UNITÉ 1 LEÇON 1A: Accents

Question 1

ACCENTS

é

Answer 1

é

Accent Aigu

Example: numéro, différent, américain

• Accent aigu (“ahk-sont ai-ghu”) turns e (“eugh”) into é (“ey”).

Question 2

ACCENTS

è ù à

Answer 2

è ù à

Accent Grave

Example: très (“very”), problème, bière (“beer”)

• Accent grave (“ahk-sont grahv”) turns the e (“eugh”) into an è (“eh”).
• Accent grave also changes the meaning: à means “at” or “in”, while a means “has.”
• où means “where”, while ou means “or.”

Question 3

ACCENTS

â ê ô î û

Answer 3

â ê ô î û

Accent Circonflexe

Example: hôpital, hôtel, allô (telephone)

• Accent circonflexe (“ahk-son syee-hr-kohn-flex”).
• Hôpital **and hôtel, and any word with an *h in the front, are pronounced without the *h. For example, hôpital is pronounced “oh-pee-tal.”

Question 4

ACCENTS

ç

Answer 4

ç

Cédille

Example: français, française, ça

• Ç cedille (“say seh-dee”) changes the hard c sound into an s sound.
• Français is pronounced “frohn-say.” If the word is francais, it’s then pronouned “frohn-kay.”
• Ça is pronounced “sah.”

Question 5

ACCENTS

ë ä

Answer 5

ë ä

Tréma

For example: Noël, naïf, naïve

• Tréma (“treh-mah”) splits the word in half.
• Noël is pronounced “noh-ell”, while Noel is pronounced “noll.”