation

Answer 15

a in day - don’t pronounce y vowel sound

Question 16

è ê ë

Answer 16

eh - e in best

Question 17

ç pronunciation

Answer 17

s sound

Question 18

Accent grave is used above a or u:

Answer 18

to distinguish words which have the same pronunciation but different meanings

Question 19

a va à

Answer 19

• a is the third-person singular form of avoir (“to have”)

- à is a preposition that can mean “at”, “to”, or “in”

Question 20

ça vs çà

Answer 20

• ça is a pronoun meaning “it” or “that”
• çà is an interjection that’s hard to translate. It can express worry or surprise (like saying “uh-oh!”) or it can be mere verbal filler, like saying “hey” or “well”.

Question 21

la vs là

Answer 21

• la is the feminine form of the word “the” – or it other contexts it can mean “her”.
• là means “there” or “that

Question 22

ou vs où

Answer 22

• ou means or
• où means where. this is the only word in the entire French language where you’ll find a grave accent above the letter “u”

Question 23

déjà and deçà

Answer 23

already and closer than. these words without the accent grave above the a aren’t words

Question 24

â pronunciation

Answer 24

American “hot”

Question 25

ô

Answer 25

roughly like an English “oh” as in “boat” or “close”. It’s the same sound found in the French word au

Question 26

î and û pronunciation

Answer 26

circumflex doesn’t change the pronunciation, except in the combination “eû”. Jeûne (“fast” as in a dietary fast) is pronounced differently from jeune (“young”).

So why bother writing a circumflex when it doesn’t affect pronunciation?

the word forêt, which means “forest”. As you might guess, the English and French words share a common root. As time went on, French people stopped pronouncing the “s”, but they continued to write it – it was a silent letter, of which English has many.

Eventually, it was decided to change the spelling of the word to remove the superfluous “s”. But for whatever reason, the French intelligentsia didn’t want to erase all trace that this “s” had ever existed – so the circumflex is an etymological tombstone – it tells you “hey, there used to be an extra letter here!”

Most commonly, a circumflex indicates a missing «s»

ancêtre – “ancestor”
août – “August”
côte – “coast”
forêt – “forest”
hôtel – “hostel”
hôpital – “hospital”
pâté – “paste”
rôtir – “to roast”

Question 27

sur vs. sûr

Answer 27

– sur is a preposition meaning “on”, or an adjective meaning “sour”.
– sûr means “sure” or “certain”. Note that the circumflex is still present in inflected forms like the feminine sûre, or in derived words like sûreté (security)

Question 28

du vs. dû

Answer 28

– du means “of the” – it’s a contraction of de (of) and le (masculine form of “the”).
– dû is the past participle of devoir – “to have to”. Unlike sûr, the circumflex is not kept in the inflected forms: so it’s dû in the masculine singular but due, dus, and dues in the other three forms

Question 29

mur vs. mûr

Answer 29

– un mur is “a wall”.
– mûr means “ripe” or “mature”, as well as being a slang term for “drunk”. The circumflex is preserved in the inflected forms (mûre, mûrs, mûres), and in related words like mûrir (to ripen.)

Question 30

ë pronunciation

Answer 30

You may recognise the trema from the names Zoë and Chloë. Here, the trema tells you that the “o” and “e” are pronounced separately – so they rhyme with “snowy”, not “toe”

Question 31

Trema common usage purpose

Answer 31

It’s written over the second of two vowels to tell you that they must be pronounced separately, whereas without the accent they might combine into a completely different sound:

coïncidence (coincidence)
Jamaïque (Jamaica)
Noël (Christmas)

This is by far the most common use of the trema.